The Suicidal Soldiers of Fort Campbell: In Memoriam, Post-Memorial Day

Now that the television rituals are over -- the theatrically somber voices of the network anchormen; the poetically-framed, stock-footage shots of Arlington Cemetary, and the cracked-bugle versions of "Taps;" maybe a cutesy interview with the Oldest Surviving Veteran of some forgotten battle -- the American media, having done its faux-patriotic duty, can forget Memorial Day and scurry back to its infantile obsession with the inside-baseball minutiae of Washington politics.

And what of the freshly-dead soldiers, the soon-to-be-dead soldiers, and all those warriors for whom IED stands not for "improvised explosive devices" but "internal emotional death?"

For them, that one Memorial Day is over, and the remaining days of the year -- those 364 consecutive Amnesia Days -- are just beginning.

It's truly amazing how little attention has been paid to the epidemic of suicide at Fort Campbell, Kentucky -- home to the legendary 101st Airborne Division. Why isn't it a front-page story when an entire military base shuts down for three days in a worthy -- if sadly belated -- attempt to cope with "at least" eleven suicides? Why do the moronic ramblings of Liz Cheney draw so much more attention than the fact that our soldiers are now murdering themselves at a faster clip than our enemies do?

Year after year, our military sets new records for self-destruction. In the Army alone, there were 115 in 2007, and 133 in 2008, We've already had 64 confirmed Army suicides this year, so we're sure to shatter the old mark. And of course these numbers only begin to hint at the problem: they don't include the slower, long-term suicides by alcohol and drugs, by madness and homelessness, or the quasi-zombie wrecks who sit on porches across America staring dully out into the middle distance.

So the brass at Fort Campbell shuts the base down for three days, in "an effort to let the soldiers know that the command cares," according to spokesperson Kelly Tyler; "to make sure people know we want them to keep living." Ms. Tyler goes on -- with haunting and unintended irony -- to say: "It is such an unusual event to look them in the eye and say their life matters."

Yes. It's a highly unusual event. And 's a horribly -- and grotesquely -- insufficient one.

"Soldiers often refuse to admit they are having problems because of the culture of the military," she said. True enough. And this was the extra, hidden evil of Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" edict -- it reinforced the very culture of secrecy, denial and shame that was already at soul-crushing levels in the military. And not just around the issue of sexual preference: how many other passions, fears, and forbidden thoughts are soldiers forced to deny, minute to minute, year after year, in order to survive... until they snap?

And when that final snap comes, they don't only destroy themselves: although it was a short-lived story in the American media, five military families are still mourning the soldiers killed by the decidedly un-friendly fire of Army Sergeant John Russell. In a cheap but potent irony, Sgt. Russell -- tellingly described by his father as "a real John Wayne type" -- was a communications specialist who opened fire on his brothers at a stress clinic.

War is, inevitably hell, but there is nothing inevitable about this surge in military suicide. Even the vice chief-of-staff of the Army, Peter Chiarelli, has cited long deployments in Iraq -- and the sadistic Bush/Cheney "stop-loss" policy -- as a huge factor in this suicide spike. And Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America has laid it on the table with typical candor: "It's tragic. I mean, It's deeply disturbing, but I don't think folks who have been in the [war] theater are surprised," He says: "One in four folks come back [from war] with some kind of stress-related mental health injury. But these folks are going back over and over again," he said. "Each time you're deployed, you're more likely to have a mental health disability."

Sgt. Russell -- the John Wayne type -- had been in Iraq for four rotations, a total of 54 months, in a hell we created for absolutely no good reason -- a hell we are dismantling with amazing slowness -- a hell to which we continue to consign young people every day.

U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Arizona, a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, says the military needs to reach out to military personnel who may be suffering from combat stress. "We simply cannot wait for our men and women serving in the military, or our nation's veterans transitioning back to civilian life, to come to us. We need to go to them," he said recently.

Yes, by all means: we need to go to them. But it doesn't seem like a priority to America's government or media.

After all, Memorial Day is over.

Comments

[Roger Stuck]

I am trying to get this linked with facebook so more people can see it.

[Dawn Card]

I have been stuck at Fort Campbell in the same unit since 2004. Our problem is never ending deployments and the constant struggle to get stationed anywhere else. I love serving my country but we all need a break. We have been told that they are doing us a favor and will push our next deployment back a year. Listen to us, let us move to new duty stations. I am a medic and hear the sad stories of great soldiers every day. We all love serving our country but everyone needs a change. We are on life cycles (which means you are stuck for at the very least three years). After those three years it is almost impossiable to go to a new duty station unless your re enlist for one. The life cycle unit is terriable, help us put regulations on how long we get stuck at one duty station. God bless those souls, many were personal friends, and pray for their family and friends.

[Nancy Doran]

HuffPost's Pick

I am a Gold Star Mom of one of those statistics. My Son died at Ft. Knox as a Drill Instructor but had been at Ft. Cambell with the 101st. I thank you for getting the word out. I also thank the many Veterans for going to congress and insisting these Veterans have help. I am very proud of my son. He was an exellent soilder, son, Father and Husband. Please get
help for these men and their families. I am so indebted to the Army, Veterans centers, Gold Star Mothers and Blue star Mothers for there support and now T>A>P>S> A very grateful Mom. Oh yes My son died Jan.6,2009 .

[CJWebber]

Every 3 days a soldier commits suicide? Why isn't this front page news? Unbelievable.

[larry278]

America's MSM has chosen not to believe an American soldier kills himself every 3 days. The MSM don't believe it; therefore, the MSM don't consider this ugly fact to be news. The traditional MSM always has ignored unpleasant facts. The MSM has a tradition of ignoring the unpleasant but true facts. You can believe that.

[Roger Stuck]

Who or what is an "MSM"?

[Sapper19]

How about some of you step up and serve as well? We do our tours and listen to all of you and "your support of the troops but not the war." Step up, raise your hand and stand a post. That way maybe it won't mean 5, 6, & 7 tours or more for soldiers to face.

You hypocritical slime don't care at all. We put ourselves on the line and do it over and over, because these jobs need to be done. Try putting on a uniform and you might just discover the reason that this country is worth fighting for, because you will meet the greatest generation of Americans. The ones who volunteered to shoulder the burden of the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq. The ones who are making a difference lots of other places through out the world every day in this fight, all while you whine and complain and second guess their actions and hope for another embarrassing story about them.

Those who have taken their own lives have died needlessly and tragicly. No soldier who has given his life in combat has died needlessly, he gave his life so that others might live. "Do not mourn the loss of men such as these, but instead celebrate the fact that men such as these lived."

[WorkingClass]

I served under LBJ. We lost 58,000 men. And those are just the dead ones. And we killed something like 3 millions of "them" all for nothing. Nothing. American soldiers are bought and paid for then and now. They are expendable in the service of the empire. They are not noble defenders of mom and the family farm. I would not advise Americans to enlist. I would advise soldiers to GET OUT at the first opportunity.

[mbaty]

It's just too bad war is so profitable.

[jmpurser]

America has never chosen to face the true costs of her wars. I wonder how popular war would be if we had made a practice of an honest accounting of all the wars to date.

[gloriousbeing]

Yet another HUGE tragedy of the faux war drummed up by b.u.sh and ch.en.ey.

[marignymitch]

We're not leaving Iraq and we're escalating our committment to another futile effort, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is not a prescription for improving the mental health of our soldiers. Neither is the military's totally macho dude culture. But these developments are great news for the military-industrial complex, Washington constituencies that really matter. Sadly. I think Americans are incapable of waking up to these realities. And I fear young Americans will continue to suffer and to die needlessly as a result.

[LarksTongue]

I don't know what breaks my heart more: the lack of mainstream coverage or the lack of comments on it here. Daily, we buzz up the most trivial of topics... why not this important one?

Hang on Fort Campbell, America is with you. My thoughts and prayers are with you and all of our soldiers. We will end this misguided 'crusade.'

[kappa08]

"in a hell we created for absolutely no good reason"...I think the underlying current of this statement alone tells it all. These soldiers have sobered up to the reality of failed leadership and following bad men into a BS war.
After the luster of joining to "get some" and do "god's work" wore off they were left wanting realizing that they were nothing but meat used to allow a very few to take back sovereign oil while fisting our National Treasury in the name of an immature American ego.
I asked from the very beginning why would ANYBODY join such a bad plan under cowardice leadership with little to no care after the damage to your soul has been done? Maybe that's why the suicides are becoming back page material because of their frequency.
These soldiers are WAKING UP to the fact that it was not worth it. Not for them, not for their neighbors, not for men of NO honor and not for a country that places a higher value on things like families that profit from over producing children(j&k + 8) or rallying against a government trying to balance our quality of life by making those(the unregulated rich) that have manipulated the rules to pay more than those serving their country.

[mergina]

If you are having this many suicides, rest assured it is because SOMETHING is being done to or used on them to make it happen. Part of being in the military is being an unwilling guinea pig, which history has proven time and time again.

[MeetJohnDoe]

Great piece.

[kappa08]

John rarely speaks...but when he does. It straight up real.

[Bob Wells 1]

Your article is so welcome. Fort Campbell is a tragedy. An unknown tragedy. It reflects the invisibility of suicide generally. Every 16 minutes someone in the United States commits suicide. Suicide is the third highest cause of death in teenagers ages 15 - 24 yrs Teenagers make me especially sad. I think of their mothers. So many of these people could be saved.They die for foolish preventable reasons. Suicide is invisible in our society. But it is not rare. It is happening everywhere. Four times an hour.

[Elle Bach]

Thank you for writing so eloquently about our shared shame, reminding us that we, the people, are as guilty as the Bush/Cheney clowns for never finding the will or the courage to stand up for our exploited, warriors, and demand those that put them in harm’s way for no good or honest pursuit be impeached and prosecuted for the war crimes they surely committed. How these two ignorant and soulless men (and most of the Republican Party) have thus far escaped personally facing the consequences of their gross negligence and made to pay for the harm of their inane hubris is a mystery to many of us. Unless this injustice is fully exhumed and answered, on behalf of those who died needlessly and their grieving loved-ones, America will never rest and surely never heal.

[wonder6789]

Prosecute

or

Repeat