When a service member or veteran dies, the loss changes everything.
For more than 30 years, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) has stood beside the families of America’s fallen heroes, ensuring they never walk that journey alone.
Founded in 1994 by Bonnie Carroll after the death of her husband, Army Brig. Gen. Tom Carroll, in an Army plane crash along with seven other Soldiers, TAPS has grown into the national nonprofit organization providing compassionate care and comprehensive resources to all those grieving the death in the military or veteran community. TAPS serves families regardless of how, when or where their loved one died.
Bonnie knows the experience of becoming a survivor firsthand.
“When Tom died, my world changed completely. The grief was overwhelming, and there was no place for me to gather with other military surviving families who understood both the depth of the loss and the extraordinary life and service behind it. I longed for a community where grief could be understood, love could be honored, and hope could begin,” Carroll has said.
That experience became the foundation for a promise: no survivor should ever have to face the journey alone.
Today, TAPS is there from the first moments after a loss through the years that follow. The TAPS 24/7 National Military Survivor Helpline provides a compassionate voice whenever a survivor needs someone to listen, connect to resources or simply be there. TAPS Survivor Care Team members provide personalized support, while peer mentors connect survivors with others who have experienced a similar loss.
TAPS also provides grief and trauma support, casework assistance, guidance in navigating survivor benefits and financial resources, specialized support for suicide loss, survivor seminars and retreats, and age-appropriate programs for children and young survivors.
But TAPS understands that support is about more than services.
It is about remembering.
We remember the names, the stories, the laughter, the sacrifices and the lives of those who served. And we remember the families they left behind.
For TAPS families, remembrance is not confined to a single day or ceremony. It is woven into birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and the ordinary moments when the absence of a loved one is felt most deeply.
That is why TAPS is committed to being there for the long haul.
Grief does not follow a schedule. A survivor may need support immediately after a death, years later when a child reaches a milestone, or at a moment when an unexpected memory brings the loss rushing back. TAPS remains a community of care, compassion and hope throughout that journey.
And while the circumstances of every loss are different, one thing remains constant: we never forget.
We never forget the fallen.
We never forget the families who loved them.
And we never stop standing beside those families.
Because caring for America’s fallen heroes means caring for the people they loved.
When a hero falls, the mission of caring for their family continues. TAPS will be there: for today, for tomorrow and for the lifelong journey ahead.
TAPS is here 24/7.
800-959-TAPS (8277) | taps.org
The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) is the national nonprofit organization providing compassionate care and comprehensive resources to all those grieving a death in the military or veteran community.
