Reservist's mother sues Columbus department over suicide

[Nambe]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)

The mother of an Army reservist has sued the city health department, claiming the agency's actions to deny him a promotion led to his suicide after he returned from Afghanistan. ..

Ratliff complained that he was promised a promotion and a raise in September 2002 before he left for a nine-month stint in Afghanistan, but the job was filled while he was away. When he returned, he was forced to resume his old job, which paid $4,000 less than the $35,000 a year paid by the job that came with the promotion. Columbus City Attorney Richard Pfeiffer said he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

Ratliff died last March. In e-mails to The Columbus Dispatch and his mother before he shot himself, Ratliff wrote that he couldn't find a lawyer to take his case after losing the promotion. "I guess the city knows this ... and they have won," he wrote. ..

"This has been so traumatic," Coats said. "The thought of Brandon with a gun to his head never goes away from me."

[HarveyBriggs]

1. Our soldiers deserve better.

These people fighting for us need us to welcome them with open arms. We don't need this stuff from public officials about how there were cutbacks or jobs went to others.

This is so classic Bush -- let's reward those who stayed home and crap on those who fight.

I can't see why somebody would commit suicide over four grand, but I can see how this can make somebody's contributions to his or her country seem so trivial and unappreciated.

But this is Columbus, I don't think they've settled over a poorly serviced fire truck that killed some firefighters have they?

I'm not happy with those for whom "Support our troops" is some meaningless phrase, forgotten the first moment it will cost them anything -- all over a four grand raise? C'mon Columbus.

Don't ever hear of somebody losing a job or promotion to a soldier who has returned home, do we?

Here in Iowa, we had a wounded soldier turned out of a nightclub because his new prosthetics did not conform to the dress code. And a sherrif's deputy refused his old job because of "cutbacks" -- even though somebody was hired in his place while he was off fighting for tax cuts. Both events happened deep in Republican held territory.

Harvey Briggs

[BeHereNow]

2. "why somebody would commit suicide..."

My nephew and his wife are both serving-
He is convinced that the suicides are connected to
the vaccines...he also says the suicide rate is
MUCH higher than we are hearing.
It is the belief of MANY soldiers that the vaccines
are at the root of the suicides, so it may not be
that this man committed suicide over $4,000.00,
more likely the disappointment triggered what had
been brewing for a long time.
BHN

[phillysuse]

3. Suicide and the military - Does Larian for malaria play a role?

I don't think it likely that vaccines are associated with
suicide.

However, Larian is a drug used in the military to prevent malaria
and IT IS ASSOCIATED WITH A SIGNIFICANT INCIDENCE OF SUICIDE AS A SIDE EFFECT.