Veteran commits suicide in front of Dayton VA center

[Bruno@MT]

A person puts their life on the line when they put it on the line. Filing papers usually isn't life threatening.

Fine. And who decides when someone has indeed put their life on the line?
How close do you have to have been to the action? How about support personnel in hostile territory? And if you become a criminal afterward, do you lose the benefits?

One liners are no way to make an argument. And even if you reply with a one liner like the one above, you still have to come up with an unambiguous definition of 'on the line' that can actually be used by the administration to grant, deny or revoke such benefits.

Everyone can complain, but coming up with usable solutions is much more difficult.

 

[Brian King]

My prayers go out to the family and friends of Mr. Huff. I hope that they can find comfort and peace in their trying times and can forever remember the good of Mr. Huff’s life. It is sad anytime somebody feels that they must end their own life but to have so many attempting to use that end to make cheap pointless political points is not only degrading to Mr. Huff but most of all degrading to those that only see his suffering and death as an opportunity.

Thank you for your service Jesse, Rest in Peace brother.

I hope that if anyone is feeling depressed (especially while on mind altering/pain medications) that they seek out professional help and hold on, it can get better.

Regards
Brian King

 

[Malleus]

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori?

War can take a horrific toll on people, even if they make it home safe and sound. My sympathies to his family and all he left behind.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Fine. And who decides when someone has indeed put their life on the line?
How close do you have to have been to the action? How about support personnel in hostile territory? And if you become a criminal afterward, do you lose the benefits?

One liners are no way to make an argument. And even if you reply with a one liner like the one above, you still have to come up with an unambiguous definition of 'on the line' that can actually be used by the administration to grant, deny or revoke such benefits.

Everyone can complain, but coming up with usable solutions is much more difficult.

Bruno, I know of a number of people who enlisted, never expecting to be in harms way as they were going to be support, or medical, or waaaay-behind-the-lines types, who ended up under fire. In a place ike Iraq, where simply driving down the road can result in death, or trying to buy a local beverage an injury, I'll go as far as to say, you deserve treatment regardless. For someone like Mr. Huff, who was actually injured in theater, it should be a no brainer he should have long term care. It sounds like he was getting it, but something happened and he was refused some treatment for some reason.

This is only 1 of a -record- number of suicides by our troops, both in theater and after they get back. Something is wrong. Something needs to be done. Being this far from the subject, I can only say "They need help". I can't say how much, how often, and so on. I'm not a medical expert. If you'll wait 6 years and send me $150,000US though, I'll be happy to become a medical PHD and get you an expert opinion complete with a lot of theory and jargon.