KC soldier who killed himself felt he ‘was just a number’

KC soldier who killed himself felt he ‘was just a number’

By BILL MURPHY JR.

Stars and Stripes

Jacob Andrews did well in the first months of his deployment in Afghanistan, where this photo was taken in 2009. But by the time of his discharge in 2010, he was a changed man.

By September, the Army had had just about enough of Jacob Andrews, so it gave the young infantryman a general discharge and a one-way bus ticket home to Kansas City.

Andrews had plenty to think about on the 30-hour trip from Fort Drum, N.Y.

There were the alcohol-fueled mistakes that had led to the end of his military career, memories of comrades killed in Afghanistan — including one close friend crushed to death — and the night Andrews tried to kill himself.

Despite clear signs that Andrews suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), family and friends say the Army punished and abandoned him after he had done his combat tour.

Once home, he was hounded to repay a re-enlistment bonus and then was incorrectly denied educational benefits needed for a new start. Andrews became part of the grimmest military statistic of our times — one of the 18 U.S. veterans, on average, who commit suicide each day.

In April, the 22-year-old was found hanged near his parents’ home in Kansas City.



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