A soldier's words push a mother to act

A soldier's words push a mother to act
An Iraq veteran's suicide is prompting efforts to get more help for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.

By ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune

Last update: January 1, 2008 - 9:29 PM


The people of the Iron Range are not likely to forget Army Specialist Noah C. Pierce.

Cheryl Softich, his mother, said that she lived the Iraq war experience through her son's poetry, and after he died in late July -- killing himself in his truck -- she learned even more when she insisted upon driving the vehicle home.

"I now know what that smell of death is like that he had talked about," Softich said.

In Virginia, Minn., at the Servicemen's Club at 229 Chestnut St., the veterans know of Pierce, as well, and they will for a long time: American Veterans Post 33 has been named in his honor.

AMVETS Commander Shawn Carr said Saturday that while Pierce, 23, did not die in action, he considers the decorated soldier a war-related casualty because of Pierce's battles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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One by one family members are taking on this enemy killing someone they love as surely as a bullet or bomb. This enemy does not stop trying to kill until the soldier fights back. Once they do, the enemy has no choice but to retreat but it has to be hit hard and early. Although I truly believe it is never too late to seek treatment for PTSD, the longer they wait the more damage done to their lives.

If men and women like my husband had help when they came home from Vietnam, they would not have ended up killing themselves in such massive numbers. Two studies but their suicide deaths between 150,000 and 200,000. They wouldn't have ended up homeless, abandoned by their families and lost to all they loved. Had my husband been helped right away, or even ten years later, he would still be working and wouldn't have suffered all the years without help. I credit God with holding our family together because I couldn't have done this on my own. Yet I fully acknowledge the tremendous burden on the family when hope erodes. I figure it this way. If I had such a hard time living with him before he got help, knowing what I knew about PTSD, how much harder is it on a family who has no clue what it is?

When mothers like Cheryl Softich come out to fight for their son's or daughters, they are heroes in all of this. She is not fighting for her son, but for all the others out there so they won't know how it feels to lose a son like this.