IRAQ VET Commits Suicide After Being Denied Health Care

[kpete]

This Marine's death came after he served in Iraq
When Jonathan Schulze came home from Iraq, he tried to live a normal life. But the war kept that from happening.
By Kevin Giles, Star Tribune
Last update: January 26, 2007 – 11:38 PM

At first, Jonathan Schulze tried to live with the nightmares and the grief he brought home from Iraq. He was a tough kid from central Minnesota, and more than that, a U.S. Marine to the core.

Yet his moods when he returned home told another story. He sobbed on his parents' couch as he told them how fellow Marines had died, and how he, a machine gunner, had killed the enemy. In his sleep, he screamed the names of dead comrades. He had visited a psychiatrist at the VA hospital in Minneapolis.

Two weeks ago, Schulze went to the VA hospital in St. Cloud. He told a staff member he was thinking of killing himself, and asked to be admitted to the mental health unit, said his father and stepmother, who accompanied him. They said he was told he couldn't be admitted that day. The next day, as he spoke to a counselor in St. Cloud by phone, he was told he was No. 26 on the waiting list, his parents said.

Four days later, Schulze, 25, committed suicide in his New Prague home.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/963363.html

[soup]

1. After deleting 4-letter expletives,

I've got nothing.

:grr: :cry:

[Liberal Veteran]

4. Fuck that...Stories like this evoke four letter expletives....

...and god forbid it never stops evoking them.

I'm outraged.

[Liberal Veteran]

2. Shameful!

Just fucking shameful.

All the money in the world for Haliburton and jack shit for our veterans!

What the fuck is wrong with our country?

[LeftyMom]

3. And every official who voted for the war shares in the blame.

I don't know how they sleep.

I hope they don't.

[halobeam]

5. I can't believe they can sleep. That's all the comfort I have right now

is to believe they are living an internal hell here on earth. That's all I can say right now either. :grr:

[ShortnFiery]

15. My faith reminds me that there's a seventh ring of hell reserved for

the entire Executive Branch and many of our warmongering Congressional Representatives.

What I've discovered is that only the power hungry antisocial people truly achieve in "our earthly life," but they will "pay the piper" for eternity in the afterlife. This incongruity is upsetting if one does not have faith that a true force for good in this world is worth struggling for against all odds, well I could not live with myself. Some would call me a chump, I'd like to think that I'm doing the best I can to be a force for good and understanding.

"The last shall be first and the first shall be last." That is, if we hoard and enjoy too much fame, fortune and great power at the expense of those who are poverty stricken and disenfranchised, the bill will come due at the Pearly Gates. The forgoing gives me comfort and strength to persevere in TRYING to do right not necessarily what's easy or convenient.

This young man will rest in peace. The grief of PTSD and depression that leads to the last escape of suicide does not make his choices, but a crying out for help to excape the pain. The VA could have prevented this act. Shame on them. I believe that God will hold him in his arms as he's welcomed into Heaven.

[halobeam]

27. I agree with much of what you said..

Trying to do the right thing for the right reasons, is a positive energy that never dies. He will rest in peace.

I'm not depressed or anything, but sometimes, I think that's the only place where true peace can ever be achieved. I find that sad. Sad for those trying to obtain that here, on earth, while others stomp on it, without a second thought of the damage they do to the human soul. We must co-exist, we all have an effect on each other, and therefore, I question if it's possible to truly be at peace here on earth.

[MindPilot]

8. But they said they were sorry...the vote was a mistake...

their president deceived them.

And we will probably make one of them president in a couple years. :mad:

[LeftyMom]

17. "Oh, I'm sorry I helped to kill a hundred thousand or so people.

Gee, it's really a shame I wasn't paying more attention. Oh well. Can I still be president?"

It's a damn shame that we'll likely wind up telling one of them yes.

[Liberal Veteran]

21. It's sorta beside the point.

We can all agree that the war in Iraq is a crock of shit that never should have happened, but I'm even more concerned with the fact that our veterans can't get decent health care.

We can flail around and be pissed about what happened in Iraq from now until the end of time, but hundreds of thousands of troops will be living with the consequences of this war no matter how much punishment we decide to dish out on those who led the country into the war.

As far as I am concerned, ameliorating the effects of this war by ensuring our troops and veterans have access to the very best care is is a much more important task.

This particular war never should have been, but there are certainly times when there is a need for war and when those times arise, we should do everything in our power to ensure that our returning veterans don't have to wait around for health care or mental health care.

That's the real story to me.

We can't go back in time 4 years and stop this invasion, but we can damn sure do something for our returning troops (in addition to trying to extricate our country from this ill-advised invasion).

[SpiralHawk]

6. BushCo republicons to our Veterans: "Eat shit and die."

The republicons tell a pack of lies to involve our sons and daughters in uniform in an ugly Oil Profits Crusade, designed to enrich mercenaries and munitions makers (republicons)...then they toss our honorable veterans crumbs.

No wonder George AWOL Bush is regarded as such a disgrace.

No wonder Dick "Five Military Deferments" Cheney is so widely loathed by the troops.

These republicon chickehawk liars are not fit to lead our men and women in unform.

[Liberal Veteran]

7. Republicons? More like republiscum.

I hate those fuckers with the heat of ten thousand burning suns for what they have done to our country.

[Earth_First]

9. Unreal.

I have no words to describe my emotions based on this.

"Support Our Troops" my ass!

[coffeenap]

10. Combat stress officer at Ft. Snelling says:

"reasons for mental illness among returning veterans are many and complex, but often relate to personality changes that service members must make while in uniform -- and especially in combat zones -- and then try to readjust to civilian life."

WE KNOW THIS ALREADY! These returning military people should AUTOMATICALLY get the help they need. This lack of attention to obvious needs is outrageous! People who must kill, face being killed, and watch their comrades being killed will be damaged--it is an unavoidable injury in combat. Why, oh why, can't our government provide the care they need??? (Oh, yes, I do know why...)

I am so sorry for him, and for his family, and for all of the people in our military today.

[Nikki Stone1]

11. What a waste of a decent young guy. (WHERE IS THE HEALTHCARE FOR VETS?!)

k & r

[Poiuyt]

12. Is this what they call supporting the troops?

[nealmhughes]

13. As soon as he said the tragic word of "suicide," most medical, police, and social service workers

are trained to take immediate action, like getting him to the nearest emergency room for a psych eval immediately.

I am a 6 year subvet, and the closest I ever came to combat was a bar brawl I tried to break up between sailors from the tender and Marines. Our idea of arduous was going to silent running and that meant peanut butter or spam sandwiches until out of that mode or eles being on the surface on the Irish Sea doing a slow bell.

I mourn for the lad and my brother, braver than far than I ever could hope to be. I encourage everyone to inform Rep. Kucinich's govt. reform committee. He is soliciting suggestions from everyone in the country on how to reform this Ayn Rand government of ours.

[MindPilot]

14. I get the sense that this war is far more brutal

psychologically more destructive than Vietnam ever was. I think the homecoming will be more difficult by magnitudes.

[Lasher]

26. I think the multiple combat tours are taking a toll

I don't think a single combat tour in Iraq is more traumatic than one in Vietnam. But there are more soldiers these days serving multiple combat tours, and that includes Afghanistan. I believe there is a direct relationship between the number of combat tours served and the percentage of soldiers who develop this sort of problem.

[mopinko]

16. coming soon to a town near you.

i remember news stories a year or so ago, about how they were sending shrinks to the front lines to "help" these soldiers. i knew they were just sending them out there to prop these guys up so they could keep killing. these guys are gonna make the homeless nam vets look like the business roundtable. not to mention whatever physical poisons, du, gulf war syndrome, whatever they are going to bring back. since they will already be having psychological trouble, they will tell them it is all in their heads.

[hashibabba]

22. One story I read on here recently told about a soldier who was

in Iraq and went to a shrink because he was having problems. The shrink gave him *several* doses of some antidepressant. Well, to begin with, it takes a good month for the newer ADs to really start to work (it was one of the newer ones, I just can't remember specifically which one--maybe Paxil or Zoloft). Several doses won't help him. Anyway, he shot a family. Now he'll probably go to jail instead of getting the help he needed (and deserved) in the first place.

[bleedingheart]

18. Veterans are only useful to republics when they want to get their picture taken

next to them for a campaign flyer...

This poor young man should have gotten healthcare either through the VA and if the VA could not take him he should have had the right to go to a hospital that could.

[TomClash]

19. May the entire neo-con movement do the same

Every last one of them.

When I read stuff like this, I want to shout expletives too.

Another death brought to you by: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Bolton, Richard Perle, Eliot Abrams, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, Bruce P. Jackson, Mark Gerson, Randy Scheunemann, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Gary Schmitt, Joe Lieberman, Leo Strauss, Henry Kissinger, Thomas Donnelly, Natan Scharansky, Paul Wolfkowitz, William Bennett, Peter Rodman, David Brooks, James Woolsey and a host of lesser lights.

[ShortnFiery]

23. Every singe one of these Neo-Cons are invested up to their eyeballs in the War Machine's

Corporate Conglomerates, i.e., The Military Industrial Complex.

They have truly committed crimes against humanity and will not be able to take all that BLOOD money with them on their trip to HELL. :evilgrin:

[TomClash]

24. No doubt about that

I often wonder - which comes first the money or the evil?

[GenDem]

20. How many more!

This story just ripped my heart out. Who is responsible for this kids death? --Bush and the VA fuckhead that turned him away are 1st and 2nd on my list.:cry:

[wryter2000]

25. Also on the greatest page

Widow of a soldier killed in Iraq commits suicide. Bush/Cheney et al. need to pay for their crimes.