"No matter how paranoid or conspiracy-minded you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you imagine." - - - William Blum

June 11, 2009

OUR YOUNG CANNOT SUSTAIN THESE DEPLOYMENTS!!

"At least 128 U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year... Through April, (2009) 91 soldiers had committed suicide."
15 months after Iraq bloodbath, young veteran takes his life

On March 7, 2007, Army Spc. Trevor Hogue was inside his barracks in Baghdad, describing his morning on the battlefield.

"I saw things today that I think will mess me up for life," Hogue typed to his mother, Donna, as she sat at her computer thousands of miles away from Iraq, in Granite Bay.

That day the young soldier, whose assignment included driving a Humvee through perhaps the most dangerous ZIP code on the globe, saw his sergeant blown to pieces. He saw the bodies of half of the men in his platoon torn apart. Heads were cut off and limbs severed. It happened 30 yards in front of him, and he had never been so afraid, he told his mom.

"My arms are around you," Donna Hogue wrote. "You'll be alright."

But Hogue never really recovered. Last week, he committed suicide by hanging himself in the backyard of his childhood home. He was 24 years old.

According to the Army, soldiers are killing themselves at the highest rate in nearly three decades, surpassing the civilian suicide rate for the first time since the Vietnam War.

At least 128 U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year, a number that has risen four years in a row. The death toll could be even higher this year. Through April, 91 soldiers had committed suicide.

Hogue's death, because it occurred after he was discharged, is not included in those statistics. But his friends and loved ones believe he was a casualty of war as much as any soldier on active duty.

"You think that they are safe when they get back home," Donna Hogue said, tearfully reading printed messages that she and her son exchanged while he was at war. "They're not. The reality of the things that they experienced continues to haunt them."


I don't know what to say... As a disabled Veteran who suffers from PTSD and Bi-Polar disorder, everyday is a struggle. My condolences to the family of Trevor Hogue and all the other military families who have lost loved ones to suicide. I truly believe they were killed on the battlefield... they just didn't know it yet.

I live today with similiar questions... I have to constantly remind myself there are no easy answers but viable alternatives. I will take my medicine daily, give myself a chance and call a V.A. Doctor if I need help. I have a family who loves me and I will not hurt their feelings.

1 comment:

Lisa said...

A terrible tragedy. You have written eloquently about your own PTSD in the past, but did not mention being bi-polar.

Do you feel the two are related?