After Suicide Attempt, A Military Vet Takes On A New Mission

After Suicide Attempt, A Military Vet Takes On A New Mission
Huffington Post
David Wood
Posted: 09/05/2013

This article is part of a special Huffington Post series, "Invisible Casualties," in which we shine a spotlight on suicide-prevention efforts within the military. As part of the series, The Huffington Post contacted military service members and veterans who have considered suicide to learn what saved them from that irrevocable step.

Dan Williams suffered a brain injury from a bomb explosion in Iraq, but it was only later that he learned life is precious, "not something to be taken lightly." Before that thought took hold, he had given up hope of ever feeling better. He locked himself in the bathroom, put a .45 caliber revolver in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Misfire.

That Williams, 29, now is a volunteer peer counselor at the Birmingham, Ala., VA Medical Center is a testament to his personal inner strength, the support of his family and the healing resources of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). But his story is also a cautionary tale about the overwhelming power of mental trauma that can drive strong men and women to their knees -- and the obstacles that warriors and veterans can face in getting help.

Williams was deployed as an Army infantryman to Iraq in 2003 with the 4th Infantry Division. Late that year, in a highway underpass in Baghdad, his convoy was ambushed with small arms fire and then hit with a homemade bomb that peppered him with shrapnel and left him unconscious for two days.

That should have triggered a command decision to pull him off duty and send him to be tested for traumatic brain injury (TBI), a possible result of a concussion and blackout. But the U.S. military hadn't yet begun to require off-duty rest for a concussion, and only began widespread battlefield testing for TBI in 2007, four years after Williams' injury.
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