Tim Bowman's boots painted white for battle he fought at home

Parents of National Guard Soldier Trying to Open Eyes to Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran Suicides

Mark Brown


Chicago Sun-Times

May 28, 2008

May 25, 2008 - Timothy Bowman, 23, had been back from Illinois National Guard duty in Iraq for eight months when he drove to his father's electrical contracting business on Thanksgiving Day 2005, got a gun and shot himself in the head.

Last week, his parents, Mike and Kim Bowman, made the 85-mile drive to Chicago from their home in Downstate Forreston to try to save other military families from experiencing the pain they have endured every day since.

Nobody can tell you definitively how many men and women have committed suicide since returning home from our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the Bowmans can tell you for a dead certainty that it is too many and that we're not doing enough to prevent the next one.

On Friday, the Bowmans added a pair of their son's combat boots to the American Friends Service Committee's "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit, which already displayed 144 pairs of boots representing Illinois' official war dead.

Timothy Bowman's boots were painted white to symbolize a too-often-overlooked group of casualties from the war -- those who have taken their own lives.

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http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10226



Feb. 2007

BLOGGERS-SAVE OUR TROOPS AND VETERANS WITH PTSD
Timothy Bowman committed suicide during Thanksgiving 2005 after returning from Iraq.

When Timothy Bowman committed suicide, or Jonathan Schulze committed suicide, or any of the others including this un-named one, it is easy to understand there are a lot more we will never hear about.Un-named storyUS Marine commits suicide in ‘Amiriyat al-Fallujah Sunday.The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that a US Marine took his own life by putting a bullet through his head on Sunday morning near the city of al-Fallujah, according to a local police source.“Early in the morning, a marine took the pistol of an Iraq policeman in the police station of ‘Amriyat al-Fallujah, just south of al-Fallujah, and put a bullet in his head,’ the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

“The soldier uttered words saying he was sad and miserable,” the source said.We didn't' hear most of the stories when they came home from Vietnam. We didn't hear the stories of how they could not get into the VA or the ones who did not know they brought the war back home with them. The difference is the net.

When you think of the word "net" wouldn't it be wonderful if it actually worked like one?I don't know that much about how this all works but there has to be someone out there with the knowledge, talent and time to put the resources together in one place. They should be able to find the information in one place and this place should be well advertised. I have a long list of links and sites I go into all the time and still too much gets missed.I get emails all the time from veterans and families dealing with PTSD finding my site by accident. There are a lot better sites than mine with a lot more information on them. So why do they have to find help on accident?

Would Tim Bowman have committed suicide if he knew where to get help? We know Jonathan knew where to get help but couldn't get to it. What if they knew right were to go to fill in the gaps until they could get to the VA?

We have the Army, Marines bearing most of the PTSD burden, but we also have the National Guard in large percentages all needing help. We have the Navy and the Air Force dealing with it as well. So why can't they all just go to one place for help?So come on bloggers! Come to the rescue here! Isn't that why we do what we do? To share information, to change the world into a better place, to help? Don't look to me to do it because I know very little about doing something like this other than I know it can be done and needs to be done. Bloggers have been doing the work of journalists for a very long time now so let's do it all the way. Turn the net into a safety net for our troops and veterans dealing with PTSD! They are dying for our attention!

The worst thing about all of this is that there have been too many put into a grave with wounds they received in combat and the lack of help they received back home. None of them are counted in the official death count.