On 11 January my husband was picked up by one of his Non Commissioned Officers to go home to pack his bags so that he could deploy. Yes, deploy only 4 days after attempting suicide.
My husband went AWOL that day.
Although he stayed AWOL 9 days, from day 1 he stayed in continuous contact with his Commander.
On his own, he returned to his unit at Ft. Stewart. He was told by Cpt. Tavares that he would receive treatment before being made to deploy; that he could stay as long as mental health felt he needed treatment. My husband went to his counselor, Mrs. Barnett, who said that he suffered from CSD and needed to be in her treatment program which would run into April.
Mrs. Barnett called Cpt. Tavares on 22 February 2005. My husband never heard a response from anyone regarding his mental health class, so I sent an email and asked Cpt. Tavares if she had contacted him. He said yes, she had called and he would deploy on 15 March 2005, that he could get his treatment for this disease in 2 weeks instead of the 5 weeks she had told him he would need.
My husband was given an Article 15 disciplinary action, lost his promotion to Sergeant and he has been tagged by his subordinates as someone who went AWOL, all because he cried out for help.
Two months after attempting to take his own life, he was put on a plane to deploy to a war zone with the same individuals who would not help him, and he remains suicidal.
He was put in a TOC(Tactical Operations Center) to sit because they didn't think he should be in the motor pool. The 1SG would pop his head in and out regularly and ask if he was ok, "you aren't going to hurt yourself are you?" and laugh and leave the room.
My husband has been told in the past few weeks that he was going to be sent back to the Company he came from, because the Command cannot find where his Article 15 went to show he actually was punished and that his old command will promote him to sergeant, and then punish him again, as a sergeant.
Yet, after everything my husband still wants to be a Soldier. He is the better man. So, I am asking you to PLEASE help my Soldier and all other Soldiers in his situation. And I can just pray that someone will finally stand up and take responsibility before he becomes another statistic of an American suicide in Iraq.
Read Dawn Beale's full letter to her congressman here.
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