WOMAN DOWN...NO STAND DOWN! Oh, the Irony of it ALL!
Well, it happened again. This time in Sunrise, Florida. This time it was a female Veteran. This time, she too, was threatening suicide.
Her name was Kristen Ambury. She was only 28 years old.
Call me odd (I've definitely been called worse before) but don't you find it strange that a woman, a Veteran, threatens suicide and then the response is to go in and shoot her? Little ironic, don't you think? How in the hell does that even make sense?
It doesn't.
So besides the fact that someone's daughter is dead and that family will forever grieve over it, let's look at something else. Why would the police even bother showing up?
She was threatening self harm. She was alone. Could she have hurt someone else? Possibly. Or maybe she just could have offed herself alone in her own home. Maybe she could have died with as much dignity as she could possibly muster considering the circumstances.
Instead, Kristen Ambury was shot dead by the SWAT team.
When I read the PTSD forums, I CRINGE when some wife goes on there and says "I hit him and he hit me back so I called the cops." Besides the obvious fact that no one should be hitting anyone, we've got another issue to deal with. The fact that playing "slap a Combat Vet" might trigger him to hurt the wife and then get himself killed by the SWAT team.
We've got two incidences in two days. Coincidentally, in two states that I have lived in during my life. One a male and one a female and both having the same outcome.
Another dead Veteran.
When I read these stories, I can only think of one thing. WHY don't we have a better system in place?
We have had over 42 years of dealing with what we now know to be Combat PTSD yet we don't have a less deadly solution to deal with triggered Veterans.
Why the hell not?
Talk to any Combat Vet and he can give you more than one idea on a solution to this problem.
Like maybe bringing other Vets in to de-escalate the situation.
But that would make too much sense within the bureaucracy. Why do something that might save a life when we can waste taxpayer money by killing someone that was going to kill themselves for free?
That's about what it boils down to, now isn't it?
She threatened to kill herself, someone called the police and she was killed anyways. Clearly the outcome was the same. If that is their response to a suicidal Vet, then maybe the SWAT team should just stay home and eat doughnuts or something.
I kind of sound bitter about this, don't I?
Guess I kind of am. It PISSES ME OFF that these people are getting fatally shot when maybe there's another way to handle them. Aren't they trained to be able to shoot someone in the wrist or shoulder to get them to drop their weapon? Aren't there little canisters of gas they could use to knock the Vet out? Or is that just in the movies? I don't know but I know what's going on right now makes no sense.
Or wait, we could do something that ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE.
We could have law enforcement trained by Military Officers and Veterans on how to handle these situations and have a task force ready to go to deal with these troubled Veterans. But maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.
I do know one thing though, it'll be a cold day in hell before I call the police for ANYTHING seeing as I live with a Combat Vet.
My name is Leilani. I fear a system that is broken when it comes to handling our Combat Veterans with PTSD. I urge other Warrior Lovers to do the same and avoid calling the police unless you absolutely have to. Odds are, it will become a matter of death if you do.
