2023 Memorial Day Ceremony
Join the Smyrna Community for a Memorial Day Ceremony on Monday, May 29 at 9:30 am at the Veterans Memorial next to City Hall. Additional details to follow. In case of inclement weather, the Ceremony will be held in the Smyrna Community Center.
Keynote Speaker:
Every Memorial Day the organizing committee brings in a distinguished Veteran to speak on the importance of Memorial Day. This year the committee welcomes Smyrna resident/business owner, Staff Sergeant Tamara Kosoris.
Kosoris was born and raised in Waukesha, Wisconsin but has chosen Smyrna for her home and business since 2016. As the founder and owner of the Viking Alchemist Meadery in Smyrna, founder of the Atlanta Chapter for Irreverent Warriors in 2020, a Brazilian Jujitsu Blue belt and Complete Combatant instructor, she has been an active member of our community and advocate for veterans.
SSGT Tamara Kosoris served in the USMC Marine Band from 1998 - 2004, serving in New Orleans, LA and Albany GA. Though she was born in Waukesha WI, she made her home here in Smyrna GA and opened the Viking Alchemist Meadery in 2016.
She started the Atlanta Chapter for Irreverent Warriors in 2020, which has since attracted a growing number of veterans for local Irreverent Warrior Hikes. Irreverent Warriors is one of several community based efforts focused on suicide prevention. Since 2015, the Irreverent Warriors 501(c)(3) non-profit organization has been dedicated to providing its unique brand of unconventional therapy to the military and veteran communities. The organization has executed several hundred events across the country and now overseas. Their main event, the Silkies Hike, has directly impacted the lives of 60,000+ veteran and military participants across the planet, and their network has reached countless more. Irreverent Warriors reintroduces our veterans and service members to a family full of camaraderie, understanding, support, and positivity, thereby solving the most crucial issue contributing to veteran suicide; isolation. The vision of Irreverent Warriors is to be the force that unites the veteran community, drives a healthy culture within its members, and be the catalyst for improving the veteran outlook.
● In 2020, the suicide rate for Veterans was 57.3% greater than for non-Veteran U.S. adults.
● In 2020, suicide was the 13th leading cause of death among Veterans overall, and it was the second leading cause of death among Veterans under age 45.
The overall downward trends in Veteran suicide in 2019 and 2020 are encouraging. They followed VA’s launch of the 2018 National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide (National Strategy). This was built upon the foundation of the U.S. Surgeon General’s and National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention’s 2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. The 2018 strategy reflects a comprehensive public health approach to Veteran suicide prevention. This combines community-based suicide prevention strategies and clinically based interventions. The National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide provided the vision to begin coordinated implementation of public health approaches across universal, selective and indicated approaches to reach all Veterans, including those without recent VA contact.
