Meet Teri Caserta | President of The Brandon Caserta Foundation

We had the good fortune of connecting with Teri Caserta and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Teri, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Patrick and I came up with the name of our business, The Brandon Caserta Foundation, because we wanted to honor our son, AE3 Brandon Caserta, and his legacy. He died by suicide in 2018 due to a toxic abusive Navy command climate of hazing, bullying, sexual assault, and retaliation. The way he died made a statement not only to his toxic command but to the entire Armed Forces. Brandon died by jumping into the spinning rear tailor rotor of a Navy MH-60S Sikorski helicopter on his Navy command’s flight line. In his final letter to us, he basically tasked us to help other service members so they do not go through what Brandon went through. At the time of his death, he was helping many other service members with their suicidal ideations. He wanted us to continue his work. We created, lobbied, and got passed The Brandon Act which was signed by President Joe Biden on December 27, 2021 and was signed by the Department of Defense on May 5, 2023. Our foundation allows us to continue our fight for our service members who are struggling. It will help us to give the families a way to be with their service member when they need their support system the most. It also gives us a way to honor the ones we have lost to suicide with memorial tiles, benches, trees, etc. We love our military and our service members. We have to keep them alive.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

Patrick and I are most proud of The Brandon Act and that the Department of Defense has implemented it. Getting a bill passed is NOT an easy task. Our journey started with the death of our only child, Brandon.

We started composing The Brandon Act in August 2018, which took a few months. When we perfected it, we started calling Congressional offices in the House and. Senate Armed Services Committees requesting meetings in May of 2019. We drove out to Washington, DC and lobbied for The Brandon Act. We needed to get a sponsor and co-sponsor in both the House and Senate. The House was easy, Congressman Seth Moulton was our first meeting and by the end of the day, he signed on as the lead sponsor. The Senate wasn’t that easy.

During our week in DC, we obtained 15 congressional meetings and went door to door when we had time. We did not know when scheduling the meetings that the House and Senate were on each side of the Capitol. We were going back and forth all week long from the House to the Senate. Thinking back, it was pretty comical. We were dressed in jeans and tennis shoes, going up and down the stairs because the elevators were slow and we didn’t want to be late for any appointments.

We were told by Rep. Moulton that we were too late to get The Brandon Act on the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We were disappointed but we continued lobbying for it throughout 2019 and had scheduled meetings again in early 2020 in DC again. We had to reschedule these meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That was very disappointing. We had created brochures that we were going to hand out to every office in Congress. Our meetings ended up being via Zoom. We were able to get former Sen Martha McSally (R-AZ) as the Senate sponsor who submitted The Brandon Act as a stand-alone bill. The House got it voted into their version of the NDAA which passed unanimously. Unfortunately, McSally was not able to get it on the Senate version of the NDAA. Needless to say, The Brandon Act was not on the 2021 NDAA.

Congressman Moulton called us to tell us it didn’t pass but that he still wanted to be the lead sponsor for the 2022 NDAA. We, of course, said yes. We continued to lobby for the bill by placing calls and having Zoom meetings with Congressional offices. We were able to get Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) to sponsor the bill in 2021. Failure was not an option for us.

On June 16, 2021, Congressman Moulton, Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), and Senator Kelly reintroduced The Brandon Act. The Brandon Act, again, passed unanimously in the House NDAA but failed to get on the Senate version. When the House and Senate were combining the two versions into one, a member of Moulton’s staff called him and told him he better come down because it wasn’t going to pass to get on the 2022 NDAA. Congressman Moulton told us he literally ran to where the voting was taking place and told everyone in the room that they are failing and their staffs are failing if The Brandon Act wasn’t included in the NDAA.

That night, Patrick and I went to bed disappointed because we figured it didn’t pass. The next morning, I sent an email to Moulton’s Chief of Staff and asked them if he would consider to continue to be the lead sponsor for next year. I received her email that said The Brandon Act did pass and she congratulated us. We were in tears! All of our hard work, the hours and hours we spent lobbying for three years finally came to fruition. President Biden signed the 2022 NDAA which included The Brandon Act on December 27, 2021. We did it with the relentless help of Rep. Moulton, Senator Kelly, and Senator Tim Kaine (D-AZ).

There was still much more work to be done. As we had to continued to lobby for the implementation, The reason we created The Brandon Caserta Foundation, was because we want to continue to help our service members, their families, and veterans. We don’t want another service member to go through what Brandon went through and we do not want another family to go through what we have. Burying a child is the most heartbreaking thing any parent can do., especially when suicide is 100% preventable.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Patrick and I live in Arizona. There are many places we would take friends and family. The Arizona Zoo is a place everyone should go to while visiting Phoenix. Sedona is magnificent and not too far from Phoenix. They have red rock formations which are gorgeous. The Kartchner Caverns State Park is amazing and beautiful. The Grand Canyon is a site to see. There are many mountains to hike and other places to visit here in Arizona. We would also go to Brandon’s favorite restaurants here in Phoenix. to name a few New Asian Kitchen, Top Shelf Mexican Cantina, Red Lobster, and Jack in the Box.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

We would like to give a shoutout to Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) for being our first sponsor of The Brandon Act. He was our first appointment back in May of 2019 when we wrote and presented it to Congress. Rep. Moulton was the driving force behind getting The Brandon Act on the National Defense Authorization Act. He has been one of our hugest supporters not only for us and Brandon but for our military service members. He was relentless when it came to The Brandon Act and getting it passed.

We also want to give a shoutout to Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) for sponsoring The Brandon Act in 2021. Also, to Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA). Senator Kaine met with us personally in 2019 when we presented The Brandon Act to Congress. We meet with both of these senators personally whenever we are in DC. They both have been relentless as well, especially during Congressional hearings on suicide especially when members of the Department of Defense are testifying. Senator Kaine knows all too well about suicide in our military as the Norfolk Naval Base is in his territory.

We were able to obtain a lobbyist, Lindsey Rowland in 2021. She was able to get us meetings with Congressional offices we could not penetrate. She came to know Brandon, The Brandon Act and supported our cause. She was just as relentless as we were. Failure was not an option for her either. She helped and guided us into being great lobbyists like she is. She has her own podcast which Patrick and I were guests of several times. She is a great person, and friend and now serves on The Brandon Caserta Foundation board as the Advisory Chair.

We have gained support from NAMI, The Foundation for Suicide Prevention and LULAC, The League of United Latin American Citizens. LULAC has been supporting us, Brandon and The Brandon Act since 2020. President Domingo Garcia, Chief of Staff, Roman Palomares, and the CEO, Rafaela Schwan have been amazing. Without their support, we may not be where we are today. We also need to shout out to two others who were instrumental in the two memorials they did for Brandon in 2021, Dee James and Crystal Romero. They planned and set up the memorials for Brandon’s birthday in Peoria, Arizona, and one for his memorial in Virginia. They did an awesome job and both were very special and beautiful!

We want to thank all of our supporters from Congress and the citizens of this great country. Without all of you, The Brandon Act would not have been passed nor would we have had the courage to create The Brandon Caserta Foundation. We want suicide to end in our Armed Services. These service members signed on the dotted line to protect and defend our country. They should be treated with honor and respect. Our mission is to end this epidemic. One suicide is too many! Suicide is 100% preventable. We can’t do that without you all.

Website: https://www.brandoncasertafoundation.org and https://thebrandonact.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casertafoundation/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-brandon-act-719821228/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrandoncasertaF

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bcasertafoundation

Image Credits
These photos were take by Patrick and Teri Caserta