After suicide: "As an officer, I had to ask, 'was I not doing things right?

Sometimes what you know is not the problem. Sometimes it is worse when you think you know something only to discover what you know is totally wrong.

A Battalion Commander wondered what he did not do after a Marine committed suicide.

"As an officer, I had to ask, 'was I not doing things right? Did that Marine not have the resources available to him?'"

He is left wondering what he did wrong when the truth is, he did what he was told was the right thing to do.

The Marine is still gone along with thousands more and far too many veterans with the knowledge they had been given.

Higher up on the food chain leaders came up with "prevention" programs that were supposed to actually prevent suicides. Lower level officers expected that if they did it right, they would save lives, much like they believed if they trained their men right, more would go home after war.

When these leaders discovered that their men were still taking their own lives, they thought it was their fault because they did something wrong.

W. Mich. Marine 'storming the hill' with colleagues for military suicide prevention
WWMT News
Updated: Friday, March 21 2014

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(NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Veterans from across the country will 'storm the hill' next week, to call attention to suicide.

Members of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America are headed to our nation's capitol to demand that Congress take the necessary steps to help veterans in crisis.

A West Michigan veteran is among the group fighting for change, and he spoke to Newschannel 3.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 22 veterans commit suicide each day.

"While I was a battalion commander, I had one Marine who did die by suicide," said veteran Dan Whisnant, who served 26 years in the Marine Corps.

"As an officer, I had to ask, 'was I not doing things right? Did that Marine not have the resources available to him?'" Whisnant said.

He went to Iraq twice, and says both times he had a great transition back to the U.S., thanks to family, friends, and his work, but he says not everyone is that lucky.

Whisnant says that's why he will be with those Storming the Hill in Washington, calling for change.
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It seems he still doesn't understand that suicide has nothing to do with having a good family or lots of friends. It has more to do with being one out of three deeply changed by the events they endured.

Marine Clay Hunt committed suicide in 2011. Hunt did everything experts said to do. He talked to family and friends. He had plenty of support. He went to the VA and even spoke to others about getting help. Hunt didn't stop there. He was deeply involved with TEAM Rubicon, a group of dedicated veterans traveling all over the world as crisis responders following natural disasters.

Marine veteran Clay Hunt had a tattoo on his arm that quoted Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien: "Not all those who wander are lost."

According to the military, Hunt would have had the "training" to prevent war traumas from taking over is life.

Commanders are conditioned to trust the information they are given. If they they are told the enemy is in a certain place, they believe that is exactly where they are. They do no suspect the enemy is right behind them. Unprepared for what is coming, they move forward with the knowledge they were given. It did not change the fact they knew what they were doing. It changed the fact the people responsible for keeping them informed failed.

It is the same thing with what the higher ups are telling them about PTSD. They trust what they are being told even though the outcome is shockingly tragic.

Statistics have proven the failures yet it is the leaders with troops in their care feeling responsible for the loss of lives.

Editorial comment Kathie Costos