"Club 22" and OUR Government's Role in Veteran Suicide
In my book "Warrior Lost: Veteran Suicide and the Combat PTSD Monster", I wrote about Veteran suicide. I also wrote about some of the factors that make our Veterans feel like joining "Club 22". One of them was legal problems.
At our happy home, we've been experiencing some pressure from the local municipality regarding incompletion of a work permit that was pulled in October. We live in a northern state and from November on, it's pretty crappy to say the least. Couple this with some pretty severe heath troubles and I'm sure you can see how there isn't finances or resources to complete a exterior home project. In the dead of winter.
Anyhoo, said work permit expired. Work was not complete. Our home got ordered a ticket. No offer to extend the permit. No warning that compliance was not met. Just a ticket that is punishable by a $500 fine AND/OR 90 days in jail.
Any of y'all that are Combat Vets probably have a good idea of what the thought of impending incarceration does to a Combat Vet's mind. Especially one that has a touch (or more) of Combat PTSD. Apparently it's been weighing heavily on the head of my household's.
Tonight I came home to a discussion about the case and a shocking admission: my best friend, my lover, my partner in EVERYTHING apologized for being distant lately. He also admitted that he thought about suicide - but he didn't want me to "find the body".
As a scribe, wordsmith, author and armchair psychologist, let's examine this verbiage for a moment. THE BODY. Not MY BODY. Not ME DEAD. It was THE BODY.
I'm not a shrink, by any means. But this gives me an idea of what EXACTLY Combat PTSD does to a Warrior's mind. If anything, THE MONSTER tells them that people are inanimate objects. The Monster is a liar - we all know it. But to our Warriors, that Monster is whispering in their ears and telling them that they'd be better off dead.
Which leads me to another point. WHY is our government fucking with Combat Vets over something as stupid as an incompleted porch permit? WHY is this an issue when THEY KNOW that a DISABLED VETERAN cannot complete the work? In the dead of winter. With limited resources. With TONS of health issues - both physical and mental. Why is this a BIG DEAL?
To me, there will NEVER be an answer to this UNTIL we teach THE GENERAL PUBLIC that our Nation's Warriors are HEROES and NOT ZEROES. Do you think this would have happened in 1952? No. It wouldn't. The community would have gotten together and helped the Veteran. Not today though. Today we've got OUR LOCAL GOVERMENTS persecuting our Veterans.
Think about this for a minute. If OUR GOVERNMENT won't give a Warrior a break, what kind of example is this for the rest of us? A pretty crappy one at that.
When a Veteran tells you that they risked their life for an ungrateful nation, believe them. My partner killed people for this country. He's got a LIFELONG mental disorder because of his service TO THIS COUNTRY.
Yet, the local municipality would like to THROW HIM JAIL and/or fine him money he doesn't have because of an incompleted work permit. What's more important? A front porch or ANOTHER dead Veteran?
