Returning soldiers not getting help

[JoFerret]

http://www.gazette.com/display.php?sid=871583

<<As Army officials try to figure out what led a Green Beret based at Fort Carson to kill himself Sunday, veteran advocates say soldiers returning from war aren’t getting the help they need.

Chief Warrant Officer William Howell, 36, shot himself in the head outside his Monument home during a confrontation with police. Authorities had been called to the house by his distraught wife, who said the couple were having an argument.

Howell had been home for three weeks after serving a 10-month tour in Iraq with an elite fighting unit that experienced heavy combat, according to Maj. Robert Gowan, spokesman for the Army’s Special Forces.
<snip>

... At least 23 service members have committed suicide during the past year in Iraq, Robinson said. At least six service members, not including Howell, killed themselves since returning home, he said.

<snip>

Others have suggested a connection between the antimalaria drug, Lariam, and the rising suicide rate. Critics of the drug blame it for a cluster of homicides at Fort Bragg involving soldiers who had returned from Afghanistan.

<snip>
Staff Sgt. Georg-Andreas Pogany, a Fort Carson soldier charged with cowardice, thinks the drug affected his behavior.

Pogany took the drug four times, including Sept. 29, when he saw the body of an Iraqi man killed by U.S. forces. Pogany felt the onset of a panic attack and feared he was headed for a nervous breakdown. His unit didn’t give him treatment that soldiers who experience combat stress are required to get, he said.

<snip>
Howell’s funeral is set for Friday morning. >>>

[Supormom]

1. This is so very sad.

I don't know what else to say.

[havocmom]

2. When reality is so ugly that death is prefered

it is time to change the reality.

Support the troops. Bring them home. They did not choose this illegal invasion. Seems many do not like haveing to kill people who are defending their homes.

If the oil companies want Iraq, let them do their own dirty work and suffer the consequences. US military personell should not be held hostage by idiotic cowboy diplomacy. The honor of the US should not be sacrificed upon the alter of renegade capitalism.

[seventhson]

3. I have forwarded this to the Kerry campaign

the top level folks have it.

By posting this I know that the BFEE will also have it. But if there are more accounts that you want to send me you can dumail me.

[proud patriot]

4. This pisses me off

They put their lives on the line
and then get treated so poorly .

It's a disgrace :grr: