Lantern Walk gets a military makeover
Inspired by the annual Lantern Walk in which members of the ASU community climb "A" Mountain while carrying candles to light up Tempe, the Pat Tillman Center and the Brandon Caserta Foundation are teaming up with a lantern procession of their own on campus, this one to raise awareness regarding the mental health struggles of veterans and active-duty service members. Photo by Andy DeLisle/ASU
Arizona State University’s Lantern Walk is one of the school’s oldest and most treasured traditions. Each year, students, alumni and the Sun Devil community trek up “A” Mountain carrying lanterns to light up the city and signify the start of Homecoming.
This year, the Brandon Caserta Foundation and ASU’s Pat Tillman Veterans Center are teaming up for a lantern procession of their own, this one to raise awareness around the mental health struggles of veterans and active-duty service members.
The two groups will co-host a Suicide Awareness and Remembrance Lantern Walk on Oct. 19 at ASU’s Tempe campus. The event starts at 5:15 p.m. in front of Tooker House residence hall and will end at Old Main, with a reception to follow. (The procession will not include "A" Mountain.) More than 250 participants are expected to take part.
“Suicide in the military is at an epidemic level, and we’re hoping this walk is a way to honor the ones we have lost, the ones who are struggling and the ones who have attempted to take their lives but are still with us,” said Teri Caserta, who along with husband Patrick started the Brandon Caserta Foundation in 2021. The foundation offers assistance, guidance, education and resources to active-duty service members, veterans and their families.
Their son, U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Caserta of Peoria, Arizona, died by suicide on June 25, 2018. His mother said Brandon was “bullied, harassed and retaliated against” and that his superiors refused him mental health assistance. Brandon is the namesake of their foundation and a piece of legislation (the Brandon Act) that was introduced into law by U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and signed by President Joe Biden on Dec. 27, 2021. The bill allows service members to seek mental health treatment and requires a mental health evaluation as soon as a service member self-reports. It also permits Americans serving in uniform to seek confidentiality, if necessary, outside the chain of command.
The Casertas said their son’s death opened their eyes to the “suicide epidemic” in the active-duty and veteran community. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, roughly 20 U.S. veterans die by suicide each day, and since 2006, there has been an 86% increase in the suicide rate among 18- to 34-year-old male veterans.
The Casertas have spent the last few years working on legislation to combat military suicide by making it easier to access mental health counseling.
Pat Tillman Veterans Center Executive Director Shawn Banzhaf said partnering with the Casertas made sense to him.
Suicide Awareness and Remembrance Lantern Walk
5:15–7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19.
The event starts in front of Tooker House residence hall on the Tempe campus and will end at Old Main, with a reception to follow.
Register here.
“The Pat Tillman Center seeks out organizations making a difference where it matters. At the center, we work every day to ensure military-connected students are not only successful in the classroom, but we also want to do what we can to provide for their overall well-being,” Banzhaf said. “The Brandon Caserta Foundation is one of those organizations that exemplifies this.”
Banzhaf said he met the Casertas in April 2022 when he moderated a Tillman-sponsored event with Kelly. He said he was personally moved by their story.
“I wanted to make sure we could bring our center's resources to bear to do what we could to help Patrick and Teri in the future,” Banzhaf said. “After several meetings, the Lantern Walk became a way for us to get the message out about suicide prevention and to make sure our loved ones who are no longer with us were remembered. To me, the lantern evokes home and safety. I hope through this act we can light the path for those struggling and help them know someone cares.
The Casertas say they consider the Oct. 19 Lantern Walk an extension of the foundation’s work.
“We’re not just seeing this as a problem in the armed forces, but in law enforcement, first responders and local communities,” said Patrick Caserta, a 22-year retired Navy senior chief. “We want the community to know we’re there for them as well. This walk is to honor them, too.”
David Francisco, who served in the Navy from 2014 to 2023, including a four-year tour on a submarine, said he plans to participate.
“The service does have some history of hazing where people do get carried away, but I saw less of that as time went on. I can honestly say that the Navy made efforts to improve this while I was still in the service,” said Francisco, who is a third-year mechanical engineering major in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. “I’m participating in the Lantern Walk to honor Brandon Caserta because mental health still has a stigma, especially among service members.”
The Casertas said that although they’ve accomplished a lot since they started the foundation, including a scholarship in Brandon’s name, there’s still more to do.
They plan on expanding the Brandon Act to hold superiors more accountable, signage on military bases to make active-duty service members more aware of their rights, and expand on their partnership with ASU.
“We wish we didn’t exist,” Teri Caserta said. “But again, slowly but surely, we’re getting the word out. And that’s what’s most important.”
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