Tragic Suicide of Soldier: His Final Protest Against an Unjust War?

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0813-02.htm


Celebration: Peter Mahoney, who served in Iraq, arrived back in Carlisle on July 10 – the date of his daughter Vicky’s fifth birthday
Published on Friday, August 13, 2004 by the Independent/UK
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Was the Tragic Suicide of a TA Soldier His Final Protest Against an Unjust War?
by Jonathan Brown

Peter Mahoney found it hard to settle into normal life after returning from the war in Iraq. Last week, he put on his Territorial Army uniform for one last time, his head freshly shaved, and returned to the home that he had, until five weeks earlier, shared with his wife and four children.

Attaching a hosepipe to the exhaust of the family car, parked in the garage of their home in Botcherby, a small estate on the outskirts of Carlisle, he started the engine.

His experiences as a soldier attached to the Royal Logistics Corps, ferrying medical supplies and injured soldiers between the front line and British Army field hospitals near the Kuwaiti border, had left him deeply scarred and suffering from depression.

He had never believed in the war and had been a vocal critic within his local community of the British Government's decision to invade Iraq. He had publicly accused Tony Blair of being George Bush's "puppet". Like many who opposed the invasion, he thought weapons of mass destruction were a "smokescreen". The real issue, he contested, was seizing Saddam's oilfields.


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How can a person live with all the horror of an unjust, unprovoked war? How will the Iraqi people we "liberated" and claimed to care so much about, deal with the fallout? Our own soldiers and the Brits?

Thank you George F'in Bush. Thank you for all the torment. I hope the screams of dying children keep you up at night, give you nightmares, make you question your own humanity.

Oh, wait. You've laid that burden on the lowly soldier you DESPISE. Thanks George.

I weep for that soldier and his family.

F*CK GEORGE BUSH!!!!!!!!

will come when the heartless thugs like Limbo, Bootzy, O'Liely and Baby Jayzuss tear down his war record.

"We support the troops," they say. "As long as they kill, maim and torture and never question how much Jayzuss loves it."

The world to ruin! Started a fucking war for profit! How I wish Bushler was actually forced to read these kinds of stories (assuming the scumbag idiot still knows how to read).

:puke:

And his base doesn't either.

They couldn't care less about death. As long as they have power, more power and then some more power.

there must be a few sparks of conscience there, albeit buried and locked away. How to reach them? The problem is I don't think they want to be reached.

I thought all soldiers coming back from war received counseling. Bastards. If anyone in the Bush administration gave a shit they'd hand out prozac to everyone, since they have the drug companies in their pockets.

Wait, what the hell am I thinking? They can't get body armor and water so I suppose counseling is even lower on the list.

Even though I don't believe in it, may Bush rot in hell.

:crazy:

Kanary

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is really heart-wrenching. I wish peace and understanding for Peter's soul, his wife and his children.

May God's justice pevail.

Parents Mourn Son's Suicide After Returning From Iraq Duty:.......
"He's a Casualty of War But He'll Never Be Known As That"

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/11/145...

During the Democratic National Convention in Boston, the parents of Jeffrey Lucey, a U.S. soldier who killed himself after returning home from military duty in Iraq, spoke publicly for the first time on Democracy Now!

Jeffery Lucey signed up for the Marine Reserves straight out of high school. In February 2003, one month before the invasion, he was shipped out to Iraq. He was deployed there for five months, during which he fought in the battle of Nasiriyah. He returned to the U.S. later that year.

A few months after his return, Jeffrey's parents, Kevin and Joyce, began noticing signs of what they later came to know as post-traumatic stress syndrome. In late May 2004, they had Jeffrey involuntarily committed to a military veteran's hospital after he ignored his parents' and sister, Debbie's pleas to seek help. The hospital discharged him after a few days.

Three weeks later on June 22nd, Jeffrey Lucey took his own life. He was 23 years old. His father, Kevin came home to find his son had hung himself with a hose in the cellar of their house. The dog tags of two Iraqi prisoners he said he was forced to shoot unarmed, lay on his bed.

Shortly after his death, Kevin and Joyce Lucey joined us on the program to talk about their son. After the broadcast, we continued our conversation with them.

:cry: :cry: :cry: "The dog tags of two Iraqi prisoners he said he was forced to shoot unarmed, lay on his bed."

and there have been many, many suicides whose stories have not been told.

with Vietnam. There were as many suicides as deaths from combat.

"When will they ever learn.........?"

Kanary, who knows where all the flowers went.....

is his complete refusal to learn one damn thing from Vietnam (as he destroys more lives and families)

leads to tragedy.

He is a walking example of that, but it's also true of the other side.

Kanary

commitment" DOES NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM????

I really wish people would get educated about this!

Kanary, devastated that one more life was wasted........

things happen. In Desert Storm, a group of Iraqis faked a surrender then fired on us wounding one of my men. A breif firefight followed and we killed a couple of them. The others tried to surrender and we shot two more. The others ran into the desert and we chased them down and shot them in the back as they ran.

No one gave us orders to do this. There was not even any involved thought process in this, we just went with our fear, rage (for lack of another word) passion.

To this day, it has bothered me and late at night, those events play themseleves back on the inside of my eyelids.

It is not whether the war was just or not that drives a man to call it quits on life like this. In battle you don't care, they shoot at you, you shoot back, fuck the politics behind it. It is the demons you dig up that come home to roost that does it.

It is sad, so sad that the actions of a leader set these demons loose on our young men and women. Late at night, alone in the dark, do the deaths and faces of these men even cross his mind? I think I know the answer and it saddens me.

Very sobering, and your honest insight is so important to us all!

I can only imagine.......

Have you considered speaking about this to young men now? I know that vets usually don't want to talk abut these things, but I think it's vital, if we're ever to learn *anything*.

Kanary

were "unarmed"captives ...one of the Iraqi's Lucey was ordered to shoot and kill was just "a boy"...and this was too ugly and evil a deed for this young soldier's soul to bare.

:cry:there is more....as PP posted on another thread:

He's not alone

This was published in April, so I'm sure the numbers are even higher. This also doesn't take into account those who come home and start abusing wives and children. And don't forget that both McVeigh and Mohammed were both vets of the first Gulf War.

Humans are NOT designed to be killing machines and you can't just flip a switch to turn them off. What a tragic, senseless loss of so many lives.


Troops in Iraq on Suicide Watch
24 U.S. personnel known to have killed themselves But Pentagon's psychiatric team finds `no crisis'

Twenty-four Americans — 20 army personnel, two Marines and two sailors — are known to have taken their own lives in Iraq in the past year. Two of them were female. Four other deaths are being investigated.

That means a suicide rate of 17.3 per 100,000, a figure far in excess of last year's overall U.S. military rate of 12.8.

It doesn't include the deaths of newly States-sided troops, which the Pentagon doesn't count. There have been seven such suicides, including those of two soldiers who killed themselves while patients at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Another three deaths are under investigation.

Already, one in every 10 soldiers evacuated out of Iraq for medical care is suffering from mental-health problems. Outraged veterans groups say the military is totally unprepared for the onslaught of post-traumatic stress disorders coming in the months ahead as more troops return home.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0411-03.htm

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From the article:

KEVIN LUCEY: My understanding was that there was a higher ranking official who told Jeff, and this is the quote that is etched in my mind, “pull the trigger, Lucey.” And it was two unarmed Iraqis. He shot them from about five feet away, and he watched them die. It was the first time, well, that he shot anybody. He told me those deaths he knew he did. That's what he said.

JOYCE LUCEY: One of them, he--Debbie just told me on the phone that he said he was looking at this boy's eyes and the boy was shaking. He was shaking.

KEVIN LUCEY: He told me about how that haunted him. “It's somebody's son, it's somebody's brother, pa. It's somebody’s father.” Jeff, I think was writing down when he came back, he didn't see dead soldiers. He saw dead people. That was one of the things that I guess concerns somebody. That's where--that was the beginning of the cancer--the Post-Traumatic Stress.

to effectively dismiss the very rare and valuable sharing of a vet in our midst.

I really hope that you will, rather than just blast me, put yourself in the vet's shoes, and reconsider your words.

Kanary

is what you took away from my post ...i know it is not our soldier's sin...it is the old men (evil chickenhawks) in the white house sins...it is beyond my words to describe what spiritual and physiological damage this insane regime has brought down our children :cry:

I'm crying today about all the seperation in our party, and I very much appreciated you willing to hear me out. That means more than you know.

:hug:

Kanary

the human spirit is strong but also as fragile as a china doll.

we human beings have to find better ways to live on this earth.

*whatever* the circumstances.

That fragility of spirit doesn't draw boundaries, deciding which pain is worse. It *all* inflicts damage.

Quantification just serves to seperate more.

One way we find better ways, G_j, is to learn to listen more. Given that we can't even seem to do that on DU, I havae little hope.

Kanary

(I registered as a CC) That war, never-the-less wounded me, just as this war has wounded us all.

voices crying out for non-violent solutions to the world's problems
need be listened to. MLK's Riverside Church speech is one of the most powerful statements ever made about the Vietnam war and the soul of America.
I wish America had taken the time listen to it again.

is very difficult to live with.

You doubt yourself constantly, replaying events and choices in your head.

You doubt others, not trusting yourself enough to trust anyone else.

There are flashbacks of the most horrifying magnitude replayed in your head at the oddest triggers.

Nightmares are almost indistinguishable from reality - even after you wake up.

You sometimes - on really bad days - imagine that death would be better than trying to navigate through the minefield your mind has become on a daily basis.

AND:

Uneducated, uncaring people do not understand why you get so frustrated with yourself and with the disappointments in life. They have no patience, and when you can't bring yourself to talk about what you're going through, it alienates others and they become even less able to tolerate your erratic or depressed behavior.


It sucks.

And many of our troops will come home with PTSD.

Please remember that in the years to come.

But, then, I've come to expect that of you. :hug:

I know whereof you speak. After being beaten repeatedly by (now ex) husband, having son kidnapped, and other wonderful experiences I can't talk about, I also have PTSD, and could enlarge on each one of your points.

However, what you are saying about uneducated and uncaring people deserves to be stressed and repeated.... they CAUSE MORE DAMAGE THAN WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE.

And, as I alluded to in an earlier post, many of those uneducated and uncaring people are the ones who are hired to staff the very hospitals these patients are sent to unwillingly. I've interviewed many people who have had that expereince, and it is something that badly needs to be exposed. Mostly, what people say who were sent to a hospital after a suicide attempt, is that what they mostly got out of the experience was learning better and more effective ways of completing the job.

What you have written deserves to be read and reread by all...... this is important to understand.

There will be so many returning vets who will need us to understand.

Kanary

I have never been committed, but I have had to "rescue" those who have.
And I wonder that in a huge metropolis, teeming with psychologists and psychiatrists, who pride themselves on their grasp of and "command over" the human mind, the mental hospitals resemble dungeons in some medieval horror flick.

No "Doctor" of the Mind has had the bulas to explain this tragedy so I simply accept that their "science" is not one they actually care to practice.

Actually it was one of their own - one of three fantastic "shrinks" I have met - who told me to beware of most of them.

Later, after much experience and after several were arrested embezzling funds meant for the mentally ill, I decided they did not choose to exercise a very social, healthy command of their own minds. Science failed, and continues to fail us all in this regard.

But your drug stocks are through the roof, so screw it!!!!!

"Give that patient another cocktail, George, while I finish watching my soap."

Would you care to elaborate more on the "rescues"?

Or, start a thread on it? I think this is *very* important for so many to know about..... it's not something most people hear the truth about.

I have been shocked to the core to hear stories of what people have gone through -- in their most vulnerable times! -- and, yes, it's downright medieval.

A shrink I used to go to told me he could tell me the actual date that the decision was made to focus on meds. It was at the annual convention of shrinks, and they were discussing the impact that psychologists and social workers had had on their practices (and their incomes), and decided that if they were to stress meds, then they would once again be on the top of the heap. Isn't that just charming? And, so ugly predictable?

It's just all so sick. Physician, heal thyself!!

Kanary

I won't retell anything, and wouldn't want to recall friends' suffering.

If the pros don't try to do more for those who need help their training is of little benefit to mankind.

I hope the mental health professionals reach out to our newest Vets and make a pledge to help some of the older ones, too.

Surely someone in Congress can approve this, if Illinois can fund compulsory mental health screenings for all children (without parental approval, BTW).

Our Vets need to be supported even if the media forgets them after their glorious sendoff....

except that I fear many of them are more damaging than they are helpful.

I sometimes think it would be more helpful to train interested vets in a peer counseling modality. They've been there, they know what helps and what hinders, and can often relate a whole lot better.

all of this is just so hard to talk about, for those of us who worked so hard to prevent this latest mess, and knew all of this was coming.

So much rage, so much fear, and so many tears.

All for $$$

May they all rot with their $$$$.......

Kanary

this is the truth that all the war-happy arm-chair zealots won't talk about, the burden that so many carry with them into the future.
America will require great healing, first of all we have to stop creating the madness.

thank you for sharing your experience

for your post. I truly believe that your honesty will help somebody to understand a little better what it is like.

the soldiers sin...it is bush*s sin!

dude, you have paid the ultimate price. a warrior like yourself has to depend in his commander in chief. that's really what you pledged when you decided to supress your individuality for the good of the unit. you pledged your allegiance. so when a commander comes along who breaks that trust, you are the one who pays the price. a warrior who battles for an honorable purpose does not suffer as much mental anguish. Unfortunate souls like you, who fought without that benefit are forced to pay, through the pain.

I wish you well and pray for you.

by a grenade a few weeks ago. Never in my worst nightmares, was she supposed to witness the same horrors I did years ago.

My son will bear permanent scars from his time in the service, though training related.

I can tell you that the time one's children are at war is the worst time in any parent's life.

What more can be said?

Having lost a child myself, I know that your own suffering is hard enough, but nothing matches the suffering of a parent watching their child suffer. NOTHING!

This must also bring back your own experiences. :hug:

Where is she now, if it's OK to ask. I know it must be hard to talk about, so don't feel like you need to answer more than you are comfortable with. I'll be thinking of her. Please let her know there are many here who wish her well!

So glad you posted again...... please stay with us....

Kanary

Right now she is spending a few days with her mom (my ex-wife) and sister.

She will be 100% and is close to it now. She has to report back to duty in a couple of weeks. Her unit is coming up on a rotation so she is not going back. I thank God for that.

She got mostly shrapnel wounds on her leg and arm, though she did suffer a gash to her face. Physically she will be fine with a few scars and a tale to regale people with. I hope her mental state does not go all to shit like mine does at times.

After she left to see her mom, I noticed she took my Purple Heart with her. I do not know what to make of this.

She's very lucky to have a dad she can really talk to, and I'm glad that you are able to be so forthright about your experiences.

I really know what you mean about mental state "going all to shit at times". As G_j said earlier, yes, we are strong in a lot of ways, but the human psyche is also quite fragile. We just have no respect for that. I appreciate that you can speak of it so honestly.

This is all so very useless. The whole thing is so completely stooooooopid. Do you think the human race will ever grown beyond this childish need to blow up everything, and everyone?

Do you find many vets able to talk about these things?

Kanary

Perhaps what you have learned can help some, but that is truly terrible. I'm so sorry!

23 yr old Marine days before his suicide.

Man, it doesn't get sadder than that.

I'm glad he was able to be so honest about his needs, and I hope his dad had the sense to respond kindly.

thanks for posting.....

I wish we could let them all know we care......

Kanary

At least his dad had that....

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

I so much appreciate these wonderful people sharing all of this.

If only we had a nation of people with hearts who could hear it.......

thank you so very much for reporting this...

All these stories and pictures need to be collected.

So many of the Vietnam suicides went unnoticed, and we just let that happen anymore.

Especially, young people need to hear all this.

Kanary

Kids revert when they're confused and in trouble. When I heard that, it just hit me right between the eyes.

It's the body's way to cope. And to recoup.

All this makes me want to pummel the next person who says "We're never given more than we can handle"

I so much appreciate your sensitivity to this story...... I'm in a place where I really need to know there are still people like you in this world who have a heart.

I can imagine it makes you look at your own kids a little differently.

BTW, where did you hear this story?

Kanary

Here in Pittsburgh, CMU's radio station WRCT plays DN from 8am to 9am. It's gotten to the point where I can't stand the rah rah coverage of NPR, so I either listen to tapes or Amy Goodman on my drive to work.

I found out during the convention that I actually get LINK tv, which carries DN, and recorded it the rest of the convention. However, this must have been before I knew about it.

I appreciate you filling me in on this.

Kanary

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/11/145205

Transcript:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/08/11/145205#transcript

KEVIN LUCEY: In about a week, Joyce reminded me, about a week before…week-and-a-half beforehand, here about 11:00 at night I have this 23-year-old marine asking me if he could curl up in my lap like he used to when he was a little boy. Thank God I did. Thank God I did.

JOYCE LUCEY: The therapist said he was regressing, looking for a safe place.

KEVIN LUCEY: And he…we must have looked comical.

JOYCE LUCEY: My daughter was there. She told me that…she says, “Mom, you will not believe what Jeff did tonight.” I said, “what?” “He wanted to sit on Dad's lap. I couldn't believe it, Mom.” It scared me. It scared me.

KEVIN LUCEY: He curled up just like he used to curl up beforehand. We were able to give comfort. One of the things that I have to…people come up to Joyce and I and say how we're so strong. And I say, bull < bleep > because one of the things…how many families went through this with Desert Storm with this and all of the other wars, and I…I read newspapers. I’m a news fanatic. And you know, I never thought about the human cost. I never thought about--I would read statistics and I would say, god, that's, that's horrible, but that was it. And now it's thrown us into a huge chaotic thing, and we told--I think I told--I don't know who I told, Joyce and I want to be able to sit down with parents and tell them, if you suspect, don't rationalize it away like we did, saying he was just having a bad day. Be aggressive.

I couldn't hate him anymore then I already do. So way the hate grows deeper.

(I stood vigil in the Asheville park with this guy)

http://www.themountaineer.com/archives/2004/06/07/topstories_exmarinesviewsoniraq.html

Ex-Marine’s views on Iraq War reach a worldwide audience
by JEFF SCHMERKER

Staff writer

The day Jimmy Massey told his story to the world, his life changed.

Massey, in an interview with The Enterprise Mountaineer in February, said he was sick of the war in Iraq, sick of what he called the killing of innocent civilians, sick of the absurdity of the mission. His story, titled “The high price of war leaves one man broken,” ran Feb. 11.

A few weeks later, a group called Veterans For Peace called Massey, asking him to join. He did, and talked at peace rallies and, wearing his uniform, spoke at schools and events about what he called the unnecessary killing of innocent Iraqis. He stood at a park in Asheville holding a sign saying, “I killed innocent civilians for our government.” He was jeered, he was derided, and he did not care.

<snip>
The car made it past the first two Humvees. Massey was in the second row. For just an instant, he said, he made eye contact with the driver. The Kia had four men in it. Massey fired and Marines around him joined in. The Kia came to a rest right in front of him, three of the four men shot dead.

It’s that sight of the driver which has haunted Massey all these months.

<snip>
“He looked up at me and said, ‘Why did you kill my brother? We didn’t do anything.”

Massey came to believe that most of the time when he shot to kill, he was killing civilians. What he saw disturbed him, and that’s the story he has told over and over again to reporters from around the world and which he will relate in a book, tentatively titled “Cowboys From Hell,” expected to be out later this summer.

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