PTSD: Bomb Technician Suicides At Crisis Level

Suicides among military bomb techs at crisis level
Pensacola News Journal
Melissa Nelson Gabriel
September 17, 2106

"For every IED you disarm, you save between one and 10 lives, but there is always another one you cannot take care of that gets hit. There becomes a point where it haunts your nightmares and it haunts your thoughts during the day." Air Force Sgt. Chris Ferrell

Danelle Hackett wanted her Marine husband to focus on the lives he saved disarming IEDs as a military bomb technician during two tours in Iraq.

Maj. Jeff Hackett and his wife, Danelle. Danelle didn't know what to do to help

her husband when he returned from his dangerous combat tours diffusing explosives.

(Photo: Special to the News Journal)

Maj. Jeff Hackett could only focus on his 16 colleagues who died during the dangerous bomb disposal missions he led from early 2005 through late 2007.

"My husband looked at those guys as his own family, his own sons. Repeatedly losing techs just wore on him and wore him. He blamed himself for every death," Danelle Hackett said.

In June 2010, after a day of drinking at an American Legion Post in Wyoming near the family's home, Jeff Hackett downed a couple more swigs of alcohol, said "cheers" and shot and killed himself.

Among the highly skilled and elite ranks of military explosive ordnance disposal technicians — the men and women who have been on the front line of the war on terror since Sept. 11, 2001 — suicide is a growing concern.

"It is literally an epidemic," said Ken Falke, a former EOD technician and founder of the Niceville-based EOD Warrior Foundation, which supports current and former military EOD techs and their families.

EOD tech Air Force Sgt. Chris Ferrell has attempted suicide four times. He has a sleeve of tattoos on his arm with 26 stars, each one represents a friend he lost on the battlefield. (Photo: Special to the News Journal)

Air Force Sgt. Chris Ferrell, a 32-year-old EOD tech who has had many combat deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan over the last 13 years, has attempted suicide four times.

He has a sleeve of tattoos on his arm with 26 shaded-in stars, each one represents a friend he has lost on the battlefield.
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UK Soldier Saved Lives Then Killed Someone Texting Behind Wheel

If you still think it is ok to use phone texting while driving, you are not thinking at all!

This Captain in the UK was a hero in Afghanistan, risking her life to save others by defusing bombs.

This same Captain decided to pick up her phone while driving a car, risking the lives of others and killed someone.

Hero soldier jailed for killing hitchhiker while using phone at the wheel
Metro.co.uk
Harry Readhead
Wednesday 3 Jun 2015

A female soldier who defused more than 60 Taliban bombs during a tour of Afghanistan has been jailed after killing a hitchhiker while texting at the wheel.

Captain Alison Dray, 31, received a Queen’s commendation for her work in the gulf and is the only female British bomb disposal expert to complete a full tour of Afghanistan.

But Captain Dray, from Rochester, Kent, was jailed for nine months for hitting and killing 32-year-old Ashley Taylor with her car while surfing the internet on her mobile phone.

Norwich Crown Court heard how Captain Dray had been using her iPhone ‘extensively’ at the wheel and had mounted the kerb and hit Mr. Taylor, killing him instantly.
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UK:Military Cross for "Bomb Magnet" blown up 15 times

Soldier bombed 15 TIMES describes risking his life to save others as 'occupational hazard'
UK Mirror
By Chris Hughes
Jul 11, 2014

Hero: Warrant Officer Class 1 Patrick Hyde

A British soldier blown up more than 15 times described risking his life to save others as “an occupational hazard” as he received his Military Cross.

Warrant Officer Class 1 Patrick Hyde – nicknamed The Bomb Magnet – said modestly: “I’m just fortunate enough that I’ve survived.”

Patrick, 38, was given his MC by Prince Charles in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Afterwards, the senior soldier – who is Regimental Sergeant Major of the 4th Battalion The Rifles – gave an insight into some of the horrific incidents he had been involved in.

He said: “There’s no lucky charms. When you operate in Sangin, as I have done, it becomes a bit of an occupational hazard up there.

"We’re trained to do what we do and it becomes second nature.

"You work together as a team and regardless of the threat there’s a job to be done at the end of it.”

Patrick, from Cheltenham, was awarded the medal in July last year for his part in an action in Taliban-infested Sangin, where more than 100 Brits have been killed.
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Six year old honored for lifetime in Air Force

Dog who served in Iraq, Afghanistan honored at Wright-Patt
Dayton Daily News
By Chris Stewart
Staff Writer
April 25, 2014

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Speaking next to an empty dog crate, Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Pritchett fought through tears Friday while remembering his one-time partner, Arko.

“Those who have called themselves dog handlers are the only people who can truly understand the bond between handlers and dogs. A bond that can’t be broken even in death,” Pritchett told those attending a memorial service for the military working dog.

Members of the 88th Security Forces Squadron at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base remembered the German shepherd as one of their own during a service Friday morning at the Base Club. About 60 people attended the memorial along with eight other military and area police dogs and their handlers.

Arko served nearly five years as a patrol and explosive detector dog at the base. Arko and Pritchett, now the squadron’s kennel master, served two overseas tours together in Iraq and Afghanistan, always side-by-side. Arko was laid to rest Feb. 16, 2014, at the base kennel after dying suddenly of a twist in his intestines. He was six.
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UK widow forced to sell hero husband's medals?

Widow of bomb disposal expert killed in Afghanistan forced to sell his medals
Mirror UK
Richard Smith
13 Sep 2013

He became the first serviceman in 30 years to win the prestigious George Medal twice for saving lives in Iraq and Afghanistan

The widow of a fearless Army bomb disposal expert who was killed in Afghanistan is having to sell his medals to provide for her family.

Warrant Officer Gary O’Donnell became the first serviceman in 30 years to win the prestigious George Medal twice for saving lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some of his heroic feats include defusing 11 Taliban bombs in 24 hours, disabling an armed rocket pointed at a British base in Basra, and jamming his fingers into a bomb’s trigger as it slammed shut.

But in 2008, the 40-year-old hero, who defused at least 50 improvised explosive devices during two tours of Afghanistan, was blown up by an IED as he cleared a path for soldiers.
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Iraq War veteran preserves his stories for Library of Congress

Bomb disposal vet from Iraq War preserves his stories for Library of Congress
Florida Times Union
By Matt Soergel
Posted: July 29, 2013

ST. AUGUSTINE - Tim Fredericksen — tall, muscular, looking every bit the elite ex-military man he once was — leaned forward in an armchair to tell some of his war stories.

He got through the details fine: where he grew up, when he served, the tough training. How it was all he ever wanted to do, how he went to an Army recruiting office the minute he got out of his California high school, how that was the easiest day that recruiter ever had.

Then he told of coming to Iraq for the first time: the U.S. air base under fire as his plane landed, the blazing heat, the unfamiliar sounds of a country at war.

His memories ambushed him. His voice faltered. Tears came.

George McLatchey handed over a box of tissues and turned off the recorder that was capturing those war stories. Fredericksen wiped his eyes. “Sorry about that.”

McLatchey spoke gently in reply. “Tim, you don’t need to apologize.”

Moments later, he turned the recorder back on, and Fredericksen, with a tissue in his hand, started talking again. For 56 minutes, he told his stories — funny ones, sad ones, horrific ones — which will now be preserved for future generations, future historians.
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U.S. army braces itself for increase in PTSD in sniffer dogs

U.S. army braces itself for increase in PTSD in sniffer dogs
by Mark Glenning on September 20, 2011
The American Marine Corps is taking steps to combat post-traumatic stress disorder in its’ bomb sniffing dogs, as it prepares to increase the number of those on duty in Afghanistan.

The highly trained canines recently hit the news when Cairo, a Belgian Malinois, accompanied the team that stormed the compound of Osama Bin Laden in May. So far, he is the only personnel to be named as taking part in the operation.

However, as the armed forces begin to rely on dogs more and more, the numbers that are wounded or killed on the front line are rising steadily. In fact, 14 highly trained dogs have died on the front line since May 2010. In that period, six were wounded and three are still missing in action.

Richard Vargus, who is head of law enforcement at the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), understands the support that is required to rehabilitate dogs that have been at the sharp end in the fight against the Taliban. He commented:

“Our biggest issue that we have with canines is canine PTSD.”

“We’ve seen a significant issue with that because when you’re standing 10 feet away from an explosion, the dog has emotions and the dog is affected as well.”
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Remote control toy truck saves soldiers in Afghanistan

Six soldiers saved from roadside bomb in Afghanistan by toy remote-control truck

BY GABRIELA RESTO-MONTERO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, August 9th 2011

ABC
Staff Sgt. Chris Fessenden with the suped-up remote control car that saved the lives of six soldiers in Afghanistan.

The lives of six troops fighting in Afghanistan were saved when a roadside bomb was detonated with a remote-control truck that a comrade had gotten in the mail from a brother, NBC reported.

Staff Sgt. Chris Fessenden first started using the $500 toy truck to scout for bombs during his 2007 deployment in Iraq. The suped-up plaything is equipped with a wireless video camera.

A group of soldiers in Afghanistan borrowed the toy from Fessenden recently and used it to check for IEDs while on patrol. It tripped a wire that caused 500 pounds of explosives to go off.

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Marines use shaving cream to save lives in Afghanistan

'Shaving cream' effort helps save lives in Afghanistan
Low-tech tool is best way to mark location of bombs
By Jeff Gill


Through a common, everyday household item, not a high-tech device with a big Pentagon price tag, area residents can help save military lives in one of Afghanistan's deadliest regions.

U.S. Marines in the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines' Cherokee Company, are using shaving cream for more than just facial hair in the Sangin district in the Helmand Province.

The white, foamy stuff has come in handy for marking suspected sites of roadside bombs, which have killed or seriously injured many U.S.-led coalition troops in the war-torn country.

It is "hands down the best marking tool available," said Casey M. Brock, commanding officer of C Company, which has some 200-plus Marines and U.S. Navy corpsmen.
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Shaving cream effort helps save lives in Afghanistan

Gina, the bomb sniffing German Shepherd treated for PTSD

Andrieski/APGina, a highly trained bomb-sniffing dog with the U.S. military, joins Staff Sgt. Chris Kench on a sofa at the kennel at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. She has been diagnosed with PTSD.

Depressed dog Gina gets treated for post-traumatic stress disorder after coming home from Iraq
BY Aliyah Shahid
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, August 3rd 2010, 11:22 AM


Poor pup.

Soldiers aren't the only ones being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Some dogs are too, according to The Associated Press.

Gina, a highly-trained, bomb-sniffing German Shepherd is being treated for the disorder after she came home from Iraq and refused to enter rooms.

Once she went inside, the terrified dog would tuck her tail between her legs and crouch to the floor. She'd then hide under furniture to avoid humans.

Gina used to be a people-friendly canine. But at 2-years-old, she was sent to Iraq to search homes. She would frequently observe loud explosions. She was once in a convoy when another vehicle got bombed.

When Gina came back to Colorado after a six-month stint abroad, a military vet diagnosed Gina with PTSD, which animal experts say can affect dogs just like humans.



Read more: Depressed dog Gina