Contemplating what happened today. A few years ago my Fire Engine crew and I (I am a Firefighter in Austin,Texas)made a domestic violence call. When we got there, two men were holding down a third man. They were his brother and brother in law. He was trying to fight because he had just opened his letter from the army saying that he was being deployed for the third time to Iraq, and he just lost it. He wanted to get arrested so he wouldn't have to go back. He was arrested, then released, then deployed. This story is repeated many many times every week across the country. This is PTSD.
These soldiers don't start out being scared to deploy. They start out as brave men just like every other soldier. But some where down the line, something goes really wrong. Ten soldiers at Fort Hood have committed suicide this year, 75 since 2003. In 2008, 128 soldiers Army-wide committed suicide, for a rate of 20.2 per 100,000. The civilian rate in 2008 was 19.2 per 100,000. This is a silent epidemic.
Today 12 soldiers died at the hands of another, this year more than 100 will die at their own hands. This Major was an American, born in Virginia. Sometimes people at wits end turn inward in anger and frustration, sometimes they turn outward. None of them should do it. None of them should feel they have to. Many families suffered today about 50 families were traumatized today. Last year 128 families suffered the similar trauma with much less publicity. Hundreds more will suffer the same fate until this war ends.
Many of these soldiers didn't seek help, because of pride or social pressure. Some did and were ignored or turned down, some received help that didn't help enough. This Major was a mental health officer, trying to help others with this problem, he couldn't cope any more. He was wrong. Why was he put in a position were he thought he had to make this false choice? He must have considered that he would receive return fire, and he did. Suicide by murder. The worst choice. The Military has a big problem, and they ignored it for many years. I believe they started to address this within the last few years in a serious manner. Obviously there is a ways to go. This will not stop until the war stops. Until all wars stop. My condolences to all involved. The Commander in Chief has a big decision on his hands. I think the right one is to stop the war. None of his options are clear, though.
We started out trying to stop some very bad people. We have not come much closer to that goal. Stay or go, increase troops or not and by how much. How long do we stay? I think this Commander in Chief is vastly more qualified to make these judgments than the last one, but you may disagree. He is now burdened with these choices. God bless him and god bless all of us. God bless the Iraqis and the Afghans too, because many more of them have died than of us. The war is theirs, they suffer. their women and children die. They are refugees. It is noble of us to help rid their countries of evil, but ultimately they must be responsible for this.
I lived in Colombia during a period of violence, some of it directed at me personally. None of it is good. It is right to be angry at this Army Major. Is it right for us to continue to put our soldiers in harms way? Harms way from many directions, from home, from abroad, and from their own minds, unable to cope with the stress.
Be American, take responsibility for this and fight to stop PTSD, fight to stop suicide, fight to stop the war. All this blood is ultimately on all our hands.