Suicides in Iraq, Questions at Home

[kskiska]

Pentagon Tight-Lipped as Self-Inflicted Military Deaths Mount

Thursday, February 19, 2004; Page A01

LUFKIN, Tex. -- Two-year-old Jada Suell tumbled out of the car and ran ahead of everyone -- her grandmother, her mother, her cousins and her 4-year-old sister, Jakayla -- toward the grave of Joseph Dewayne Suell.

"Dada," said the little girl. In the Sunday afternoon quiet of Cedar Grove cemetery, her toddler voice reverberated like a shout.

"Yes, we're going to Daddy's grave," her grandmother Rena Mathis said reassuringly.

The silver grave cover bore colorful wreaths and American flags -- a nod to Suell's three years of military service. He was deployed to Iraq in April 2003 as an Army petroleum supply specialist out of Fort Sill, Okla. Less than two months later, he was dead.

A report provided to the family at their request says that the 24-year-old died of a drug overdose on Father's Day, one of 22 suicides reported among troops in Iraq last year.

According to William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, who discussed the suicides in a briefing last month, that represents a rate of more than 13.5 per 100,000 troops, about 20 percent higher than the recent Army average of 10.5 to 11. The Pentagon plans to release the findings of a team sent to Iraq last fall to investigate the mental health of the troops, including suicides.

The number Winkenwerder cited does not include cases under investigation, so the actual number may be higher. It also excludes the suicides by soldiers who have returned to the United States. For instance, two soldiers undergoing mental health treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington reportedly committed suicide there, in July 2003 and last month. In its weekly report on the treatment of returning battlefield soldiers, the hospital never mentioned the suicides. An official at Walter Reed said the deaths are "suspected" suicides and are being investigated by the Army's criminal division.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52735-2004Feb18.html

[GreyV]

1. Lot to consider....

First, screening process is all but gone. Military is desperate and is accepting anybody nowadays. Lot of "unstable" element gets in. Bad element too, but that's a different discussion altogether. Some units are nothing more than "Thug R Us" outfits. Anyways, cutting some poor Iraqi in half with your cannon or blowing some poor Iraqi womans head off...well, all that can't have a good effect on human psyche.

[Mari333]

2. I tried to tell Michael about this before he went

But I dont think it worked. I hope he doesnt do anything stupid to himself or anyone else.
I hope he isnt insane when he gets back. If he gets back.

[tkmorris]

5. He'll get back

I've never posted to your threads about him because in the end it seemed there was naught to say really. But to this, I say he'll return. And most likely in one piece, mentally as well as physically.

I know what you've said to him. You prepared him well for what he will see. He WILL remember. I've been there (not this time around, but similar) and I know. When the trouble comes he will remember what you said and he will keep his head down. Just a few more months and he will come home.

Keep the faith Mari. Tis cheap magic, but it's all we have.

[Woodstock]

3. There was another similar article in the Baltimore Sun today

More blood on Bush's hands...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-te.soldier18feb18,0,4223425.story

The old man looks down at the grave, so fresh it has no marker and the squares of sod have not yet grown together. He has come to visit his only grandson.

Rayburn Seeley last set foot on this spot Jan. 22, the day Army Spc. Jeremy S. Seeley was buried with military honors outside his hometown at age 28...

Jeremy Seeley survived Iraq but not the homecoming. Now his grandfather can't help wondering if the war played a part in his death, much as Vietnam sent Jeremy's father, Zane, into a downward spiral 30 years ago.

Ray Seeley, a hale 78, has heard about the suicides of those who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. To some, his grandson's death fits a disturbing pattern of soldiers making it out of Iraq only to die after coming home.

The Army says 21 soldiers have killed themselves in Iraq or Kuwait since the war began last March, a rate officials concede is higher than that in the overall Army population. But the figure does not include nearly 70 suicides in the United States after a tour in Iraq, according to the National Gulf War Resource Center, a veterans advocacy group...

[leftchick]

4. omg....so it is really at least 91 suicides?!?

This is so sick and sad... Bring em Home! :(

[militarymanusaf]

6. An unfortunate detail wasn't mentioned...

if a GI commits suicide then the Gov't doesn't have to pay the SGLI (life insurance). Most military personnel (myself included) pay $16.25 a month for a $250,000 policy. If the cause of death is suicide then none of that money is paid to the beneficiary(s).

[0007]

7. Could these deaths be the result of one questioning

the many reasons why we're in Iraq