Suicide Awareness...no requirement to carry anything!

Remember military lives lost we failed to honor

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 26, 2019

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. There are graves that will be visited, ceremonies held to honor lives lost after military service by some citizens, while others are just enjoying the day off from work.

Repulsive when you think about it, but that is the problem. Too many did not think enough about their lives. They did not think about the fact that these men and women, were willing to risk their lives for the sake of others, but we were all too willing to not think about what they needed. We were too busy feeling good spending a couple of hours enjoying ourselves at a suicide awareness event, having fun because veterans are  committing suicide. 

This is for one of those events last year. Notice "come out and enjoy festivities" and this part really gets my blood boiling, "have a great time while raising awareness to the tragic epidemic of 22 suicides per day due to PTSD and lost hope."

This other part sums it all up. "No requirement to carry anything..."

Just goes to show you that what the average citizen thinks is helping, is actually hurting them. You cannot restore hope with stunts intended to give people a good time because someone read a headline!

These are some of the lives lost since last Memorial Day.

Airman at Cannon Air Force Base found dead in Ned Houk Park


Vietnam Veteran

The veteran, who was identified as Michael Douglas, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at about 4 p.m. Wednesday in the emergency department parking lot of the Eisenhower VA Medical Center, according to a statement issued by Joseph Burks, public affairs officer for VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System.

Fort Knox 
21 year old Private committed public suicide at Clarksville High School after he stole a gun.


Colorado Springs

Hours after being discharged from a mental health treatment facility, 38-year-old disabled veteran Lee Cole hiked into a wilderness area in southwest Colorado Springs with a backpack and the cellphone on which he planned to record his final message.

Georgia
Navy Veteran set himself on fire in front of Georgia Capitol protesting the VA system. 

Not first time this happened. It also happened in New Jersey last year.

Norfolk Navy Yard
Sailor walked into helicopter blade, death ruled suicide.

Alabama
Air Force veteran shot family, and himself after setting house on fire.

Chicago Police Officer and Marine veteran committed suicide in parking lot of police station.

Phoenix AZ
Veteran shot himself inside the VA Hospital Chapel 

Not the first times since it happened last year when a 33 year old veteran shot himself at the VA.

Employee found dead inside Topeka VA Medical Center office

A Veterans Affairs employee died Tuesday morning inside an administrative office at Topeka’s Colmery O’Neil VA Medical Center. Joe Burks, spokesman for the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System, said the employee died of an apparent suicide.

Suicide in Mishawaka VA parking lot puts spotlight on veteran mental health crisis

A veteran shot himself yesterday in the parking lot of the VA Health Care Center in Mishawaka -- dead from an apparent suicide.

Gunshot in lobby of Nashville VA Medical Center




Bay Pines VA Hospital Parking Lot

On Dec. 10, retired Marine Col. Jim Turner put on his dress uniform and medals and drove to the Bay Pines Department of Veterans Affairs complex. He got out of his truck, sat down on top of his military records and took his own life with a rifle.

Brieux Dash...on March 14, the 33-year-old hanged himself, according to the VA and the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner. He left behind his wife of 13 years and three children. 

Georgia VA hospitals 28-year-old Gary Pressley is now searching for answers after he took his own life in the parking lot of the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center 

The second occurred Saturday outside the main entrance to the Atlanta VA Medical Center in Decatur on Clairmont Road. 

And in Austin McLennan County Veteran’s Service Officer Steve Hernandez said the veteran was a patient who had been enrolled in the Phoenix program at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center in Temple and was discharged, but somehow his case was transferred to the Austin facility. 

And in Cleveland
Randy Stidham, died by apparent suicide. It happened after the 59-year-old held officers in a daylong stand off at his Adrian home. Police say Stidham fired shots from inside the house and even took aim at law enforcement. 

Greg Holeman Holeman, an Army veteran who served as a mechanic, fatally shot himself inside his pickup truck on the night of February 25, a Platte County Sheriff's Office lieutenant told KETV NewsWatch 7. The 48-year-old was parked outside of the Columbus Community Hospital's emergency department. And the not so public suicides

JARED JOHNS, A 24-YEAR-OLD ARMY VETERAN WHO SERVED IN AFGHANISTAN, KILLED HIMSELF ON SEPT. 11, THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY THAT CALLED HIM TO SERVE.

Michael Wargo's battle was long and extremely well hidden.He spent 10 months in Afghanistan, then eight years battling PTSD, then four and a half hours explaining his life-altering decision in a video his parents received when it was too late to change anything. 

FORT MYERS, Fla. - This month, Air Force senior leaders issued a memo, calling for a culture change in that military branch. They were concerned after 11 airmen and Air Force civilians committed suicide in just the first four weeks of 2019. 

SAN ANSELMO (CBS SF) — A man is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being in a tense standoff with crisis negotiators and police at a San Anselmo home that forced an entire neighborhood to evacuate 

Krysten Mischelle Gonzalez sat in an Oklahoma County jail cell while public defenders searched for an inpatient mental health treatment facility that would agree to accept her, the county's chief public defender says. Gonzalez, 29, was found unresponsive in her cell about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

If you are a veteran and think you do not matter because of the stunts you see, think again, because you do matter to a lot more people doing the work and willing to help you carry whatever load you have, and show you how to be able to help someone else down the road.

You do matter! It is time for you to #BreakTheSilence and stand up to all this nonsense! 

Too many veterans cannot find the help you need, when you need it. 

It is time to stop spreading these stunts on social media. Invest the time you take for their sake and spend it on your own sake to find the help you need.  

It is time to #TakeBackYourLife and live a better life! Oh, sorry with all the suicide awareness they have been spreading, they forgot to tell you that part too! You can heal!