“You have the opportunity to change the world.”
– MSG Leroy Petry, MOH
By Greg Walker (ret.) USA Special Forces
I was blessed to spend 10 years working with our most seriously wounded, injured, or made ill Special Operations soldiers, sailors, Marines, and Airmen as a DoD trained and certified Warrior Care case manger and advocate {2009–2013}. This as well as in the private sector {2013–2018).
Along the way I was educated by many truly skilled and objective advocates, clinicians, hospital staffs, military commanders, and family members of those in care and treatment. Specifically, those engaged in both suicide intervention and prevention, a topic I am aware of being a survivor of a suicide in my own family many, many years ago now.
There are no memorial walls for those active duty, reservists, National Guard, and veterans who take their own lives. The stigma of suicide ensures silence, shame, and secrecy. Unfortunately, this stigma continues to hold sway despite significant changes in our cultural branding of military service related suicide. Today, we know far more about what brings our loved ones to the precipice of death by their own hands. And we are, we must, learn how to more properly care for those left behind. This in order to break the chain that suicide in a family.
And military units are a family as so many of us know.
Some years ago MSG (ret.) Leroy Petry, Medal of Honor recipient and past President of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, shared with me the far more accurate number of those service members and veterans lost to suicide is 33 a day, eclipsing the 22 a day statistic most often presented. Petry’s information came from his work with the DoD and the VA, among other agencies and NGOs working this issue. Petry himself has lost close friends to suicide. It is a heartfelt issue for him as a result.
MSG Petry and the author at a past JBLM presentation. We also traveled to Alaska where Petry spoke on the continuing challenge of military service related suicide and why this issue must be addressed. (Credit: Author collection)
“You have an opportunity to change the world”
Click the image below or here to view Master Sergeant (Ret.) Leroy Petry, Medal of Honor recipient, at Eielson Air Force Base where he shared his story and outlook on mental health and taking care of our brothers and sisters in arms.
Suicide is not painless
To kill the most terrible secret that is suicide we must expose its causes and its effects on our families, our friends, our military, and ourselves. We must expose military service-related suicide to the powerful, healing light of Love, Truth, and Self-Care. We must band together with like-minded warriors to include our family members to fight the good fight on behalf of those who are stumbling and reaching a point in their internal suffering where death seems the only option left.
They are people, not statistics
In January 2017, Oregon National Guardsman and decorated combat medic Will Naugle disappeared in SE Portland. A month later hikers discovered his remains at the Powell Butte Nature Park. Naugle, a combat veteran of our war in Afghanistan, had taken his own life. He had ended his life in the peace and solitude of a state park, his body not found for some time after he’d shot himself. His sister, Terry, says her brother wasn’t the same once he returned from Afghanistan after serving with the Oregon National Guard, but they had no idea how badly he was hurting.”
In April 2017, “Green Beret” Michael Mantenuto, also took his own life after suffering for years from behavioral health and drug dependency challenges. He, too, sought out a place of quiet and solitude before ending his life with a Glock 23 in the driver’s seat of his SUV. Unlike Will Naugle, however, Mantenuto’s unit Command and behavioral health team knew of his challenges but failed to properly address them.
Most recently, well decorated combat veteran MSG Matthew Livelsberger, 1/10th Special Forces Group (Germany), and a behavioral health patient in the Preservation of the Force and Family program at his unit, took his own life in Las Vegas, Nevada, while on Christmas leave.
In the aftermath of Matt Livelsberger’s suicide in Las Vegas USSOCOM must ensure its clinicians are separate and apart from undue Command influence.
Specialized Support for Special Operations Forces
In the dynamic and demanding world of Special Operations Forces (SOF), the challenges faced by operators and their families are unique and complex. Recognizing the need for tailored support, SOF Support offers a range of specialized services designed to address these specific needs, ensuring that our heroes and their loved ones receive the comprehensive care and assistance they deserve.
“There is no shame in asking for help”
At the grassroots level we are indeed our brothers and our sisters’ keepers. “We have horrifying numbers of suicides from our recent wars,” writes Dr. Edward Tick, founder of Soldier’s Heart. “Yet as bad as the reports are, the suicide rate among veterans is likely much higher. Many after-conflict deaths result from self-inflicted wounds, accidents, legal or illegal drug overdoses, or alcoholism—with no messages left behind.”
Indeed, there are no accurate numbers kept of SF/SOF veterans who after their military service take their own lives. It can be said if we had numbers we’d be stunned at this invisible metric’s immense size.
Family members who kill themselves out of grief for the loss of a loved one to suicide represent numbers that no one truly has a grasp of to date, either. “The existence of a report is a step in the right direction. However, this report raises a lot of questions. We need more information on how this is tracked and who is included in these counts…”We know this is an imperfect science and incredibly difficult to track. It is clear that future studies and greater detail around the 2018 report are necessary.”
The author served in 10th Group (1981) and provided non-clinical case management and advocacy for the Group (Fort Carson, CO) from 2009–2013. Credit: Author collection
Who can help us?
Of the many organizations and agencies seeking to provide education, opportunities for care and treatment, and ongoing guidance and direction for those seeking it the following resources are available. I have used them in my own past work in this field, and with measurable encouraging results.
USSOCOM Warrior Care Program — https://www.socom.mil/care-coalition/Pages/Warrior-Care-Program-Mission.aspx
Veterans Crisis Line —https://www.veteranscrisisline.net
Wounded Warrior Project — https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/programs/mental-wellness/veteran-ptsd-treatment-support-resources
For those seeking to become a resource in this area there is the ASIST program — https://www.livingworks.net/saving-lives
The message?
Again, from Dr. Ed Tick — “It is helpful to feel painful emotions but not to end your life.”
Reach out — “Warriors are not meant to spread war’s infection to their society…the warrior’s core purpose is to preserve and protect society and all that is most precious to it.”
Warrior’s Return: Restoring the Souls After War
By Edward Tick, PhD
Sounds True Adult; 1st edition
(November 1, 2014)
328 pages
Available in Kindle and paperback
Dr. Tick’s second book is highly recommended—we can be restored after war and discover our “New Normal” can be healthy, happy, and a life-long mission of benefit to friends, family, and our nation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR — Retired “Green Beret” Greg Walker served in El Salvador and Operation Iraqi Freedom. A wounded warrior himself, Walker sought rigorous care and treatment in 2005, and in 2009 became a SOCOM care coordinator and advocate. He concluded his career in the behavioral health and substance dependency field in 2018 as a military liaison for two 28-day in-patient military care programs in the Pacific Northwest. Today, He is a family survivor of suicide.
https://www.specialforces78.com/transforming-the-terrible-secret-of-suicide/
Today Greg lives and writes from his home in Sisters, Oregon, along with his service pup, Tommy.
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