Waterbury Officer's Death Ruled Suicide; Second Victim Identified Hartford Courant
Bill Leukhardt
July 22, 2016
Yocher served six years in the U.S. Army, including one tour in Iraq. He then transferred to the Air Force and served a second tour in Iraq. He received honorable discharges from both branches, according to a Dream Foundation release about the September 2015 event.
WATERBURY — A Waterbury police officer who was found dead Wednesday morning outside a slain man's home had committed suicide, state police said Friday.
Hallock Yocher, 37, killed himself in the backyard of 31-33 Marion Ave., state police said.
Authorities on Friday also identified the second victim, James T. Stuart, 39, and said he died from multiple gunshot wounds in his third-floor apartment at 31-33 Marion.
State police are investigating the relationship between Yocher and Stuart. Investigators have not mentioned any suspect in Stuart's murder. Earlier, police called it "an isolated incident" and said there was no threat to the community.
Yocher, a 10-year veteran of the department, had been battling Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of part of the immune system. He was on the job despite his illness but off duty at the time of the Marion Avenue incident, police said.
In January 2014, Yocher, his wife and three children went to Walt Disney World, SeaWorld Orlando and Universal Orlando in Florida, a trip paid for by the Dream Foundation, a California nonprofit that helps terminally ill adults fulfill end-of-life dreams. read more here
When Does Suicide Become An Unacceptable Outcome of War? Wounded Times Kathie Costos July 24, 2016 They call PTSD an "invisible wound" assuming it cannot be seen. After all, it is not a wound of the flesh. Well, you cannot see gravity either, but you can see what it does. Gravity keeps everything grounded so nothing is up in their air.
the force of attraction by which terrestrial bodies tend to fall toward the center of the earth.
In the same way, you cannot see this wound if you look at a veteran but you can see it if you know the veteran.
Cry for help goes unanswered, suicide follows, a report about Brandon Ketchum on Quad City Times, tells the story of a Marine with two deployments between 2004 and 2008 and then another one after he was diagnosed with PTSD.
He "posted to Facebook a 148-word account of his previous day's visit to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City. The 33-year-old Davenport man had hoped his "emergency appointment" would result in an admission to the psychiatric unit, where he'd found help before."
The thing is, no one saw it until it was too late. He sent the message at 2:11 am when most people were sleeping. Most of the country is still sleeping when it involves veterans in crisis. When do we actually find suicide an unacceptable outcome of war? Ketchum was in the Marines until 2013, long after all the "PTSD prevention" Power Point slides missed the power of the point that this is a wound not caused by any type of weakness but caused by the strength of their emotional core. Long after "suicide prevention" was supposed to keep more alive after combat and over four decades of efforts to help remove the stigma of this, yet he was still carrying it on his shoulders being crushed by the weight of his burden.
"Asking for help has only clouded my life with such a stigma that I have carried the 'crazy' or 'broken' labels, forcing me to have to fight for custody of my little girl that I love more than the world."
Some veterans have their families turning their backs on them and they end up alone, on the streets and still suffering. Ketchum had family and friends there for him. There are some who never seek help, but Ketchum did.
Brandon said he already had been diagnosed with PTSD by the time he left Iowa for his third deployment. He was taking antidepressants while serving in Afghanistan. By the end of that abbreviated tour, he was also prescribed narcotic pain pills.
He wanted to heal and wanted to start the next part of his life but was trapped because none of the help he received was enough to heal his soul. The gravity of this wound is strengthened because the simple truth of it is not something they have been shown. It attacks "serious or dignified behavior; dignity; solemnity" because they are left feeling ashamed of it instead of understanding it. The same strength of their core that allowed them to carry that burden while others were in danger comes from the same place where it ravages them when the only ones in danger are themselves.
So when do we change the conversation? When do we stop using "invisible" as if that is an excuse for us leaving so many abandoned? If we do not see it, then it is easy to swallow the "raising awareness" crap when talking about the problem has nothing to do with the solution. Are we finally ready to actually look at the "efforts" the DOD has been doing for over a decade and demand accountability considering evidence proves it does in fact to more harm than good? Are we ready to demand accountability from the thousands of folks running around the country getting plenty of press coverage for what they want to talk about without ever once having to answer for what they know nothing about? How many more times do we actually have to read about veterans like Ketchum before we have reached the "one too many" suicides we find acceptable?
Hundreds attend event to fund service dogs for veterans with PTSD WHSV ABC 3 news
Jared Kline
July 23, 2016
HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) — Hundreds came out to show their strength and endurance by tackling a multi-mile race for a good cause.
The Fine Earth Adventure Race Walk for Warriors kicked off around 8 a.m. Saturday, July 23. Teams were entered into groups, ranging from "walkers" all the way to SWAT. Participants had to overcome various obstacles, varying in difficulty.
Also in the lineup were members of WHSV, competing under the title "TV3 Weekend Warriors."
The race raised money to provide military veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with K9 companions.
read more here
Vietnam veteran cycles to Washington D.C. to get names added to wall WDBJ 7 News By Noell Saunders Jul 22, 2016
SALEM, Va. (WDBJ7) A 74-year old Vietnam War veteran is riding his bicycle all the way from Texas to Washington D.C.
Del Francis is on a mission to get his 74 comrades' names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Francis almost died on a warship 47 years ago after an Australian aircraft carrier cut it in half. The ship sank and all 74 sailors perished that day.
After writing numerous petitions and letters, Francis decided to do something different. read more here
Is It Too Late For Older Veterans? Wounded Times Kathie Costos July 23, 2016 It seems as if we have gone backwards by 40 years on older veterans. When Vietnam veterans came home, no one wanted them around. After all they did to begin research on PTSD, no one wants to even talk about the simple fact they are the majority of the veterans committing suicide. How do we accept that? How can any nation claim the slogan "grateful" and allow this to go on? So many are talking about the latest suicide report from the Department of Veterans Affairs putting the number of veterans committing suicide at 20 but too few are talking about this part.
There is continued evidence of high burden of suicide among middle-aged and older adult Veterans. In 2014, approximately 65% of all Veterans who died from suicide were aged 50 years or older
On May 15, 1975 American Marines stormed the beaches of a remote island in the Gulf of Thailand called Koh Tang to perform a rescue mission. However, due to intelligence failures and other factors, 41 American servicemembers died that day or were missing in what would be regarded as the last battle of the Vietnam War. At least three Marines were left behind to be executed by communist Khmer Rouge forces.
Gulf War veterans came home in 1991 and they are not part of the conversation. Troops were sent to Afghanistan in 2001 and into Iraq in 2003 but they are the only ones most seem to care about. Why? A "grateful nation" remains grateful to all generations and does not forget them because there is not enough time to care about all of them. It does not accept false reports insinuating the only veterans we need to worry about are the ones who just came home. It does not dismiss the suffering of previous generations nor does it remain unconcerned for those who will face the same battle-borne price in the next generation. A grateful nation honors all of them so that no war will begin without true necessity for the preservation of our freedom. It demands the best we can offer those we send and the best we can do for them when they come home. We have failed four generations by forgetting them. WWII veteran are among those still suffering with PTSD. Korean War veterans still suffer. Vietnam veterans still suffer. Gulf War veterans still suffer. All of them are among the highest rate of suicides but most OEF and OIF veterans do not know that. They simply assume it is all about them. When they discover the truth, they grieve and they wonder. They wonder what will happen to them when they are older and forgotten about. They wonder why all these decades of veterans fighting for other veterans has produced the same deadly outcome. Then they wonder how we can drop almost 7 million veterans since 1999 and arrive at the same number reported by the VA on them taking their own lives.
The Forgotten Warrior Project looks like the same veterans were forgotten about all over again. There should be no reason left to wonder why younger veterans worry about what will happen when they are older and America has forgotten them as well.
It is never too late for veterans to heal. The question remains, "Are we up to the challenge of helping them or write them off as it is too late" to care about them?
