Michael McNeil's family attends funeral that should not have happened

Families prepare themselves for the knock at the door when someone they love is deployed. They know it can happen at any time. Yet when they come home, the worrying is supposed to stop. They are not supposed to have to worry about losing them after they were supposed to be out of danger.

The US has a bigger problem but that is because of the size of the military but we are no better at taking care of our veterans than Canada is.

The question most of us have is, "Why is it more dangerous to try surviving after combat than it is during it?"

These are funerals that never should have happened.

Michael McNeil's family says goodbye to Afghan war vet
Warrant officer's apparent suicide, 4th in 2 weeks involving military personnel, spotlights PTSD
CBC News
Posted: Dec 05, 2013

He was known to the world as Warrant Officer Michael Robert McNeil, but to his family he was just Little Mike.

Military personnel and civilians from the area packed into the Truro Armoury for the funeral. (CBC)

Loved ones gathered in Truro, N.S., on Thursday to say goodbye to the Afghanistan war veteran after his body was found at CFB Petawawa on Nov. 27.

McNeil was 39. His was one of four apparent military suicides in two weeks.

Barry Mellish said his nephew was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after his last tour in Afghanistan, but his death came as a shock.

Warrant Officer Michael McNeil, was found dead at CFB Petawawa on Nov. 27. (Inmemoriam.ca)

"He seemed to be a very strong individual. He was always there to help anybody else who was down or worried. He was the first one to stand up," he said. "Michael was a helper.

"I never once dreamed he'd do something like this."

McNeil is survived by three children and one stepson.

Military personnel and civilians from the area packed into the Truro Armoury for the funeral around 11 a.m. AT.

McNeil grew up in the Nova Scotia town, about an hour outside of Halifax, where he joined the cadets as a teen before eventually starting a career in the military.
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The US military loves to point out that the majority of members of the military committing suicide had never been deployed, yet they fail to explain a very important factor. If their prevention and resilience training was so good then why didn't it even work on the troops that never faced combat?

It is because this approach has not worked and will never work. Now as the number of suicides has gone down except for the National Guards and Reservists, they fail to point out one more important fact. There are less serving this year compared to last year.