"We are left to parse the details of a private life. He robbed us of any explanation. There is no closure. There is no peace. There are no easy answers about what demons were following him. We wonder about what we could have done differently."
They grieve for Sgt. Major Todd Parisiwho put others first and himself, last. For Jon Harding, who wanted to make a difference but committed suicide on April 3. Grieve for a 76 year old Vietnam veteran who committed suicide at Boynton Beach public parking lot near City Hall and the Police station. And for Sgt. Louis Loftus who fought PTSD but died due to "heart complications" at the age of 30. Friend, family and patients at the St. Louis VA, are grieving after an un-named veteran committed suicide at the VA.
A 62-year-old veteran committed suicide inside the John Cochran VA Medical Center’s waiting room in St. Louis early Monday morning. Although authorities have not released the name of the victim, the hospital confirmed he was a veteran to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which first reported the story.
Everyone is grieving for Kevin Williams, an Iraq veteran who lost his battle with PTSD at the age of 22. They grieve for Marty Nance, who vanished in January but his body was the end of March.
They grieve for soldier at "ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (WJZ/AP) — Army officials say an incident involving a soldier who barricaded himself inside a home on a U.S. Army installation ended after a 17-hour standoff."
And for Mark Underhill who also committed suicide at a VA, Sheridan Veterans Affairs Medical Center. And for Albert Wong, who was reported to be "ashamed to ask for help" before he lost his battle for his own life.
What these veterans, among many more, have in common is that they lost their battles since March. The also have the other thing in common, and that was to have been willing to die to save others, but not able to fight for themselves. UPDATE
The Geary County Sheriff’s Office has ruled the death of Ronald Church Jr. a suicide. Church, a Fort Riley soldier, was found dead inside a vehicle near Milford Lake on March 18 with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Advocates speak up about PTSD after Elk County Marine dies WTAJ News By: Melissa Steininger Updated: Apr 05, 2018
St Marys, Elk County, Pa. - Todd Parisi leaves behind a legacy for both for his military brothers and sisters and those he calls "Team Spartan".
The 49-year-old was a Sergeant Major in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served in Desert Shield and Iraq. He received honors including a bronze star.
Retired Marine Sergeant Troy Schielein flew in from Michigan to be there one more time for Parisi. "I don't think anybody will ever match the Marine Todd Parisi was, is, and will forever be," adds Schielein.
While Parisi spent his civilian life helping others, he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Parisi died last Thursday after a battle with the disorder. He was laid to rest a week later.
"He was the most motivating person I've ever met in my life by far. He's done more for this community in the short time he's been back in a year and a half or so than I can remember anyone in my 50 years of living on this earth," says Mike Wolfel.
Wolfel was a friend of Parisi's he spoke Thursday in his memory.The last time Wlfel was on that same stage, was at his own son's funeral. The Wolfel family lost him to PTSD. "I know it made an impact on serval marines. How could I not speak at Todd's as well? I want to continue that information and if we can continue to save one more fellow marine here it's well well worth it," adds the military father. read more here
Daniel Akaka, first Native Hawaiian in Congress, dies at 93 Associated Press April 6, 2018
FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2011 file photo then-Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Former U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, the humble and gracious statesman who served in Washington with aloha for more than three and a half decades, died Thursday, April 5, 2018, at the age of 93, sources tell the Star-Advertiser. He had been hospitalized with an illness. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)
HONOLULU (AP) — Former Sen. Daniel Kahikina Akaka, the first Native Hawaiian elected to Congress who served for more than three decades, died Friday. He was 93.
Akaka died in Honolulu after being hospitalized for several months, said Jon Yoshimura, the senator’s former communications director.
The Democrat served 14 years in the U.S. House before he was appointed to replace Sen. Spark Matsunaga, who died of cancer in spring 1990. Akaka won election that fall for the rest of Matsunaga’s term, and voters sent him back for consecutive terms until 2012, when he chose not to seek re-election.
His legislative style was described as low-key, a characterization he embraced.
“I have a Hawaiian style of dealing with my colleagues,” he said.
Akaka developed a reputation as a congenial legislator who made many friends while making few waves in pressing the interests of the 50th state. read more here
According to Facebook page the veteran served in Afghanistan, not Iraq, as reported by the Olympian. Seems there are a lot of things wrong with this report. The thing that jumped out when I first read this, was the comment that Patrick Seifert, founder of Twenty22Many made, “He was one of our success stories.” I doubt those who are now grieving for him view this as a success story. The group identified him to the reporter before his family had been contacted. The press released his name. The veteran, must have needed a lot more help if his life ended because of something as simple as this, "According to witnesses, several people were arguing on the sidewalk when the disagreement turned physical. Police say a man who intervened was confronted by the shooter, who fired “several times” before turning the gun on himself." Someone else tried to break up the fight but the veteran is the one who shot at others and then, the final bullet, directed at himself. Did anyone in the group know he needed a lot more help than he was getting? Friends surprised Iraq War veteran was involved in downtown Olympia shooting The Olympian Abby Spegman April 6, 2018
The man who shot another man and then killed himself in downtown Olympia on Tuesday is being remembered as an easygoing and quiet Iraq War veteran by those who knew him.
Patrick Seifert fondly recalls fellow veteran Jon Harding as he wears camouflaged covering Harding used to keep warm while sleeping. Steve Bloom
They also say he carried a gun and wasn’t hesitant to let people know he was armed.
“He was one of our success stories,” Patrick Seifert, founder of Twenty22Many, a local veterans suicide prevention group, said of Jon Harding, 31. “He will be missed, I'm telling you. He was awesome, and he was a huge part of our mission of helping veterans.”
Police say the shooting Tuesday night outside Burial Grounds coffee shop on Fifth Avenue Southeast appears to have been random.
According to witnesses, several people were arguing on the sidewalk when the disagreement turned physical. Police say a man who intervened was confronted by the shooter, who fired “several times” before turning the gun on himself.
He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the Thurston County Coroner’s Office, which had not released the man’s name as of Thursday because officials hadn’t yet located his next of kin. However, friends identified the man as Harding. read more here
Currently available data include information on suicide mortality among the population of residents in 21 states. Veteran status in each of these areas is determined by a single question asking about history of U.S. military service. Information about history of military service is routinely obtained from family members and collected by funeral home staff and has not been validated using information from the DoD or VA. Further, Veteran status was not collected by each state during each year of the project period. Appendix B provides a listing of the availability of Veteran identifiers by state and year. Further, this report contains information from the first 21 states to contribute data for this project and does not include some states, such as California and Texas, with larger Veteran populations. Information from these states has been received and will be included in future reports.
Then again, if you read about what Congress is supposed to be fixing, instead of complaining about, you'll know that none of this is had to happen if they did their jobs going back to 1946. Jurisdiction of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
Veterans' measures generally.
Pensions of all the wars of the U.S., general and special.
Life insurance issued by the government on account of service in the Armed Forces.
Compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and education of veterans.
Veterans' hospitals, medical care, and treatment of veterans.
