Who counted the suicides?

Today I was reading about a Retired Colonel committing suicide at Bay Pines VA Hospital. Then a few hour later, there was a report about a Coast Guard member committing murder- suicide, after killing his wife, son and leaving his daughter fighting for her life in the hospital. Yet again, it happened in Florida. Last night a Marine was telling me a member of a group he knows, committed suicide yesterday morning. Yes, yet again, Florida.

Last year, a veteran faced off with members of law enforcement at least 52 times. Did anything change with all the "awareness" groups running around the country? No...oh, HELL NO!

This year we wanted to try to find out how many veterans committed suicide in very public ways. You know, they wanted to make sure no one could cover it up or just try to lump them in with a number that is not even real.

OK, so, it turns out that it happened at least 26 times this year. 

List started July 14

January 2018
1 Clinton Michigan
Veteran committed suicide at East Olive Elementary School

February
2 Texas
Army veteran dead after SWAT Standoff 

March 2018
3 Yountville California
Veteran and hostages dead at PTSD program

4 Vietnam veteran committed suicide in Sheridan Police Department Parking lot after calling dispatch to let them know where he was.

5 Joint Base Lewis McChord Airman committed suicide after killing his family.

6 Waterbury 
Suicide by cop, Marine veteran

Oklahoma
7 Suicide by Cop: Duane served in the Air Force for 16 years, completing three tours overseas. 

8 Soldier dead after standoff at Aberdeen Proving Ground

9 Oklahoma
Air Force Veteran dead after police were called to help him.

10 St. Louis
62 year old veteran committed suicide in John Cochran VA Medical Center waiting room

April 2018
11 76 year old Vietnam veteran committed suicide in Boynton City Hal parking lot. Not first time this happened. 

It happened last year in Amarillo Texas when a veteran shot himself in front of the VA hospital.

May 2018
12 Airman at Cannon Air Force Base found dead in Ned Houk Park

June 2018
13 Fort Knox 
21 year old Private committed public suicide at Clarksville High School after he stole a gun.

14 Kansas
Vietnam veteran committed suicide at in the VA emergency room.

15 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.

16 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.

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

July 2018
18 Alabama
Air Force veteran shot family, and himself after setting house on fire.

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

20 Florida

Herbert Anderson, 85, shot and injured himself with a .380-caliber handgun just after 9 a.m. outside the Veteran Affairs’ Lecanto Community Based Outpatient Clinic, according to Citrus County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lee Alexander.

21 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.

August 2018
22 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.

23 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.

September 2018
24 Minneapolis VA Hospital parking lot, veteran committed suicide day after discharge.

 October 2018
25 Greenville, veteran video taped himself asking his family to forgive him before he pulled the trigger.

November 2018 
26 Gunshot in lobby of Nashville VA Medical Center


DECEMBER 2018

27 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.

TO THE AWARENESS RAISERS!

Do you think your push-ups can top them?
Do you think your ruck marches can top them?
Do you think your events where you advertise it as "fun" can top them?
Do you think that anyone should trust a damn thing you say when you have done nothing to stop them from topping you on raising awareness?  

Retired Marine Col. Jim Turner took his life at Bay Pines

Jim Turner, a retired Marine colonel, took his life at the Bay Pines VA campus

Tampa Bay Times
By Howard Altman 
Published 28 minutes ago

ST. PETERSBURG — 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.

Aside from leaving behind grieving family and friends, Turner, 55, of Belleair Bluffs, left behind a suicide note that blasted the VA for what he said was its failure to help him.

"I bet if you look at the 22 suicides a day you will see VA screwed up in 90%," wrote Turner, who was well-known and well-respected in military circles. "I did 20+ years, had PTSD and still had to pay over $1,000 a month health care."

Captain Ryan Spangler (left) and Gunnery Sgt. Tousnel Renaud (right), with the 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion, United States Marine Corps Reserve in Tampa, fold one of the two American flags that are to be presented to the family at the end of the memorial service Friday afternoon, at the Serenity Funeral Home in Largo, for retired Marine Col. James "Jim" Turner IV, who took his life at Bay Pines Dec. 10. (DIRK SHADD | Times)

Vietnam War Navy veteran Jerry Reid, 67, may have driven to the VA to take his own life on Feb. 7, 2013, because he lived alone and didn’t want to have his body found weeks or months later, said his friend, Bob Marcus.

Joseph Jorden, 57, a medically retired Army Green Beret, likely took his life at Bay Pines on March 17, 2017, not because of poor treatment, but because he felt safe there, said his brother, Mark Jorden.

But Gerhard Reitmann, 66, who served with the Marines in Vietnam and later as a guard for President Richard Nixon at Camp David, “felt like the VA wasn’t really taking care of him” when he ended his life at Bay Pines on Aug. 25, 2015, said his brother, Stephan Reitmann.

The mother of Esteban Rosario, 24, who ended his life at Bay Pines on May 8, 2013, could not be reached for comment. read more here

Still think that sending veterans into private care is good for them?

Kaiser patients speak out about lengthy waits for mental health therapy

The Press Democrat
ALEXANDRIA BORDAS
December 15, 2018

“You either become dead or more depressed in this system. I lost everything going through this experience and now I have nothing else to lose. Now, I am unafraid to speak out.” Jessica Held

Time and again, Jessica Held called Kaiser’s mental health department in Santa Rosa pleading for help.

Feelings of severe anxiety and depression would weigh on her, but weren’t yet at alarming heights. In those moments, she didn’t want to harm herself or others, although she strongly believed she needed extra support from someone — anyone — available to see her at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Rosa.

But she never received the immediate help she desired.

Held said she was consistently told there wasn’t anyone available for individual therapy for at least a month because she wasn’t in a crisis situation, despite being a Kaiser patient since 2001. Instead, Kaiser offered to place her in group therapy.

Held’s story and others like it received new attention this week as Kaiser mental health workers staged a five-day statewide strike against the nonprofit health care system. The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents psychologists, therapists and clinical social workers, ended their strike on Friday.

Union members say patients must wait four to six weeks, on average, for individual therapy appointments because Kaiser has not hired enough mental health workers to properly treat its members. Many who need individual care are funneled into group therapy, union members say.
read more here

UPDATE
Just a reminder: 

VA hospitals outperform private hospitals in most markets, according to Dartmouth study

"Little spark cuts through fog"

Spark out of the darkness

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
December 16, 2018

Yesterday I attended a Wreath Laying ceremony at All Faiths Memorial Park. A large crowd gathered together on a rainy morning to remember veterans.

They did not know most of veterans, but they took their wreath, read the names their so they
would be remembered.

They were not all famous like Robert Miller, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for sacrificing his life to save others in Afghanistan. Some died many years after serving, yet each one mattered.
read more here

PTSD Vietnam veteran died getting out of moving ambulance

Jury awards $7 million to family of Vietnam vet who died after climbing out of moving ambulance

Chicago Tribune
Mike Nolan
December 14, 2018

Bonamarte said the ambulance was traveling at about 30 to 35 miles per hour when Stein climbed out, and he suffered multiple injuries, including head and rib fractures. Lawyers speculated that confusion brought on by PTSD prompted Stein to leave the ambulance.

A jury has awarded $7 million to the family of Patrick Stein, shown, who died in July 2014 after climbing out of a moving ambulance. (Law firm of Levin and Perconti)

Cook County Circuit Court jury has awarded $7 million to the family of a Vietnam veteran from the south suburbs who died in 2014 after climbing out of a moving ambulance, according to an attorney who represented the family.

Patrick Stein, 64, who lived in Matteson at the time, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after two tours of duty in Vietnam, according to the law firm Levin and Perconti.

The verdict in the wrongful death lawsuit was reached late Wednesday, Michael Bonamarte, an attorney with the firm, said Friday.

Stein had been brought to St. James Olympia Fields Hospital in July 2014 after his family had found him outside his daughter’s home with a butcher knife clutched to his abdomen, according to the firm.

Medical staff at the hospital diagnosed the man as having an altered mental status, acute confusion and suicidal behavior, according to the firm, and recommended Stein be transferred to Edward Hines Veterans Affairs hospital in Maywood, where psychiatric services were available. While at St. James, Stein didn’t recall the episode with the knife, according to the firm.
read more here