~~~~~Jonatan Mårtensson
How much more of an impact on someone's life can you have than preventing them from taking their own life? Pretty huge 'little drop', wouldn't you say? We've had far too many of our soldiers return home after being deployed to the war fronts and commit suicide. Almost 600 men and women have been successful at doing just that in the last 5 years. Big Army is calling it an epidemic. I've read of some of the studies and plans in place to get help for those who are contemplating that drastic last step.
Yet, there is so much more that could be done.
PTSD has played a major part in those suicides. There has been stigma attached to those soldiers who have been treated for post traumatic stress. Oh, they say there won't be any official actions or negative reports in the soldiers files, but that's not the real case. Don't believe me? Go talk to CJ Grisham over at Soldiers' Perspective. He's dealing with it openly and honestly. He's also paying a price for doing it that way though.
Sad, that. Honestly, a shame that any leader would allow their men to be treated that way.
The article from "The Daily Titan" I read yesterday is a heart breaker. Yet, I think retired Sgt. Maj. Rhodes will make more headway on helping than all the psychologist and therapist in the entire Military. Why? Because he's been there and done that. Yes, even got the t-shirt.
No one wants to listen to another person try to tell or suggest solutions to their perceived problems if that person has never been in the same situation as what they themselves have dealt with. The same works for battered women, with alcoholics, abused children, and all the other bad things we do to each other. Oh, I'm not saying that those Doctors and therapist don't have their place and uses. They do. But men like Sgt. Maj. Rhodes know... Read for yourself, please.
(Retired Sgt. Maj. Samuel Rhodes, an Iraq war veteran, spends time with his horses at his home in Harris County, Georgia, January 29, 2010. "The one thing that I've found when talking to soldiers and leaders, a lot of the response has been this is the first time we've had a senior leader who has dealt with this talk about it," Rhodes said. Photo courtesy of Mike Haskey/Columbus Ledger-Enquirer/MCT)Click on the title to continue reading the rest of the story.
[...] Tough old soldier battles new enemy: Suicide EpidemicWASHINGTON — Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel Rhodes keeps pictures of the dead in his pockets.
They’re the faces of young soldiers whose eyes stare out resolutely from photocopied pages worn and creased by the ritual of unfolding them, smoothing them flat and refolding them.
They’re the faces of men who, haunted by problems at home or memories of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — the dead children, the fallen comrades and the lingering smell of burnt flesh — pressed guns to their heads and pulled the triggers or tied ropes with military precision and hanged themselves.
The pictures remind Rhodes of how close he came to joining them and how, sometimes when the sadness presses in, dark and suffocating, he still mentally pens suicide notes.
“How many times have I written that letter in my head? I still think about suicide, but when I start thinking about it I have to think, ‘What’s the impact on everyone I care about?’ ”
It’s been roughly five years since Rhodes came home from his third tour in Iraq. And despite a highly decorated 29-year career in the Army, a new book, more than a hundred speaking engagements and praise from the likes of Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, for his efforts in suicide prevention, Rhodes still wrestles with his own demons. When he speaks to crowds and gently holds up the photos of fellow servicemen who’ve committed suicide, it’s as if he’s holding up a mirror.
“It’s not about me,” he tells soldiers. “Every one of us can tell our own story. Start telling it. Change the culture of silence.”
Rhodes, 49, is among a small cadre of senior non-commissioned officers and officers who are opening up about their journeys back from the brink of suicide — efforts that top military commanders applaud as they battle a suicide epidemic. The open support from the military’s uppermost ranks for openly discussing a topic long considered taboo is a revolution triggered largely by both greater awareness and pressure to curb record-high suicide rates
[...]
You can't help but hope that more of our retired senior NCO's and higher pay grades will step forward and help the men and women who have given so much in their service to our country. That brotherhood bond they hold dear to their hearts might be what's needed to keep another one or hundreds more from ending their life and devastating their families. Life is precious, very, very precious. And death is so very final. It doesn't have to be the only answer to problems.
Carry on, Sir. And Thank YOU!
And so it goes......
