Oklahoma veteran speaks out about PTSD and veteran suicide rate

Oklahoma veteran speaks out about PTSD and veteran suicide rate
KTEN News
Posted: Jan 21, 2013
By Jalah Gray

CARTWRIGHT, OK - They risk their lives serving our country, and now they're dying in record numbers, and not in combat.

The Pentagon says in 2012 there were nearly 350 military suicides.

A number that far exceeds American deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Experts say the burden of more than a decade of combat and a military facing budget cuts could be to blame.

We sat down with a local veteran who was willing to talk to us about the shocking trend, and the problems he's been facing.

"It's the X factor, which you really can't worry about a lot of times."

Veteran Colt Floyd is trying to describe his experience with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

He was diagnosed with PTSD in 2007 after his first tour with the Oklahoma National Guard.

"Combat it definitely changes you a lot, in whatever capacity you serve in. It's being away from the comforts of home, and having to buckle down and it's serious business, and in my opinion as an infantryman, it's life or death," said Floyd.

And death is something that hit way too close to home for Floyd, on his last tour in Afghanistan, when one of his close friends was killed.

"You know he was one of mine, one of my younger team leaders and my platoon in general we never got over it, it's something that's always going to be in your mind, he was one of our best buds, a good soldier."
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