Purple Heart Recipient Launches New Public Campaign: The Weight We Carry – Facing Moral Injury Together

Because What’s Killing Veterans Isn’t PTSD — It’s the Wound No One Talks About: Moral Injury

INDIANAPOLIS, IN, UNITED STATES, June 11, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Moral injury is real. It’s devastating. And it’s killing our veterans at a staggering rate.

Now, one Purple Heart recipient and national veteran advocate is stepping up—not with hashtags or policy statements, but with presence, purpose, and a promise to go where others won’t.

Eric Donoho, author of Canyon of Hope and founder of Hand Up LLC, is launching a bold new movement: The Weight We Carry: Facing Moral Injury Together—a free, story-driven event series designed to confront moral injury head-on and bring healing to communities across the country. The initiative is powered by Hand Up LLC and made possible through the support of generous sponsors.

Moral injury—a deep, soul-level wound caused when someone’s sense of right and wrong is shattered—is now understood as a leading cause of veteran suicide. It’s often confused with PTSD, but the wounds run in different directions. PTSD is rooted in fear; moral injury is rooted in betrayal, guilt, and a shattered sense of meaning.

Moral injury can come from what someone did, failed to do, witnessed, or what was done to them—especially when it violates their deepest values or moral code. It’s the kind of pain that can’t be seen on a scan, but weighs on a person every day.

“It’s not clinical—it’s deeply human,” says Donoho. “Moral injury whispers things like, ‘You’re a failure. It’s your fault. You should’ve done more. You’re not a good person.’ It’s quiet, but relentless. Most people don't even know this injury exists, and if we don’t give people the ability to name it, they can't heal it. They’ll carry it until they can’t anymore.”

Despite its devastating impact, moral injury remains largely absent from the campaigns and platforms of the Department of Defense and the nation’s largest Veteran Service Organizations. While others focus on policy, Donoho is choosing presence—showing up bringing language, community, and healing into the places that need it most.

“I hoped one of the big-name Veteran Service Organizations would lead on this very important issue,” Donoho said, “But we can’t wait any longer. So I’m stepping up.”

Each Weight We Carry event is offered at no cost to hosts and attendees. The experience is designed for spaces like churches, American Legion halls, schools, nonprofits, and community centers—locations that often serve as frontlines for spiritual and emotional crisis but lack language for moral injury.

Through a blend of storytelling, open dialogue, and shared reflection, participants are invited into a space where the invisible wounds of moral injury can be named and explored without judgment. Every guest receives a free copy of The Weight We Carry: Facing Moral Injury Together—a powerful companion guide to Donoho’s memoir, Canyon of Hope—along with access to practical tools and continued resources that support healing long after the event ends.

The experience is deeply personal, rooted in Donoho’s journey from war and trauma to advocacy and healing. After surviving combat in Iraq and living with undiagnosed moral injury for years, Donoho found his way forward by embracing vulnerability and reclaiming purpose. That path eventually led him to the halls of Congress, where he helped pass six major pieces of veteran legislation—including the 988 Suicide Hotline Act and the PACT Act—and now, to communities across the country to take on moral injury.

Donoho said, “Moral injury doesn’t just impact veterans. It touches police officers, nurses, pastors, medics, teachers, and caregivers—anyone who’s been asked to carry more than their soul can hold.”

Since 2001, over 120,000 veterans have died by suicide—nearly double the number lost in combat in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined. And while the statistics are staggering, the deeper danger lies in the stories we never hear—the moral despair, soul wounds, and spiritual isolation that too often lead to tragedy.

The Weight We Carry is a response to that silence. It’s an invitation for communities to open their doors and start a new kind of conversation—one where no one has to carry the weight alone.

All expenses—including speaker fees, travel, and participant materials—are fully covered by Hand Up LLC and mission-driven sponsors committed to changing the story around mental health and veteran suicide.

Donoho’s company, Hand Up LLC, is a for-profit social impact organization that reinvests revenue from speaking, books, and consulting into programming like The Weight We Carry. Its mission: to build spaces where healing begins through honest dialogue, lived experience, and lasting connection.

Donoho says, “It’s about showing up, about reminding people that they’re not weak, broken, or alone, but that they matter and are loved.”

If you’re interested learning more, in hosting a Weight We Carry event, or exploring sponsorship opportunities we’d love to connect. Please reach out to our press team at press@ericdonoho.com to learn how you can help bring this life-saving conversation to the places that need it most.

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The 700 Club interviews Eric Donoho on Moral Injury.