Roy Brooks Mason Jr. thought of others till the end

They never fail to amaze me. This veteran of combat, this soldier of our nation, was so despondent, left so hopeless by PTSD, that he thought suicide was the only way out of the pain. Yet even with all that inside of him, he called authorities ahead of time so that children would not be traumatized by his body on the side of the road. How much longer are we willing to lose people like him?

Friend: Soldier who killed himself on West Cliff unable to control his aggression after two tours in Iraq
By Cathy Kelly
Posted: 06/07/2009 01:30:28 AM PDT


SANTA CRUZ -- A solider who shot himself on West Cliff Drive recently had become unable to control the aggression he felt after serving two tours in Iraq, a friend said.

Roy Brooks Mason, Jr., 28, of Fairfield, was an Army infantryman who had received several medals and once planned to be a career Army officer, said Jay Johnson of Rocklin, a friend of Mason's since childhood.

But his combat experiences changed him and his plans.

Johnson said Mason was due to retire in July, after suffering injuries in two explosions and undergoing treatment for post traumatic stress disorder. Military officials, however, would not confirm Mason was to be discharged.

But Mason would not make it to July.

On May 19, he was reported missing from Fort Carson, Colo. Johnson said Mason rented a car and ended up in Capitola two days later, a place he had loved when he spent a vacation there as a child, Johnson said.

The next day, Mason called emergency dispatchers from a call box on West Cliff Drive near Stockton Avenue in Santa Cruz, saying a dead body could be found in a car parked there. He asked that the scene be cleaned before any children saw it, officials said.
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Soldier who killed himself on West Cliff