WP:Soldier Who Killed Self Added to War Casualties

[maddezmom]

By Theola S. Labbe
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 30, 2005; Page A16

A U.S. soldier who committed suicide at Walter Reed Army Medical Center nearly two years ago has been added to the official Defense Department tally of Iraq war casualties.

The name of Army Master Sgt. James C. Coons, 35, was added last month to the more than 1,600 other "Fallen Warriors" of Operation Iraqi Freedom who are listed on a public Web site of the Defense Department, http://www.defendamerica.mil . A military casualty board ruled in December that Coons's suicide in July 2003, which came after he received a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and was evacuated from Kuwait, should be considered a casualty of war.


Coons was featured in a front-page story in The Washington Post last year. At the time, military officials said it was Defense Department policy not to count as war casualties soldiers who served in the war and died by suicide outside the combat zone.

As a commander of the 385th Signal Company, Coons led soldiers and set up a communications infrastructure for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. He received a Bronze Star for his service. Several months later, he complained to doctors about hallucinations of a dead soldier's face. He took an overdose of sleeping pills in Kuwait and was taken to Walter Reed for psychiatric treatment.

~snip~
more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/29/AR2005052900918.html

[Mnemosyne]

1. As it should be,

the suicide count could be very large if they really started to pay attention. :puke:
May Mr. Coons rest in peace as he couldn't in his post-war life, as may the other poor souls driven over the edge by this "spread of democracy"
.O8)

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. What about all those special ops guys

from Fort Bragg that have committed suicide. Shouldn't they be included too?

[Mnemosyne]

4. It is so very sad for a life to end this way,

but to not be counted as a war death is a pathetic way to keep the count down. IMO

[Sanity Claws]

10. I'd like to hear more

about these guys. Got link?

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. Here's a link for a report about the first batch

Ft. Bragg Killings Blamed On Stress

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina, Nov. 7, 2002

AP) Five killings this summer involving couples at Fort Bragg were probably due to existing marital problems and the stress of separation while soldiers are away on duty, Army investigators said Thursday.

But the investigators also said military culture discourages soldiers and their families from seeking help when domestic problems can potentially be resolved.

The conclusions were in the summary of a report from a 19-member team, including mental and physical health workers and military clergy, who visited the base in August and September.

The team also said the anti-malaria drug Lariam, given to troops sent overseas, was unlikely to have been at fault. Side effects of the drug, also known as mefloquine, have been known to include psychotic episodes.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/26/national/main516500.shtml

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Dupe

[rodeodance]

5. NICELY SAID--as it should be.

[cornermouse]

2. That's heartbreaking.

[gratuitous]

6. Include the single car accident folks?

Some suicides use an automobile rather than a noose or a knife.

[leesa]

7. Question whether he's a casualty of war?? Don't we all have hallucinations

of dead soldier's faces haunting us? The war did this to him, no doubt.

[IndyOp]

8. All deaths of veterans that might be attributed to service-related causes

should be investigated and counted in the tally of war-dead. We desperately need to reflect on the real cost of war on Memorial Day -- not wave the flag and celebrate, but reflect on the cost...the whole multi-generational cost.

A suicide like that of Sgt. Coons will impact his entire family for generations. I know...

My cousin Mac served as a Green Beret in Vietnam. He was an M.D. - a surgeon. He met up with bodies minutes after they had been ripped open by bullets, shrapnel. One night, while walking with his best friend, a grenade exploded right next to him - he dove into a ditch on the side of the road. When he sat up he had goo all over the front of his shirt. The goo was brain matter of his best friend, now dead. He saved many lives while he was there, but he couldn't save his best friend and he couldn't save many of the other kids who were brought to him.

When he returned home he was 'fine.' He re-opened his practice and he and his wife had another son (their third). Seven years after his return, after the evening news was over and his wife and children were upstairs getting ready for bed, Mac lay down on the couch and slit his wrists. As the blood soaked into the couch, before the last of his strength left him, he pulled the trigger on the rifle that he cradled on his chest. His sons and wife raced down the stairs - they saw everything - the 7-year-old; 10-year-old; and 11-year-old. When my father returned from the funeral he said that the military had done an excellent job reconstructing Mac's head and face - it looked just like him. The only time in my life I ever saw my father cry was when he heard about Mac's death.

His sons are now fathers, his widow long-ago remarried, and the Vietnam War is still happening in our family.

[0007]

9. The UK should count David Kelly as a war death.....

Rembermer? On Thursday, July 17th sometime between 3 and 3:30pm, Dr. David Kelly started out on his usual afternoon walk. About 18 hours later, searchers found his body, left wrist slit, in a secluded lane on Harrowdown Hill. Kelly, the U.K.'s premier microbiologist, was in the center of a political maelstrom having been identified as the "leak" in information about the "dossier" Prime Minister Tony Blair had used to justify the war against Iraq. . . .

Or was it murder?

[applegrove]

13. Don't know about hallucinations. but they have really good drugs

for PTSD these days. Just a matter to tweaking And the time it takes to do that. You can be back on your feet and living a normal life without being haunted..for sure.

To all those who are suffering - just take the time out to work with your doctor and things will be much, much better.