West Virginia Gazette
by Erin Beck, Staff writer
February 15, 2015
In 2011, the rate of suicide among users of Veterans Health Administration services in West Virginia was 32.0 per 100,000, according to Kerry Meeker, a spokeswoman for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The rate among the general population in the state was 17.4.
Richard Abdalla, Tara’s father, said she was friendly and outgoing. She didn’t show any outward signs of suffering in her phone conversations with him, while she was stationed at Hill Air Force Base, in Utah.
But on June 3, 2006, 23-year-old Tara took her own life.
As of the end of September, about 9 percent of West Virginians were military veterans, according to U.S. Census data. But veterans made up about 23 percent of state suicides from 2000-2013, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources’ Health Statistics Center.
Looking back now, Abdalla says he sees that several of Tara’s experiences contributed to her emotional struggle. Tara was not allowed to deploy because of her last name, even though the family is not Muslim. He said there were incidents of American soldiers attacking other American soldiers who had Arabic last names.
“The whole reason she joined was to go over there,” Abdalla said. “She was really upset that she couldn’t go. She understood why, but she didn’t like it.”
She was also dealing with thyroid problems, which ultimately resulted in her being released from the Air Force.
She stayed in Utah, to try to work things out with a boyfriend with whom she was having problems. She became pregnant, then had a miscarriage. She also found out that her grandmother, with whom she was very close, had Alzheimer’s disease.
Figures from the DHHR’s Health Statistics Center show that, from 2000 to 2013, 983 veteran deaths were documented as suicides. Of those, 881 were people 35 or older, and 413 were people over age 65.
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