PTSD Veteran's Widow Places 22 Crosses on Lawn

This is a story of love and suffering but beyond that, trying to prevent other families from suffering the same way. The only problem with it is the numbers are wrong. The "22 a day" number comes from the veteran population and not the military. The DOD doesn't count them when they are veterans and the veteran numbers do not include military folks.

The media gets these two groups confused all the time but if they are so important that an article is written about them and their tragedies, shouldn't they matter enough to get their numbers right?

One more thing to point out is even the "22" veteran suicides a day is wrong because it was taken from a study done with just over 20 states not including the 3 states with the highest veteran populations.

California

Veterans were more than twice as likely as other civilians to commit suicide. They were twice as likely to be a victim of a fatal motor vehicle crash and a quarter more likely to suffer other deadly accidents.

Texas
Suicide rate for young veterans three times higher than active duty

UNCOUNTED CASUALTIES: HOME, BUT NOT SAFE
Scores of recent Texas war veterans have died of overdoses, suicide and vehicle crashes, investigation finds

Florida

Military, veteran suicides account for nearly one in every four in Florida ... but the numbers don't explain why. Rate is one of the nation's highest

Keep in mind that veterans are only 7% of the population.
Also another under-reported fact is that 78% of the veterans committing suicide are 50 and over.

"Veterans over the age of 50 who had entered the VA healthcare system made up about 78 percent of the total number of veterans who committed suicide"

The crosses they bear
Military widow places flags, crosses to honor husband and others
Military Industry Today
By DEVIN HEILMAN
September 19, 2014

The crosses they bear
Jennifer McNulty placed 22 crosses in her front yard with photos of veterans who have committed suicide to bring awareness to soldier suicide. September is designated national Suicide Prevention Month.

COEUR d'ALENE - The small American flags flying over the white crosses in Jennifer McNulty's front yard Thursday accompanied photos of 22 servicemen and women who have taken their own lives.

She pointed to the picture of a handsome man in a green Army jacket in the front row.

"This is my husband," she said. "He died Oct. 31, 2012."

Jennifer's husband, Sgt. Wyatt McNulty, suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury. He was in the military for 11 years, serving in Kosovo and suffering the brain injury during training before being deployed to Iraq. He was out for seven years before his death.

"Ever since he came home from Iraq he wasn't the same," Jennifer said. "He was getting sick a lot, and the (Veterans Affairs) wasn't really doing anything to figure out what was making him sick. They were just, like I said, putting a Band-Aid over it and sending him home."

Jennifer, who serves as the treasurer for the Ladies Auxiliary at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 889, wore a special T-shirt and bracelet honoring her husband as she glanced at the many photographs of fallen heroes. She married Wyatt in 1994.

"The year he passed, we had just celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary," she said. "This last July would have been our 20th. I was 18, right out of high school."

She said she didn't notice a huge change in Wyatt's personality leading up to his death, but he did experience mood swings. She said they discussed the PTSD with their son and daughter, who are now 14 and 18.

"The mood swings were harsh on the kids," she said. "I always would try to be really honest with them and say, 'That's not really your dad, it's just he's sick. Now, we go to church and just lean on each other."

Jennifer placed the flags, crosses and photos in her yard Thursday morning to answer an Internet challenge issued by StopSoldierSuicide.org, which asked people across the nation to generate awareness about the realities of suicide and how it affects military families.

"It was not something that I ever thought would happen," she said. "He had a friend commit suicide when they were teenagers, and he was mad at him forever, so it was not something I ever expected."
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