Texas Soldiers

Nat-Wu replied to me via email about my recent post on PTSD (see below). What he has to say is worth it's own post. Here it is, with some hyperlinks added:

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I'm glad you posted on PTSD in returning soldiers as your last post. I have a great article that links right in with that. I don't know if you've seen it but the latest issue of Texas Monthly is all about Texas soldiers in Iraq. There are several good articles in there (and one horrendous one by a guy who is against Cindy Sheehan). Two of the most moving though, are a section which is just pictures and some description of all the Texas soldiers who have died in Iraq. As of publishing they put the number at 203, which as you can see is almost 10% of the total KIA over there. Texas has about 7% of the population of the US and sends the third most number of soldiers to the military after California and N. Carolina. Our casualties are the second highest after Calfornia, which of course has a population of some 36 million compared to our 22 million.

The other article I really liked was about Master Sergeant James Coons, a soldier who committed suicide because of PTSD. He wasn't a combat soldier. He worked on computers, but he took his duties very seriously. After he helped in the morgue, he started having problems sleeping, and soon became dysfunctional. They sent him first to Germany, then finally to Walter Reed Medical Center, where he was undiagnosed and basically ignored. They put him on outpatient status and had him stay by himself in a local hotel. He killed himself in his room. His wife was expecting him to return on July 4th and she called his room two days earlier. She never contacted him. She asked the staff to check on him, but they refused. A staff member finally checked on him on the morning of the 4th and found him hanging from a pipe in the ceiling; he had used a bedsheet.

It's a shame that he didn't receive proper treatment, but it would be one thing if anyone had at least tried to help him. His commander knew he was having problems when he overdosed on sleeping pills (Coons later said it was accidental; he had just been trying to get to sleep). But the staff at the Landsuhl Regional Medical Center assessed him as low risk for suicide. They simply arranged for outpatient care in the US and sent him back. Because he seemed in decent condition when he got there, the doctor there quickly got him out the door and into Mologne House (the hotel on the hospital grounds). That was June 29th. He was scheduled for an appointment the next day. He didn't go to it. June 29th was the last time anyone saw him alive, but he wasn't found until July 4th, even though by then he'd been missing for 6 days and his wife asked both the chaplain at the hospital and the staff at the hotel to just go to his room and knock on the door on July 2nd. Both refused.

This is not what our soldiers deserve. Soldiers who give up their futures for the sake of America should have something more than that given back to them. When they come back shattered, either mentally or physically, we can't just forget about them.

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As a post-script, I have to say that however these soldiers who died felt about the war there's no doubt that they answered the call to serve, and have done so with honor and distinction. As Texans we take pride in their willingness to serve, however we feel about the war. And we here at TWM believe it's our duty to take care of them when they come back home.