Findings revealed Friday by the U.S. Office of Veterans Affairs paint a bleak picture of how the nation is handling mental health care for its veterans, and should serve as a reminder of where our priorities must lay.

The report, which is the first of its kind and breaks down veteran suicide rates by state, found that suicide among veterans is highest in the western United States, as well as in rural areas. Specifically Montana, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico had the highest rates of veteran suicide as of 2014, which was the most recent year for which data was available.

Pennsylvania’s rate of veteran suicide, at 37.9 suicides per 100,000 veterans, was slightly lower than the national average of 38.4 per 100,000.

At first blush that seems like good news. But that relief pales quickly after you see how those rates compare to civilian suicides over the same time.

Regardless of which statistic you compare it to, the rate of veteran suicides in this country is scandalous and disturbing.

For 2014 the overall suicide rate in Pennsylvania was 17.6 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the VA report — slightly above the national suicide rate of 17 deaths per 100,000 people.

According to the VA, there are about 21.6 million veterans in America. In 2014, an average of 20 died each day by suicide. So a population that made up 8.5 percent of the country’s adult population in 2014 accounted for 18 percent of all suicide deaths. Accordingly, a veterans’ risk of suicide was 22 percent higher than an adult civilian, according to the report.

If that’s not chilling enough, the VA’s report also contains this major finding: rates of suicide have increased substantially among younger veterans while remaining relatively stable among civilians of the same age. At particular risk are male veterans in their twenties, which the report found are dying at four times the rate of civilians their age.

The VA, which has taken its lumps for failing to respond properly to this crisis, has made vital changes to programs like the Veterans Crisis Line. But, as you likely already realize, the problem is not simply one failing program. It involves everything from social isolation and poor access to healthcare to opioid painkillers, unemployment and a vast array of other pressures and problems that veterans often struggle with after returning home.

With so much as yet unknown about the crisis, it’s difficult to know where to begin. But the proper place to start — the only way to start — is to give this issue the attention and focus it deserves. It is simply unacceptable that so many men and women continue to be lost to preventable mental health crises.

Every single death represents a national failure. And while it is unrealistic to expect suicide among veterans to be wiped out completely, there is no doubt that we can and must do better.