Suicide Is Anything but Painless [View all]

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http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/13625/suicide_is_anything_but_painless


Iraq veteran and PTSD sufferer Brad Schwarz attends a Cubs game in Chicago on June 14 with his service dog, Panzer, and a group of veterans from the Wounded Warrior Project. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Before 21 year-old Army infantryman Derrick Kirkland hanged himself in his barracks in March 2010, he had attempted to take his life three times. After trying to commit suicide twice while serving in Iraq, he was sent to the Madigan Army Medical Center (MAMC) at Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM), located outside Olympia, Wash. Doctors pronounced him to be at “low to moderate” risk for self-injury and returned him to his unit, where his commanders reportedly called him a “coward” and a “piece of shit.”

As U.S. wars overseas drag on, stories like Kirkland’s have become increasingly common. Pentagon data released in June revealed that so far in 2012, nearly one active duty soldier has committed suicide each day, more than the number who have died in combat in Afghanistan. The rate is worse among veterans, with about 6,500 suicides logged each year.

As veterans and service members organize to demand mental healthcare, many also seek to challenge the wars that have necessitated returning traumatized troops to battle. “The suicide epidemic proves that the military and the U.S. government are completely incapable of caring for us when we get home from the war,” says Mike Prysner, an Iraq war vet and co-founder of the anti-war organization March Forward. “So we should just not go to begin with.”

In June, March Forward launched a campaign to provide resources and legal support to soldiers resisting deployment to Afghanistan, including both those applying for conscientious objector status and those who have gone AWOL. One such soldier is Sgt. Brook Thomas Lindsey, who was also stationed at JBLM and who fled the base in March 2012. He asserts that he was being returned to duty despite having repeatedly requested help for suicidal impulses. Lindsey turned himself into military police voluntarily in June, and now reportedly faces dishonorable discharge and up to a year in prison. (JBLM did not respond to a request for comment on Lindsey’s case.)