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Saturday, July 6, 2013

Soldier's suicide note goes viral, then CNN notices?

"I Am Sorry That It Has Come to This": A Soldier's Last Words came in June 10, 2012 and Gawker published the story on June 22. Wounded Times posted it on June 23. Daniel Somers had carried all that pain within himself but it seems the only time the media takes an interest is when it is too late to do any good for them.

Most of the over 1,000 military suicide stories are about families left behind. There are more stories on what this country fails to do than what it succeeds with. That is very sad but what is worse, what makes all of this more heartbreaking, is the fact no one seems to be asking the right questions.

Where are the military suicide reports for May? This is July. Where is the Suicide Event Report from the Department of Defense from last year? Any clue? Any reporters covering this? No, they wait until one more family is struggling to find answers. One more heartbreaking story they knew would get a lot of attention. Looks like it happened again when CNN decided since the story had gone viral, it was worth telling almost a month afterwards.
Soldier's suicide note goes viral; family demands better for veterans
CNN
By Chelsea C. Cook
Sat July 6, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Daniel Somers, an Iraq War veteran, took his life last month
He left behind a powerful suicide note that went viral on the Internet
Somers' family feels the military failed to help him
They are pushing ideas to break down the bureaucracy and its communication obstacles

(CNN) -- "Too trapped in a war to be at peace, too damaged to be at war."

These are the words of post-traumatic stress disorder.

They are the words of Daniel Somers, an Iraq War veteran who took his life last month. He left behind a powerful suicide note that went viral on the Internet after his family shared it with media in Phoenix, where he was from.

His note gives readers a clear understanding of what it's like to suffer from crippling depression and war-related psychosis. It also slams the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which he characterized as careless.

"My body has become nothing but a cage, a source of pain and constant problems. The illness I have has caused me pain that not even the strongest medicines could dull, and there is no cure," Somers wrote in his note.

"All day, every day a screaming agony in every nerve ending in my body. It is nothing short of torture. My mind is a wasteland, filled with visions of incredible horror, unceasing depression, and crippling anxiety."

Somers was a sergeant in an intelligence unit, where he ran 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in the turret of a Humvee. According to his parents, Howard and Jean Somers, their son was diagnosed with PTSD, a brain injury, Gulf War syndrome, fibromyalgia and a host of other medical problems in 2008, one year after the end of his second deployment.
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