Loss of sons shaped outlook of Fort Carson CO

Loss of sons shaped outlook of Fort Carson CO

By Erin Emery - The Denver Post via AP
Posted : Monday Mar 10, 2008 11:37:43 EDT

FORT CARSON, Colo. — On the underside of the two stars that rest on each shoulder of Fort Carson’s top general, the names “Kevin” and “Jeff” are engraved.

This is one way Maj. Gen. Mark Graham honors his sons, two young men who did not live long enough to see their father pin on those stars.

Second Lt. Jeff Graham, 23, died Feb. 19, 2004, when a roadside bomb exploded in Kalidiyah, Iraq, while the young leader protected his platoon.

Kevin Graham, 21, a top ROTC cadet at the University of Kentucky, hanged himself June 21, 2003, from a ceiling fan in his apartment. No one saw the lethality of his depression.

“They both fought different enemies,” Graham said during a recent interview.

For a man who is not sure why he joined the military more than 30 years ago, no general in today’s Army has a more intimate understanding of war’s hardships and the mental health issues that follow than Fort Carson’s commander.

Not a day goes by that he doesn’t think about his sons. Their loss, he said, has made him a more compassionate officer.

“The easy thing would be to curl up in a corner and do nothing and not get out of bed in the morning,” Graham said. “Getting up some days is real hard, and most people never see it because I put a smile on my face usually. That’s the way I was.

“Happy is different now than it ever was before.”

Back in June 2003, as he and his wife, Carol, drove away from Kevin’s funeral, Graham told her: “We can either let this be the tragic, horrible book of our life, or we can make it one bad chapter in the book of our life.”

When they lost Jeff, they added a second bad chapter.

Now they are trying to change the story.

Carol Graham spends countless hours talking to people about suicide. She is a national board member of Suicide Prevention Action Network.

Commissioned a second lieutenant in 1977, Mark Graham served in Desert Storm and years later led the military’s evacuation effort of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

In 2006 and 2007, Fort Carson had been under fire for its treatment of wounded soldiers. Veterans’ advocacy groups claimed too many soldiers were not receiving good care. They claimed soldiers were being discharged for infractions such as drug use and going AWOL after they were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_markgraham_030908/

This is a great story about Graham and his wife. The problem is, what is really going on at Carson and why is not addressed in this report. Soliders sent back no matter what the wound is, no matter if they have PTSD or not, does not fit into this story of a father who understands depression and loss. So what is it? What is behind the wounded being sent back to Iraq and Afghanistan? Why is this still happening at Carson of all places if Graham understands? I'm sure the investigation will answer these questions. I hope they get answered soon.