Saturday, May 28, 2016

Gulf War Veteran Heartbroken To Find Body of National Guardsman Hanging

Man reacts to finding fellow veteran dead
Mineral Wells Index
Todd Glasscock
May 27, 2016

“It was really heartbreaking,” said Page, a disabled veteran of the Gulf War, his voice breaking over the phone during an interview. “I definitely cried my eyes out.”
GRAFORD – Every Sunday Mike Page walks to a cafe here to a get a paper, and as he does so, he walks past the Old Peppermill liquor store. Until this past Sunday, those walks were uneventful.

On May 22, Page said he found the body of a young man underneath the store's carport. The young man, Dustin Yeoman, 23, had apparently committed suicide by hanging himself.

Yeoman was wearing a military uniform, Page said.

Yeoman's obituary confirms he was in the National Guard. He was living in Graford, but was originally from Ollie, Iowa.

The Index reached out by phone and online to Yeoman's family for comment but has been unsuccessful with those attempts.

Long said he spoke to Yeoman's National Guard Sergeant Major and confirmed he was an Iraq War veteran.
read more here
This quote really pissed me off!

"Though statistics vary, as many as 22 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan commit suicide daily."
I had to leave this comment
It is not "22 a day" and that report from the VA stated it was limited research from just 21 states and it also listed who they knew were missed. That report was not about OEF and OIF veterans only, but of all generations. The majority of the veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50 and you just trivialized their lives because you used a quote without reading the reports. Dustin Yeoman deserved better and so do all of them. Veterans commit suicide double the civilian rate. As such, when the CDC listed over 41,000 American suicides per year, that translates into over 26,000 veterans a year. They should matter enough to get it right and stop taking the easy way out on reporting on something that is never easy on the family left behind.

Reporters seem to find veterans committing suicide newsworthy however just not worthy enough to do basic research.

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