I feel no more pain!

[MadDogMarine]

Daniel Somers was a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was part of Task Force Lightning, an intelligence unit. In 2004-2005, he was mainly assigned to a Tactical Human-Intelligence Team (THT) in Baghdad, Iraq, where he ran more than 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in the turret of a Humvee, interviewed countless Iraqis ranging from concerned citizens to community leaders and and government officials, and interrogated dozens of insurgents and terrorist suspects. In 2006-2007, Daniel worked with Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) through his former unit in Mosul where he ran the Northern Iraq Intelligence Center. His official role was as a senior analyst for the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and part of Turkey). Daniel suffered greatly from PTSD and had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and several other war-related conditions. On June 10, 2013, Daniel wrote the following letter to his family before taking his life. Daniel was 30 years old. His wife and family have given permission to publish it.


"I Am Sorry That It Has Come to This": A Soldier's Last Words

 

[Roman]

How sad....

 

[PJay]

Very sad.

I wish the family had not shared that letter. To anyone reading that letter feeling like Daniel and thinking of doing the same...suicide is never the answer. Suicide hurts your family more.

 

[Dakota]

Those are the words of the hopeless and as hard as it is to read and know, nothing is going to change until we as a society are willing to take it more seriously. I’ve always been simply amazed at how women can push out baby after baby, several different fathers, living off the taxpayer's dime and they are treated with more respect & have access to more resources than those in our community who are mentally ill. It really is the harsh reality.

 

[Larry Gude]

Very sad.

I wish the family had not shared that letter. To anyone reading that letter feeling like Daniel and thinking of doing the same...suicide is never the answer. Suicide hurts your family more.

But, that's the point. Suicide sometimes is the answer. War destroys people including those not killed in battle. One of the many things we seem to learn and re learn about battle is the internal toll. You can't just send guys into combat over and over and over. This is one of the many reasons it is best to do your worst and get it over with.

We can't tell any of these people this is wrong. Not after what we've asked of them. How dare we even allow folks to go back and back and back again and then judge them as to how they handle how we've destroyed them?

And we refuse to stop this? Still???

 

[kwillia]

Very sad.

I wish the family had not shared that letter. To anyone reading that letter feeling like Daniel and thinking of doing the same...suicide is never the answer. Suicide hurts your family more.

" 22 veterans killing themselves each day "


22 veterans killing themselves each and every day regardless of the publishing of this letter should tell us all something.



I find his letter to be candid and poised and valid. I agree with Larry that sometimes suicide could very well be the answer. This man did not jump to suicide recklessly and without years of contemplation and as he stated it could very well be considered a "mercy killing".

Some people are in tremendous and constant pain that cannot be fixed. May he rest in peace.

 

[Larry Gude]

" 22 veterans killing themselves each day "


22 veterans killing themselves each and every day regardless of the publishing of this letter should tell us all something.



I find his letter to be candid and poised and valid. I agree with Larry that sometimes suicide could very well be the answer. This man did not jump to suicide recklessly and without years of contemplation and as he stated it could very well be considered a "mercy killing".

Some people are in tremendous and constant pain that cannot be fixed. May he rest in peace.

Plus, he could be helping others by drawing more attention to what we're doing to our people.

 

[Lurk]

Plus, he could be helping others by drawing more attention to what we're doing to our people.

Other than the fact this guy was a veteran of combat, how is this case any different than someone who lost his job in 2009, has lost his home and possessions and possibly his wife and kids? A guy who's on the street because the politicians in D.C. don't live like him.

 

[GW8345]

Other than the fact this guy was a veteran of combat, how is this case any different than someone who lost his job in 2009, has lost his home and possessions and possibly his wife and kids? A guy who's on the street because the politicians in D.C. don't live like him.

Because you don't get PTSD from playing COD and that person had a choice to build up a savings account for a rainy day, Daniel Somers could not build up a savings account to protect him from the things he's seen/done.

 

[desertrat]

But, that's the point. Suicide sometimes is the answer. War destroys people including those not killed in battle. One of the many things we seem to learn and re learn about battle is the internal toll. You can't just send guys into combat over and over and over. This is one of the many reasons it is best to do your worst and get it over with.

We can't tell any of these people this is wrong. Not after what we've asked of them. How dare we even allow folks to go back and back and back again and then judge them as to how they handle how we've destroyed them?

And we refuse to stop this? Still???

Sad and I would do the same.

Other than the fact this guy was a veteran of combat, how is this case any different than someone who lost his job in 2009, has lost his home and possessions and possibly his wife and kids? A guy who's on the street because the politicians in D.C. don't live like him.

Because he was in pain, his health deteriorating and had no hope at all?
A guy who lost his job is not even close to the same.

 

[Larry Gude]

Other than the fact this guy was a veteran of combat...

And the leader in the clubhouse for greatest understatement of the year is...

 

[cwo_ghwebb]

But, that's the point. Suicide sometimes is the answer. War destroys people including those not killed in battle. One of the many things we seem to learn and re learn about battle is the internal toll. You can't just send guys into combat over and over and over. This is one of the many reasons it is best to do your worst and get it over with.

We can't tell any of these people this is wrong. Not after what we've asked of them. How dare we even allow folks to go back and back and back again and then judge them as to how they handle how we've destroyed them?

And we refuse to stop this? Still???

When I ran a classified division we had problems similar to this. Our divorce rate was directly proportional to our deployment rate (79% for enlisted, 80% for officers). More than half our younger sailors were on food stamps. Horrendous conditions. I met with the CINCPAC and tried to explain the situation. We shouldn't have deployed many of our folks on B.S. missions. When one has only so many assets, one has to prioritize. Like triage.

I told him finally to learn to say "NO!"

We were bleeding slowly from too many deployments and these so-called leaders were only interested in their careers, not their sailors. We were expendable in their eyes. Dumb ass decisions IMHO.

 

[Larry Gude]

When I ran a classified division we had problems similar to this. Our divorce rate was directly proportional to our deployment rate (79% for enlisted, 80% for officers). More than half our younger sailors were on food stamps. Horrendous conditions. I met with the CINCPAC and tried to explain the situation. We shouldn't have deployed many of our folks on B.S. missions. When one has only so many assets, one has to prioritize. Like triage.

I told him finally to learn to say "NO!"

We were bleeding slowly from too many deployments and these so-called leaders were only interested in their careers, not their sailors. We were expendable in their eyes. Dumb ass decisions IMHO.

It was set in stone during our civil war; the American character will tolerate a lot of abuse and terrible conditions if, and only if, there is the belief that the mission is worth it to the nation. We've lost any sense of restraint with the all volunteer force coupled with Bush working around the congress, congress abdicating it's gravest responsibility; declaration of war.

Too many people could care; volunteers, eh em. And too many other people think EVERYTHING is reason to break the glass and send in the troops topped off with too many self serving politicians.

 

[cwo_ghwebb]

It was set in stone during our civil war; the American character will tolerate a lot of abuse and terrible conditions if, and only if, there is the belief that the mission is worth it to the nation. We've lost any sense of restraint with the all volunteer force coupled with Bush working around the congress, congress abdicating it's gravest responsibility; declaration of war.

Too many people could care; volunteers, eh em. And too many other people think EVERYTHING is reason to break the glass and send in the troops topped off with too many self serving politicians.

Good point about Congress abdicating their responsibility to declare war.

A lot of presidents have served since the last declaration of war, not just Bush.

 

[Larry Gude]

Good point about Congress abdicating their responsibility to declare war.

A lot of presidents have served since the last declaration of war, not just Bush.

Bush gets special ire because of the historically reality of his time; He had the House, the Senate and a favorable court and, as 'conservative' Republican, then busily went about the task of building the state control mechanisms that a real socialist is now merrily using to full advantage.

His time was the reason we vote; to try and persuade one another to give one side or another all the power they need to do the things they promised they'd do if they had that power.

Bill Clinton generated up THAT much distrust. Then, Bush went him a whole lot better to where we actually thought that Barack Obama, Nancy Pesloi and Harry Reid was a better idea.

 

[acommondisaster]

Every war we fight, there's PTSD associated with it. It doesn't matter whether the war is "justified" or not. The real tragedy is how the people who suffer are treated afterwards by the VA and the medical profession in general. They're difficult cases to diagnose and treat properly.

We can argue whether we should be in the war or not, or whose fault it is we're there, but the fact remains - whether it's a war we agree with or not, those who fight in it are not getting the diagnosis and proper treatment they need after.

 

[Larry Gude]

Every war we fight, there's PTSD associated with it. It doesn't matter whether the war is "justified" or not. The real tragedy is how the people who suffer are treated afterwards by the VA and the medical profession in general. They're difficult cases to diagnose and treat properly.

We can argue whether we should be in the war or not, or whose fault it is we're there, but the fact remains - whether it's a war we agree with or not, those who fight in it are not getting the diagnosis and proper treatment they need after.

All true but, now, worse than ever, in our history, is the extended time frame and repeated deployments. We are, literally, sending people back until they get killed or wounded.

I keep this linked;

Friends remember Vogeler - The Frederick News-Post : Archive

Four trips to Iraq, 8 to A'stan. I don't care if you drive a freaking truck or mend tents, that is a hell of a lot. And people like Lance Vogelar, tip of the spear types, elite, are just gonna keep answering the call as long as their nation calls them. or, they break.

 

[PJay]

" 22 veterans killing themselves each day "


22 veterans killing themselves each and every day regardless of the publishing of this letter should tell us all something.



I find his letter to be candid and poised and valid. I agree with Larry that sometimes suicide could very well be the answer. This man did not jump to suicide recklessly and without years of contemplation and as he stated it could very well be considered a "mercy killing".

Some people are in tremendous and constant pain that cannot be fixed. May he rest in peace.

I understand what you, Larry and everyone is saying.

Like you said, may he rest in peace.

 

[acommondisaster]

I agree. Two wars going on for a long time and a much smaller military than we once had. AFAIK, the vast majority of troops going to Viet Nam had to volunteer to go back for a 2nd tour (yes, I know there was a draft).

I remain steadfast: one of the first things Obama suggested after taking office was to do away with retiree health benefits. I believe that is an indication of the depth and level of care provided. Cure 'em quick and cheap, even if it kills them. I have no grounds to prove what I think, except look at the backlog of claims for the VA - in the millions. That makes me think people are being deemed fixed, even when they arent, pigeon holed and ignored and claims denied. VA has made it a long arduous process to get help, and nearly impossible to prove once you've left the military, and a lot of mental health issues aren't detected until after the person has left the service.

 

[Misfit]

Very sad…I looked briefly online, but couldn’t find it. How did he kill himself?