“He did something, or he saw something, that destroyed him,”

SOLDIERS ONCE ...AND YOUNG

Tai Moses, AlterNet

Iraq combat veterans offer raw, compelling testimony to the
horrors of war and the anguish of returning home.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/20140/

After serving a 12-month tour of duty in Iraq last year, Marine Lance Corporal Jeff Lucey returned home to his relieved family with no injuries – or at least none that were visible. “When we didn’t see him tremendously traumatized when he returned, we thought, 'Oh, thank god,'” says his father, Kevin Lucey. “And then it exploded.”

For months the 23-year-old battled his wartime demons; nightmares, bouts of depression and anxiety, and crushing guilt – classic symptoms of acute post-traumatic stress.

“He told me he was a murderer,” says Jeff’s sister, Debra. “He said, 'Don’t you understand? Your brother’s a murderer.’”

On June 22, 2004, Jeff Lucey lost his battle. He hanged himself from a rafter in the cellar of his family home.

“He did something, or he saw something, that destroyed him,” ventures his mother, Joyce. “So that when he came back, he took his own life.”

..more..

:cry:

I just started Michael Moore's book of Letters from Iraq soldiers. It is very sad, and I keep wondering how many will end up at home in one piece only to suffer like this poor kid....

:(

have no idea how many friends and family of these soldiers will be effected and how the wounds will be open for generations.
They have no idea how deep the hurt and serious the repercussions are.
...
I guess Bush's rose colored glasses obscure the color of blood.

it doesn't apply to them. They float in their haute beorgeois
lives. War is not for them - it's for "others" to fight.

Does any think John Kerry was wrong when he said GIs committed atrocities in 'Nam?

We're creating the next generation of homeless vets, many of them addicts and alcoholics just trying to medicate the pain of their PTSD. But most of us knew that going in.

He should be counted just as much as any other soldier that has been injured physically. The wounds are just as deep, they just aren't as visible.

and I doubt if we'll see any concerted effort on the media's part to bring attention to these casualties either.

They should be on the wall, just as the ones who died in battle, or from their wounds.

Twice as many Vietnam vets suicided as were killed in battle.

My generation.

Now another generation.

The longer it goes on, the more tragedies there will be.

OUT OF IRAQ, NOW!!!

Kanary

Wow, really?

I've been to the Vietnam Memorial. Seeing all those names is very sobering. Twice as many died by suicide????

It is just so unfair, I don't understand why people aren't outraged. My husband was labeled as 30% disabled for PTSD (Vietnam) and we are trying to get a higher percentage due to unemployability. He can't hold a job even though he is brilliant and has computer tech skills. Many times during the day he just shuts down. He doesn't work while I work nights. He has to get my son on the bus and take care of the house, but he can barely handle that. He will sit for hours at the computer, smoking cigarettes (if he thinks I won't catch him smoking in the house), and playing solitaire. Our house is the worst looking place on the block, even though he is home all of the time, with the exception of his AA meetings. It is so sad. He has lost so many jobs that he is terrified of getting another job just to lose it again.

but it grates on my how little he accomplishes each day while I'm here working nights trying to keep it all together with two kids in college.

are better off than veterans with PTSD because it's just not manly to have PTSD. Society hasn't made much progress since the Patton incident in WWII.

The paradox is that self anointed Christan leaders approve war but Christ never supported war. Did Christ teach that deeds that destroy the spirit, i.e. PTSD, can do more damage than deeds that destroy the body?

I really do know.

Unfortunately, the only way it really gets better, is for them to go back and deal with all the emotions. That's usually exactly what they don't want to do.

I can understand your anger, and I can understand what he's dealing with.

And, all for what.... for more companies to make $$$ for their CEOs.

It's really sick.

Kanary

and saw. To die alone in guilt and grief like that is such a waste. Especially when you have ads airing from the "Swift Boaters" showing Kerry describing what some soldiers from Vietnam reportedly did there.

This whole issue is going to tear us all apart. It's Vietnam again...all the anger...the suffering that was swept under the rug by the Repugs for decades since.

I can't stand more of this. I went through it once...and to have it all back..and to know that the reaction in the US is the same "stick your head in the sand and ignore it," as it was back then is unbelievable to me.. How could the same scenario be repeated? And, those of us who tried to stop it are now the "Fringe/Dean Left" of the Democratic Party?
I've even seen posters on DU in the last week saying "Pacifists." As if protesting against an illegal war makes one a Pacifist. It's the new "talking point" being put out by both our own Democrats and the Repugs to push us away.
:shrug:

it doesn't help that people have decided to rewrite the history of the Vietnam war. If we can't tell the truth about that, if Americans feel they have to lie about Vietnam, the Iraq war Veterans are going to be just as screwed as their Vietnam Veteran counterparts. So are the swiftvet folks going to address the documented accounts from Vietnam in the National Archives? Of course not.
It makes me so mad I can hardly think sometimes.

Yup, a friend and I were saying today that the Dem party starts exploding on Nov 3.

Remember when DU was all anti-war? Now we are supposed to put up with being mocked? I don't think so. The party has tried to strong-arm us to the point of extinction. They think they can do without us... fine. Let 'em try.

I'm afraid it's going to be an ugly explosion, and the party will be in tatters. Too bad, but this is THE LAST election I sell out my soul!!! This is the line in the sand.

Kanary, another one who is politically homeless

there are now some powerful networks in place and we will use them to continue working for peace and to bring the troops home. If anyone thinks we are going away, they have a big surprise in store.
I hope DU will let us work on these issues here also after Kerry is elected.

Judging from what I read daily, I have my doubts.

Kanary
edited to say: I don't think we can take anything for granted. I hope there are efforts being made to keep contacts open.

... to never blame the troops. They have enough s**t to deal with. They only do what they are told and try to survive the best they can while doing it.

Over the past year there have been an unusually high number of suicides among U.S. troops in Iraq, and hundreds of soldiers experiencing psychological problems have been evacuated from the country. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's recent announcement authorizing the extension -- by at least three months -- of the tours of duty of some 20,000 soldiers set to return home, and the possibility of intensified urban warfare, may add to the stress suffered by soldiers serving in Iraq.

In response, the U.S. has increased the use of combat stress control teams, established a toll-free crisis hotline for service members having problems dealing with stress, and set up recuperation centers where soldiers can chill out for a few days before returning to the front lines. Questions about whether these actions are too little too late, and how the soldiers will be treated when they return home, remain to be answered.

Twenty-five soldiers have taken their lives during the past year in the Iraq war. In addition, there have been seven suicides among newly State-sided troops, including two soldiers who killed themselves while patients at Walter Reed Army Hospital, the Toronto Star recently reported.

The suicide rate for army troops in Iraq has been 17.3 per 100,000 soldiers, compared to the overall Army rate of 11.9 per 100,000 between 1995 and 2002. According to StrategyPage.com, this rate is higher than the rate for all branches of the military during the Vietnam War, which was 15.6, and higher than during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, which had a 3.6 rate for all branches.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/May2004/Berkowitz0524.htm

George Bush is a War Criminal.

any many can tell you that war was absolute hell.
Seasoned war reporters have said Iraq is the most dangerous place they have ever reported from and they begin to wonder why they bother to cover stories that don't get aired or that nobody seems to care about.
America is in deep deep trouble.

These stories make me so f*cking angry. I'd like to choke every bastard that thought this war was just. This is so wrong.

God dam him, that shall not be named!

As a society, we are not a self-reflective people.

"Get past it"

"Get on with your life"

"Don't dwell on it"

That's what we are continuualy told.

We obey.

And don't learn.

Kanary

And if * is "born again" may he burn in hell. There are no words for this.

Large numbers of soldiers who returned from Vietnam suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome. Compared to the civilian population, veterans of that war suffered higher levels of incarceration, unemployment, homelessness, alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide.

In a way, you can almost say that many more died than the 58,000 soldiers whose names are etched on that black granite wall in DC. They died on the fields of battle in that faraway country in a remote corner of the world. It's just that they died on the inside. Death came later for them.

The true costs of war cannot simply be measured in lives lost and property destroyed. If we could also measure emotional suffering and souls lost, then we'd be more horrified of war than we are already because the price would be far beyond what many could or want to bear.

By the time * gets through with this old world, we may all be suffering from it...

The time is now to contact your legislators and local mental health care providers to inquire about plans they may have to help our returning vets. Vetwife probably knows more about the details.

Any help you can give our vets will be the best gift you could offer them.

My next bumpersticker? "It Takes More Than A Ribbon"