Broken Hearted I write this Blog!

Now I have never had a title like that, but it is exactly how I feel.  As I wrote about earlier, I have written quite a number of posts about military deaths in the wars.  What I have never mentioned is the word “suicide.”  We use code words to designate a suicide.  It seems sad that we have to use code words; actually I feel it is a shame we have to use them.  I suppose we use them to protect the families of the victims. I am sure they are devastated enough at the loss of their loved ones and to heap on the stigma of suicide in the press releases would just be too much. 

So how did I get back to Military deaths so soon you might be asking.  Well, several things over the last week really kind of drove it all home.  The first I suppose happened when I was in Boston last week.  That evening I stayed up late watching WGBH, who some consider the flagship PBS stations.  I was at their facility earlier in the day so I wanted to watch their product.  It was late when the Charlie Rose show started and during the lead-in he mentioned he was going to talk about the military suicide rate.  I was beat so I called Bride and asked her to record it for me, which she did.  It was an informative piece and well presented -- Charlie Rose is the best at the oak table.  Here is a link to that interview.  It is about a 16-minute piece but I implore you to please take a few moments and watch it. 

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12463  I was stunned at the rate of suicides and more shocked by the rate of increase in them.

After that I wrote about the 6500, now already up to 6510, lost Military members in the wars we are fighting. It is hard to write about them all, as I feel a small piece of my soul is being eroded with each one.  I wonder what has happened to our country, why have we spent so many resources on this sand box fight.  What is the driving force and why do we just stand by and do nothing while our people are dying -- their people are dying and for what?  A piece of shit little corner of the world that is good for nothing but growing poppies.  Sorry, I did not want get off on that but I just do not see the value of the fight in that location. 

So, this morning I was looking at my Facebook and my friend who works down at WOSU FM in Columbus, OH, posted a story about a Court Martial that began For Ohio Soldier Accused of Racial Hazing.  Well after I read the story I realized that it was about 8 Army folks who hazed a young Army Private Danny Chen so badly that he committed suicide. 

Here is a link to that story http://beta.wosu.org/news/2012/07/24/court-martial-begins-for-ohio-soldier-accused-of-racial-hazing

It angers me that ANYONE is hazed to the point of the victim committing suicide.  It also angers me that no one stepped in to stop it.  Be the bigger man, be the one who protects those who might be weaker and the one who stands up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.  Don’t assume to know the burdens others may carry as we all carrying our own internal burdens.   

So I looked up Private Danny Chen, this death was listed as unspecified causes, here is his post. 

I just find it hard to stomach!  I do not even know what the answer is, or the cause.  I suspect, like Charlie indicated, it is the rate of return to combat.  During WWII nearly 8% of Americans were serving, now it is less than one percent of the population so they are going back to fight over and over and over and over again.  He had experts talking about the why and how but they were not sure how to fix it.  All the while I am yelling at the TV “stop sending them over there to fight.”  The answer seems so simple to me:  Remove the troops and then any issues related to the troops being there, automatically fixes itself.  Seems simple to me anyway, but I suppose I am not smart enough to know why that won’t work.     

So anyway, I get home from work today and I take a look to see if there were any losses of Military life today and up pops Army Staff Sgt. Brandon R. Pepper.  He died July 21, 2012, serving in Operation Enduring Freedom.  Brandon was 31 years old and form York, Pa, and at 31, I do not suspect he was hazed.  Brandon was assigned to 4th Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, NC.  He was in Ghazni province in the middle of nowhere Afghanistan when he died from “unspecified causes”.  Which is what we all know now is code for he killed himself, for whatever reason he is gone.  These self-inflicted deaths touch me more than others, I am not sure why.  Such a senseless waste.  I wish one of Brandon’s buddies could have seen the signs, if there were even any present. 

Our young men and women serving overseas are being damaged.  We can see the folks who come home without legs or arms, but the ones who are hurting inside – how do we know?  How do we know what to ask, how do we know or even learn some of the signs.  I have lost 2 friends to suicide and I know there are no answers to any of these questions but the knowing has not assuaged my pain.  Maybe I think about Grady and David, my two friends, when I read or think about these Military suicides.  Not that they compare, only that there are always a million questions that can never have answers, and I find that frustrating.  I am just a dumb hillbilly from small town Ohio but the problem seems to have an easy answer – STOP SENDING Our TROOPS OVER THERE!!     

I ask that we all send up a few extra prayers tonight, to keep everyone safe and sound and to bring them home.

The Sixty Five Hundred

Kind of an odd name for a blog huh?  What is the significance of 6500, 5772 and 728?  Where does the 713th engineering company hail from and what do they do?  Who is Sergio E Perez Jr.  and Javier Ortiz-Rivera and how are they associated with these numbers? And how in the Hell is Orville Redenbacher involved?  Well I am going to link all those things together with this blog. 

I think I will start with five thousand, seven hundred and seventy two.  That number is directly tied to Javier Ortiz-Rivera.  He was the first Military member I commemorated on Facebook, which was on November 18th of 2010.  On Veterans Day, I had decided to post on my wall every one of the deaths that were happening in the wars we were fighting.  Javier was the five thousand seven hundredth and seventy-second US Military casualty since the United States of America started invading Sovereign nations.    

Here is a story that I found today titled, “Family mourns death of Marine” about Javier written by Jeffrey Blackwell of the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle. 

The family of a Marine is mourning the loss of Staff Sgt. Javier Ortiz-Rivera, who was killed Nov. 16 by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

On the dining room table of her small, neat First Street home, Ortiz-Rivera’s mother placed photographs of her son in his Marine uniform, with his wife, Veronica, and with their three young children, and another with his sister Glory Ortiz, brother Orlando and father Orlando Ortiz.  “There are just no words,” said Gloria Rivera, mother of the 26-year-old Marine.

Four days before his death, Ortiz-Rivera called his family in Rochester and talked about the bad phone connection and the excitement of his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Days later, sister Glory and her family found out the crushing news of Javier’s death from an improvised explosive device. “He was not just my brother,” said Glory Ortiz, 22. “He was everybody’s brother.”

Ortiz-Rivera was raised in Rochester and is a graduate of the School of Imaging and Information Technology at Edison. He joined the Marines right out of high school in 2002. His first of three tours of duty was in Iraq in 2003. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2005 and again in September. He was due to return home in August.

According to the Defense Department, Ortiz-Rivera was killed while conducting combat operations in Helmand province of Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

“He was dedicated to his Marines and was proud of them,” said wife, Veronica Ortiz. “He told me he was extremely blessed to be out there with the guys he was out there with. He started a Bible study with his guys, and his faith was stronger than ever.”

Ortiz-Rivera lived with his wife and three children, Alyssa Jade, 8, Andrew Joshua, 5, and Anthony Javier, 3, in married housing at Camp Lejeune. Veronica said in an e-mail that her husband was a wonderful father. “Javier was the absolute best father any kid could ever hope for,” she wrote. “His kids were his pride and joy and of all the jobs he had, being a father was what he did best.”

Funeral arrangements are pending. Glory said her brother wanted to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, outside Washington. She said his death is pulling the family even closer together. “The last time we talked to him, the call just kept dropping off until we just gave up,” said Glory. “He loved his family and he was a great father and a great brother to everybody.”

It seems like a lifetime ago that I reported that first one.  Now 728 posts and 20 months later we arrive at 6500 United States Military members who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our Country.  Today I write about Sergio E. Perez, Jr., who served in the 713th Engineering Company, a National Guard unit out of Valparaiso, Indiana.  I wonder if he had ANY idea where, or even knew such a place existed before he was killed in the Wali Kot district in Afghanistan.  A farm boy from Indiana - I doubt it!!

I wonder how prepared this Lake Central High School graduate was for the work he was doing?  Was he trained well enough, was he mentally prepared to do the work?  I am NOT AT ALL knocking the National Guard, but I wonder if he got enough of the right kind of training.  He did go to Army boot camp and then 12b training, which is Army code for a Combat Engineer.  He also received some follow-up training, a course called Route/Reconnaissance Clearance Operations.  When I looked that up I found that their expertise is in areas such as mobility, counter mobility, survivability and general engineering.  The Army’s site showed it like a civilian might see a job description.  Here is a link to it.  http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/browse-career-and-job-categories/construction-engineering/combat-engineer.html

I read where the Governor of Indiana said, "Every such loss is a heartbreak."  He went on to say "We are hit with special severity here because of the casualties this heroic unit has already endured.  No Guard unit in my memory has been assigned to a more dangerous mission than the 713th, and here again we see the incredible risks these citizen-Soldiers volunteer to run for the rest of us."  Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger in a release said, "My heart is heavy today as I consider the soldiers of the 713th Engineer Company who, for the second time in their combat tour, have experienced the multiple loss of their team mates.  I am so fiercely proud of the service and sacrifice of these Fallen Heroes and so very grateful for their families who loved and supported them."

I still wonder what it is we are trying to accomplish in that far away land.  I know some have a very clear definition of that and strongly believe we are doing the right thing by being there, slowly and agonizingly having our Military folks killed off.  I know people who have been there and I know folks who are still there and I get both sides - some of them are for it and understand what we are doing and others just don’t get it. I have asked hundreds of time in lots of places without ever getting an answer that makes sense – what was the goal going into Afghanistan and what is the goal in Afghanistan now?  I do think it has morphed since we started, in an attempt by our Government to save face - I believe.  Nothing I can say will change any of it but I will continue to say what I think and how I feel.  Do you not wonder -  did Sergio understand and believe in our mission and goals there?  Did he join the Guard just to get out of small town Indiana?  Did he go in to take advantage of the GI bill?  What was his motivation?  I will raise up some prayers to whichever God you worshipped.  Sergio, Thank you for making the sacrifice for me!      

Oh and by the way, Orville Redenbacher grew up in the same small town in Indiana that Javier did.