The Military and Suicide

On Sunday, I watched the PBS program done every year in Washington DC, to honor and remember our military and their families, and especially those we have lost or have been injured in service.

The program was beautiful, with tributes and music to stir our souls and make us take time out of our busy lives to remember those who deserve to be remembered.

Partway through the program, Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise did a re-enactment of the story of twin brothers who had both been in the military, and been deployed several times in the past decade.  At times they were in the same arena, and others were not.  The younger brother sustained serious injuries in his last deployment, including amputation of one of his legs.  His older brother never got over the thought that he should have somehow been there to prevent it from happening.

The older brother also witnessed other losses and horrors of war in his deployments.  Upon returning home, he found the adjustments difficult and suffered from PTSD.  He struggled to participate in a "normal" life with his beautiful wife and three young children, always keeping in touch with his brother.  However, as the years wore on, he was unable to progress out of his depression and dark moods, and he ultimately died by suicide.  The story was so poignantly told as the two actors, each speaking of one of the brothers, presented the strong emotions of both brothers on their journeys, including the surviving brother's thoughts after the other was gone.

The surviving brother, wife, and three children were in the audience.  I thought they were so brave to be there, with tears flowing freely as they listened to this short depiction of a situation so heart-wrenching on so many levels.  Afterwards they were greeted and embraced by Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise.

 

I was filled with so many emotions...but the predominant one was to stand up and cheer for the producers of this program.  Congratulations to them for bringing this out in a respectful and honorable way, in a way that said that these young men who come home with PTSD and TBI's, who are unable to re-enter the mainstream of life, and who are at such high risk of ending their own lives deserve as much recognition as those with very visible injuries.  Thank-you to those who supported putting a spotlight on this problem, to make people aware, and hopefully obtain better care and support for these soldiers and their families, and my sincere condolences to this family who will never stop feeling the effects of these events.