Military suicide: Parting words

Army Spec. Christopher Journeau died by suicide in June 2010. /Family photo

This last pair of perspectives from my recent research on suicide in the military community sheds light on the hidden wounds of war:

Jon "Chief" Worrall served in the military for 28 years. He was a Navy chief petty officer until he mangled his leg in a motorcycle accident, then he returned to the military through the National Guard.

In 2003, Chief was an Army Guard sergeant and 49 years old when he got orders to join the Mountain Infantry and deploy to Iraq.

Chief fought in Iraq for 11 months until an improvised explosive device exploded next to his Humvee. "The impact of a bomb when you're in a vehicle -- it turns things to jelly," he said. "The bomb that hit me was six feet away."

Chief and the other three soldiers in the Humvee survived but they all suffered severe injuries. The Brentwood resident has endured 12 surgeries, most recently a reconstruction of one of his shoulders.

He has also suffered ongoing effects from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. A trip to pick up pizza in town can end up in the next county with no recollection of the take-out mission.

"Losing my noggin was not easy," he said, listing mental health issues including memory loss, dizzy spells and confusion. "You try to make yourself as good as possible -- then you move on."

"...Out on the road, we didn't know who's who. We were out on the road surrounded by cars. We didn't know who was there to help us and who was there to kill us."


Ken Norton is president of National Alliance on Mental Illness-New Hampshire and has adopted safe messaging as one of his suicide prevention missions.

"We don't have a solution for suicide," said the advocate who helped create the New Hampshire Suicide Prevention Council, noting a complex mix of factors are almost always at play.

Norton said the biggest danger in media coverage of suicide is the risk of glamorizing or normalizing suicide. He put a scare in my journalistic nerves when he shared how there were about 200 more U.S. suicides than "normal" in the weeks after Marilyn Monroe's death. I didn't want any part of that kind of media coverage of suicide.

There is no doubt that TBI is a signature injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But Norton shares my concern that facets of the asymmetric warfare fought in those conflicts has put troops at high risk of PTSD as well.

"Unlike previous wars, there is no clear ID'd enemy," he said. "When they were inside the wire, they weren't particularly safe, either."

Norton said serving in Baghdad must have been particularly unnerving: "They're in the middle of a civilian community and they don't know who the threat is."

And America's technological advantage was not always a strength. "In many ways, instant communication can be a curse," he said. "Earlier, communications took days, mostly by mail. Now people talk on Skype or Facebook just hours off a mission. Home life can seem close by, but they're really not a part of it."

"...Cell phones and Facebook can get word out fast," Norton said. "Family members know when someone in the unit has been harmed."

In states such as New Hampshire, where 10 percent of the adult population has served in the military, he said there needs to be a broad approach to mental health services for veterans. "Public and private agencies need to get involved in supporting military members," Norton said. "Veterans need to be able to access community resources."

The Veterans Crisis Line is a key resource for those who have served in the military, he said. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline (800-273-8255) is composed of 150 call centers nationwide. By pressing 1, calls are sent to a facility in New York with staff trained to work with veterans and their family members.

"The Veterans Crisis Line has saved a lot of lives," Norton said.

He stressed that 90 percent of people who attempt suicide do not die by suicide.

"They really didn't want to die. They just wanted the pain they were living with to stop," Norton said. "The reality is most people really don't want to die. If people were just as concerned about the effects of suicide as heart attacks, we could save more lives."

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Saving the lives of troubled veterans

Army Spec. Christopher Journeau takes a break during a patrol in Baghdad. Journeau came back from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder and died by suicide in 2010. /Family photo

"I'm grateful to this nation. It's done a lot better job than past generations in terms of taking care of veterans."

That is the hopeful message from C.R. Marchi, a former Army sergeant who was shot through the pelvis while serving his second tour of duty in Iraq.

There are lessons to be learned across the country from efforts to combat suicide among veterans in New Hampshire. Find out what's being done to save the lives of those who put everything on the line for their country.

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Connecting veterans with mental health services

Exeter High School graduate Kevin Lapointe has struggled with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury since he deployed to Iraq more than seven years ago. This summer, his wife, Donna, compelled him to seek mental health treatment at a VA medical center. "The anger has totally decreased," he said of the rage that dogged him every day. "I'm more approachable and reachable." /Don Himsel photo, The Nashua Telegraph

When veterans seek treatment for the psychological wounds of war, it can heal not only their troubled minds but also the rifts that are created between them and their loved ones.

This Veterans Day weekend, the Portsmouth Herald and The Nashua Telegraph will be running a story I wrote about connecting New Hampshire veterans with the mental health services they need. This story is part of a seven-week investigation of suicide in the Granite State's military community and follows a story published last weekend on the suicide of Army Spec. Christopher Journeau. The mental health services story will run Sunday, Nov. 10, on the Portsmouth Herald's website at www.seacoastonline.com and Monday on The Nashua Telegraph's website at www.nashuatelegraph.com.

Dozens of sources contributed to this project. So many people had so much to say about suicide prevention in the military community that I couldn't squeeze all of them into the newspaper stories. But all of these sources informed my understanding of the complex array of issues at play. I will share a couple of these missing voices on the Bullwork of Democracy blog.

First up is Al Porsche, a Vietnam War Army veteran who served as a peer counselor at the Vet Center in Manchester, N.H., for 10 years:

"We're at least naive to send people to wars and think they won't come back with emotional and psychological issues. There is no magic bullet to solve this problem. ... The solution is not to send folks off to war in the first place."

When it comes to bridging the gap between troubled veterans and the available mental health services, "we continue to reach out to these people in any way we can."

The VA-affiliated Vet Centers, which offer confidential counseling services, are among the most vital resources for veterans. "It's easier for combat veterans to speak with other combat veterans. ... We do a lot of community building. ...

"As a country as a whole, we are doing nearly everything we can to help these veterans heal. But some of these veterans make the decision to end their lives. Part of the solution is not to be so quick to send these men and women to war. There's a price to be paid. ...

"PTSD isn't just a problem with the soldiers, it's a problem for the entire society. There are consequences down the road" every time the country goes to war.

"The communalization of of their sacrifices helps the individual veterans. ... It's helpful for the veterans to share their stories with broader society. But unfortunately, we won't be able to connect with all of them."

Many veterans suffer "cognitive dissonance" when they come home from wars like the Iraq conflict that end up unpopular among citizens across the country. "Civilians are proud of their service, but too often the country uses their service in a situation that was foolish or unnecessary."

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A soldier's suicide: Invisible wounds of war

Spec. Christopher Journeau is surrounded by camouflage during his deployment to Iraq. The New Hampshire native died by suicide less than six months after leaving the Army. /Family photo

The parents of Chris Journeau had already given too much to their country when I knocked on their door in Stratham, N.H., in early October 2013.

Jo-Ann and Merrill Clark lost their only child to suicide after he returned from the Iraq War with post-traumatic stress disorder. They could have mourned their loss in lifelong silence. Instead, the Clarks have shared their family's tragedy in hopes of saving the lives of other troubled veterans.

Read their story at seacoastonline.com.

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Military suicide: 'I don't want him forgotten'

Spec. Christopher Journeau of Hampton, N.H., died by suicide less than six months after leaving the Army in 2010. The Iraq War veteran was 23. /Family photo

When Jo-Ann Clark invited me into her Stratham, N.H., home six weeks ago to share the story of her soldier son, her first words could have come from any mother who lost a child to suicide: "I don't want him forgotten."

I will never forget Army Spec. Christopher Journeau, and I doubt many readers of the Nov. 3 edition of Seacoast Sunday and seacoastonline.com will forget him, either.

Thousands of U.S. troops and veterans have post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries as a result of their experiences in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Journeau's PTSD-fueled descent into suicide is a cautionary tale for every one of them, their families and the country.

Since that first interview in Stratham with Jo-Ann Clark and her husband, Merrill, I have spoken with dozens of Journeau's friends and family members as well as many N.H. suicide prevention officials. Their collective story is not what many citizens would assume.

Like any sprawling bureaucracies, the U.S. government and military have their faults. Veterans do fall through the cracks. But when it comes to suicide among vets, there's no shortage of blame to spread around:

• Many employers discriminate against veterans who have sought psychological treatment, which compels vets to shy away from getting help. 
• Longstanding stigma surrounding mental illness fuels shame and embarrassment, which are the top reasons cited by N.H. veterans polled about why they often avoid seeking treatment.
• There is a widespread lack of awareness about the signs of PTSD and TBI. Many veterans are suffering unseen before our eyes. Friends, family and other members of a troubled vet's community often do not see the warnings of a brewing mental health crisis. When they do, intervening to connect a vet with help can be daunting or come too late.

In short, suicide among veterans is not just a problem for the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is a problem facing nearly all U.S. citizens, businesses and institutions.

Next Sunday, Nov. 10, www.seacoastonline.com and Seacoast Sunday will publish a second story inspired by Journeau's suicide. This story will focus on the challenge of connecting as many troubled veterans as possible to mental health services.

Many N.H. suicide prevention officials, veterans and family members of vets who died by suicide contributed to the mental health treatment story. So many had so much to say, it was impossible to fit all of them or all of their insightful comments into even a long-form newspaper story. To each and every one of these people: This entire project could not have been possible without your contributions. Suicide is a complex, emotionally charged and taboo topic.Many of the contributors to this project showed extraordinary courage and selflessness.

One of the beauties of Bullwork is bountiful space. Coming soon on Bullwork of Democracy, hear more voices and see more perspectives about veterans who die by suicide.

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U.S. military suicide by the numbers

Former Army MP Kevin Lapointe was best friends with Chris Journeau, an Army infantryman who died by suicide in 2010. The MP came back from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. /Don Himsel photo, nashuatelegraph.com

GENERAL SUICIDE STATISTICS

90 percent of people who attempt suicide do not die by suicide.

80 percent of people who die by suicide give some warning signs in advance.

U.S. MILITARY SUICIDE STATISTICS

349 active-duty military service members died by suicide in 2012.

50 percent of active-duty armed service members who die by suicide never serve in a combat zone.

U.S. civilian vs. armed services suicide rates:

• General population: 11 suicides per 100,000
• Armed services: 19 suicides per 100,000

Note: Several factors contribute to the elevated suicide rate in the U.S. armed services, including age, gender, PTSD, TBI, substance abuse and suicide risks associated with "military life" such as moving on a yearly basis.

SOURCES: NAMI-NH, TAPS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE



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Military suicide: Statewide media coverage model

Former Army MP Kevin Lapointe is receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries linked to his military service in Iraq. "The anger has totally decreased," he said of one disturbing symptom. "I'm more approachable and reachable." /Don Himsel photo, nashuatelegraph.com

Veterans Day is a month away.

Media challenge: Present a couple stories that could save thousands of military community members' lives now and in the years ahead.

Professional proviso: Despite my old-school, competitive journalism instincts, I'm not only sharing this story weeks before publication, but also urging my journalism colleagues to take on this topic.

N.H. Military Suicide Media Project

Objectives: 

• In-depth, statewide analysis of New Hampshire's suicide prevention services for active-duty armed services members and veterans
• Assessment of the complex set of factors that are inhibiting treatment for armed service members and veterans at risk of suicide

Nutgraph: While there are commonalities in instances of suicide in the U.S. military community nationally, research indicates there is a unique set of circumstances in most states that should be driving the agenda for how this problem is addressed. Particularly when it comes to the cases of PTSD and/or TBI prevalent in the veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, psychological illnesses are treatable in the majority of cases and suicide is a misguided permanent solution to a temporary problem.

MILITARY SUICIDE - PORTSMOUTH HERALD STORY BUDGET

Day 1: Military suicide profile

• Army Spec. Christopher Journeau of Hampton, N.H., an Iraq War combat veteran who had his name added to the Global War on Terrorism Memorial in Hampton on Sept. 11. Journeau received a PTSD diagnosis from the Army soon after returning from Iraq. He committed suicide less than six months after leaving the Army in 2010.
• Closing portion of profile relates the perspective of loved ones on the circumstances and contributing factors to Journeau’s suicide. His family’s tragedy provides insight into warning signs, situations that elevate suicide risk, and missed opportunities to intervene.

Day 2: Military suicide prevention in N.H. (Embargoed until Sunday, Nov. 10)

• Two key questions: (1) What is being done to serve active-duty armed service members and veterans who are at risk of suicide, focusing on N.H. Guard and the VA, civilian agencies, employers and community groups; (2) What is inhibiting N.H. active-duty armed services members and veterans who are at risk of suicide from getting treatment
• Gaps where military community members are falling through the mental-health safety net
• What more can be done?

Day 2 Graphics

-         “Getting Help” and “Getting Involved” factboxes

-         Depression primer: Symptoms and treatment options/resources

-         PTSD primer: Symptoms and treatment options/resources

-         TBI primer: Symptoms and treatment options/resources

-         Map showing geographic distribution of N.H. PTSD-affected veteran population

-         Key statistics such as the U.S. Army setting active-duty suicide record in 2012

Media Partners
Print: Newspaper partners write their own Day 1 profile, then pick up Day 2, statewide coverage
Online: Repackage newspaper content for online publication and produce original content
Broadcast: Military suicide profile, and/or examining gap between suicide prevention services and military community members who need services, and/or interviews with experts

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Astronaut Scott Carpenter: genius, candor, service

The Mercury Seven gather after survival training in Africa: from left, Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton. /NASA image

Navy Cmdr. M. Scott Carpenter died Thursday, Oct. 10, at 88.

Interviewing Scott Carpenter in 2000 as part of a millennium project at the Concord Monitor was unforgettable. I had picked Alan Shepard for my slice of the yearlong Monitor project, which profiled 100 N.H. historical figures.

After somehow obtaining the home phone number of America's fourth astronaut in space, I called Carpenter's house in Boulder, Colo. The then-75-year-old picked up the land-line receiver and proceeded to give me one of the most candid and thought-provoking interviews I've ever had the pleasure to scribble into a notebook. The following is the complete Monitor interview, most of which has never been published before:

CC: Tell me about the competition for that first American flight into space.

Carpenter: (Shepard) was a very bright and articulate guy, but that first flight should have been mine. I remember thinking at that time that we were like the Seven Musketeers, and the camaraderie was incredible. He and John were the ones with leadership ambition. ... Al had a need to excel and curiosity. ... For Al, it was the competition. He felt for his comrades but he also had a need to be better than anyone else. Everything he did was evidence of that. He was single-minded in his pursuit of the first flight.

CC: What was the reaction among the other Mercury Seven when Shepard was chosen to be first in space?

Carpenter: I think John was most disappointed.

CC: The early astronauts played a large design role in the space program. Was engineering a key skill for the Mercury Seven?

Carpenter: Engineering was a key skill, and we were all excellent.

CC: How would you characterize President Kennedy's role in the space program?

Carpenter: It was his enduring legacy. ... We were sort of contemporaries. I had tremendous respect for him. Without Kennedy, we wouldn't have done this. He inspired it. But that inspiration outlived him.

CC: Did the Mercury Seven run wild at Coco Beach?

Carpenter: The same behavior is found in any group of young men. It was inappropriate, but that's the way it was.

CC: What is the legacy of the U.S. space program?

Carpenter: We'll get more return on that investment than we will on any other investment of that time. It played a role in bringing the Soviets down. It helped establish American technological preeminence. We had a new view, a new way of looking at the world. That's the secret of this whole venture -- the new knowledge that we brought back. It's beyond valuing.

U.S. astronaut Scott Carpenter ready to go on Aurora 7 launch day, May 24, 1962. /NASA image

Carpenter trains in a Mercury capsule simulator. /NASA image

Carpenter was a fellow ocean exploration and science pioneer with Jacques Cousteau in the 1960s. /Image via rolexmagazine.com

Carpenter helped test the first generation of modern underwater technology as a member of the Navy SEA-LAB project in the 1960s. /U.S. Navy image

John Glenn and Carpenter prepare for the future senator from Ohio's historic first U.S. orbital flight on Feb. 20, 1962. /NASA image

The members of the Mercury Seven were accomplished pilots in the Navy, Air Force and Marines. /NASA image

Carpenter tugs at his pressure suit after his completing the U.S. space program's second orbital mission in the Aurora 7 Mercury capsule. /NASA image

After setting an undersea endurance record in the Navy's SEA-LAB submersible living quarters, Carpenter attempts to have a conversation with President Johnson. A recording of the exchange features the aquanaut's helium-induced Mickey Mouse voice and an obviously distracted commander in chief. /U.S. Navy image

The Mercury Seven remained close friends through their lives. With Carpenter's passing, Glenn is the last of the first astronauts. /image via upi.com

Call of duty: Preventing suicide in military community

Chris Journeau was 23 when he died by suicide in 2010. /Family photo

Every journalist has a dream: Working on a story that makes the world a better place. I am living that dream right now.

Like Martin Luther King's dream, which was born in the harsh realities of America's history of racial injustice, my dream story began in a dreadfully dark place.

In June 2010, a young U.S. Army veteran was alone in his apartment in Hampton, N.H. His world had melted down to the point where there was nothing left but his post-traumatic stress disorder, a bottle of alcohol and a handgun. This decorated combat veteran decided the best option available to him was to end his life with the pull of a trigger.

The torment this soldier endured, a barely imaginable pain that will haunt his family members the rest of their lives, has inspired me to do the best work of my 17-year journalism career.

With partners at a growing number of New Hampshire media organizations, I am working on a journalism project about suicide in the military community that will hopefully become a model for other journalists to follow across the United States and around the world. The project will come to fruition this Veterans Day weekend, but there is a message that needs to get out now.

One of my best sources for this project shared an undeniable truth with me this week: "We all need to play a part in suicide prevention."

Whether you are in the military, working for a civilian human services agency, employ members of the military community at your business, or have loved ones who have been in the military, look out for these men and women. If they are not discussing what happened during their tours of duty, do not assume that they are OK. Do not be afraid to ask how they are doing.

These are proud people who are often reluctant, even ashamed, to share their afflictions. But do not run the risk of losing them and wondering for the rest of your life if there was more you could have done to help. I have spoken with some of those people. You do not want to be one of them.

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One hydrogen bomb can ruin your whole day

In theory, there's no limit to the explosive power of hydrogen bombs. /Image via AFP

In 1961, three days after the inauguration of President John Kennedy, a B-52 broke up in mid-air over Greensboro, N.C., sending two hydrogen bombs hurtling toward the heart of the East Coast.

As it plunged downward, one of the bombs automatically armed itself. The warhead, 260 times more powerful than the nuclear device dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II, was equipped with four safety devices, three of which failed to stop the arming process. Luckily for the hundreds of thousands of people in the would-be blast zone and tens of millions more at risk of exposure to deadly radioactive fallout, the fourth safety device averted catastrophe.

The Guardian is at it again.

The same British newspaper that published Edward Snowden's stunning revelations about National Security Agency snooping on U.S. citizens and allies abroad has published a declassifed top-secret document detailing one of the most terrifying nuclear weapons accidents in the history of mankind. The document, which includes comments by a nuclear safety official at the Sandia national laboratory and a physicist who helped develop nuclear bombs in the Manhattan Project, was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Among The Guardian's reporting on the 1961 incident:

• "One of the (doomed B-52's) devices behaved precisely as a nuclear weapon was designed to behave in wartime: its parachute opened, its trigger mechanisms engaged and only one low-voltage switch prevented untold carnage."
• "Had the device detonated, lethal fallout could have been deposited over Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and as far north as New York City -- putting millions of lives at risk."
• The Greensboro incident document was gathered as part of investigative journalist Eric Schlosser's research for his recently released book on the nuclear arms race titled Command and Control. According to The Guardian, "...he discovered that at least 700 'significant' accidents and incidents involving nuclear weapons were recorded between 1950 and 1968 alone."

It's been a bad month for publicity about U.S. nuclear weapons programs. On Sept. 12, The Associated Press published a scathing report on the U.S. government's stewardship of nuclear weapons facilities across the country. Among the report's disclosures:

• The National Nuclear Security Administration "has racked up $16 billion in cost overruns on 10 major projects that are a combined 38 years behind schedule."
• "At Los Alamos National Laboratory, a seven-year, $213 million upgrade to the security system that protects the lab's most sensitive nuclear bomb-making facilities doesn't work."
• "In Tennessee, the price tag for a new uranium processing facility has grown nearly sevenfold in eight years to upward of $6 billion because of problems that include a redesign to raise the roof."
• "Virtually every major project under the National Nuclear Security Administration's oversight is behind schedule and overbudget -- the result, watchdogs and government auditors say, of years of lax accountability and nearly automatic annual budget increases for the agency responsible for maintaining the nation's nuclear stockpile."