Local Papers Get Grim Details on 'Non-Combat' Deaths

[RamboLiberal]

As often the case, the U.S. military has listed several of the deaths in the past week in Iraq as “non-combat related,” adding, as it always does, that they are “under investigation.” Major newspapers usually leave it at that. But much smaller papers near where the soldier once lived often obtain details from family members that suggest a likely cause of death, sometimes friendly fire, other times, suicide.

The latter appears to be the case with a Nevada man who died on August 30 – and his family appears angry that he was ordered to the combat zone to begin with.

Army Specialist Travis M. Virgadamo, 19, died in Taji, Iraq, last Thursday. The local paper, the Pahrum Valley Times, reports today, “The soldiers who notified Vergadamo's family about his death reportedly said he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

It quotes his grandmother, Katie O’Brien, saying, “I don't know what happened, and I may never know what happened.”

Then the story adds: “One thing of which she is certain, however, is that Virgadamo was not in any condition to be sent to a war zone, where he transported ammunition.” Recent reports have noted an upsurge in suicides in Iraq, with the total for the war over 120 at the minimum.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003636123