Soldier's family speaks out about stress after battle

Ursula Polignone is comforted by her daughter-in-law, Kristi Polignone. Ursula's son, Martin, killed himself after returning home from serving in the Army in Iraq. The family is speaking publicly about their pain in the hopes of helping others.

Times Herald-Record/TOM BUSHEY

Soldier's family speaks out about stress after battle
Times Herald-Record - Middletown,NY,USA
Goal: Stem rising tide of military suicides
By Steve Israel
Times Herald-Record
Posted: February 15, 2009 - 2:00 AM
To his mother, he'll always be Martin, the little boy who dressed up as a policeman on Halloween, like his father, a New York City cop. To his young wife, he'll always be Marty, the snowboarding, guitar-playing, Metallica lovin' teen who grew up to look her in the eyes and sing, "In my life, I'll love you more."

To his 3-year-old daughter, Kyla, he's still daddy, whose strong hands, bigger than her chest, held her when he took her to see the monkeys, lions and bears at the Bronx Zoo.

But Martin Polignone of Central Valley was not the man anyone knew after he came home from fighting in Iraq.


When he looked inside himself, he saw someone possessed by demons even those who loved him couldn't see. He saw himself as a soldier — a machine gunner in Kirkuk — who burst into a home to find a father and his 5-year-old boy pointing guns at him.

Marty Polignone — father, son and husband — had to kill that little boy and his father.

Marty Polignone looked inside himself and saw brains splattered on an Iraqi street.

Marty Polignone looked inside himself and pictured a 16-year-old girl lying dead, shot by his buddy, his sergeant, himself the father of a little girl.

Marty Polignone looked inside himself until he could look no more.

One winter night about a year ago — three years after he came home from Iraq — he shot himself dead.

He was 24.

Marty Polignone and his family are the hidden casualties of the Iraq war.

He's one of at least five veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties who have killed themselves, either during active duty or after they've returned, according to estimates of local veterans organizations.

This tally is even more staggering because it represents almost a third of the local veterans — 18 — who have been killed during the war. The number of suicides might be even higher since Polignone's family is the only one so far that wants to speak out publicly.

They hope what they've learned can spare at least one other soldier and his family unbearable pain.
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