TAMPA — With more than 1.5 million veterans in Florida, The Fire Watch works to protect those who need help.

The mission of the nonprofit is to prevent veteran suicide.

That is also now Ryan Haczynski's mission. His neighbor and friend of almost 20 years died by suicide in October.

Haczynski and The Fire Watch made sure veteran Mike Chisler got a military funeral.

He recently said his goodbye to Specialist Chisler who served in Vietnam. He was a medic in the Army.

The military service was held at Bay Pines National Cemetery.

"I was emotionally-overwhelmed just being part of the ceremony that was so special," said Haczynski.

Prior to the service, he reminisced to the beginning of their special bond, back 17 years.

Haczynski says he and Chisler connected over countless games of chess. He now has the very set they played on.

"That was probably the only time he talked about his experience and his service in Vietnam was when we were playing chess," he said. "He never talked about details more about the relationships he made, the bond he had with his friends."

The Tampa neighbors grew to be close friends, too. They shared a love of reading and live music.

"We definitely saw Rush together on one of their anniversary tours,” Haczynski said, flipping through Chisler's collection of concert tickets including Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton.

Those are memories he holds near.

"He really had no one left and I think it was just over time we continued to get closer," said he said.

He would later discover his friend was suffering in silence.

"All of that weighs on my heart the most, I wish I had seen it or known," he said.

Chisler died by suicide in October.

"The biggest impact on me is that I really want to do more to help veterans,” said Haczynski said.

To help, he recently completed Watch Stander training through The Fire Watch.

The nonprofit organization trains people online, then sends them into the community to help prevent veteran suicide and get veterans the help they need.

'If we just know what to ask and how to ask of a veteran, we can all help,” he said.

The training helps start conversations catered to the military culture.

“It’s never a comfortable conversation to have with anybody, but obviously there’s a sequence of questions that leads to even before you get to that all important question,” said Haczynski, who is prepared to ask those questions in honor of his friend.

"I've got to imagine as a medic, he saw a lot that he just didn’t want to talk about but I’m sure he saved many lives," he said while showing us Chisler's two Bronze Stars.

One will be placed in a memorial for Chisler, the other is with the veteran.

Haczynski received the American flag from his friend's funeral. He holds the stars and stripes near to honor of his friend, while staying on watch to protect other veterans who fought for us.

"Knowing that we lose so many veterans to suicide, I think one lost is too many and so we should all strive to work together to prevent that,  they’ve done so much for us," he said.