Military Taught Joshua R. Pallotta to Put Uniform On, Not How to Take it Off

Mourners honor Afghanistan veteran who suffered PTSD
Burlington Free Press
Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer
September 29, 2014

"Josh took his own life," the Rev. Lisette D. Baxter told the gathering Monday morning at Ira Allen Chapel on the University of Vermont campus. "I think we ought to say that out loud ... and not whisper it so it's a secret among us."

Left, Maj. Gen. Steven Cray, adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, gives his condolences to Gregory Pallotta and his wife, Valerie, following the funeral for their son, Joshua Pallotta, a member of Alpha Company, who took his life after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries he sustained while serving in Afghanistan.
(Photo: RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS )

Tom Perry, coach of the Colchester High School football team, looked out at the hundreds of mourners Monday at Vermont Army National Guard Pfc. Joshua R. Pallotta's funeral.

"Close your eyes for a moment," Perry said.

Nearly everyone did.

Perry told them to conjure up their warmest memories of Pallotta. Perry said for him, the memory would be of Pallotta, an offensive lineman, in a football practice uniform.

"That face, that sly half smile of his," Perry said. "That's the Josh I see. That's the one I will choose to remember."

Mostly, though, sorrow filled the room as family, friends and brothers-in-arms honored the fun-loving, sensitive man who came back from the 2010 Vermont Army National Guard deployment to Afghanistan struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.

A week ago, those struggles cost Pallotta, 25, his life.

Their son's obituary made a direct reference to his post-combat struggle. The couple, speaking with a reporter after the funeral, said their son was proud to serve his country, but the military needs to do more for soldiers who come home with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.

"There's a song he posted on his Facebook page," Valerie Pallotta said of her son. "One line is 'They teach me how to put a uniform on, but they don't teach me how to take it off.' "
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