Friday, June 19, 2015

Staff Sgt. Josh Berry Survived Fort Hood Massacre, Then He Didn't

Then there was Staff Sgt. Josh Berry, wounded when the shooter opened fire inside a crowded medical building at the sprawling Army post in Texas. While he was not one of the 13 soldiers who lost their lives or the 32 others who were struck by bullets, Josh Berry struggled through years of pain and suffering caused by the attack before he couldn't handle it anymore, family members said. The Mason native committed suicide on Feb. 13, 2013.
Father says PTSD killed his son, and VA did nothing to help
WCPO 9 News
Marais Jacon-Duffy, Scott Wegener

SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Howard Berry lost his son two years ago.
“He said, ‘your son is in good hands. He’s being monitored. We’re keeping close tabs on him,’” Berry said. “I buried him three months before.”

Staff Sergeant Josh Berry was at Fort Hood Army Base when an armed shooter killed 13 people in 2009. Berry was not killed. He survived the shooting, just like he survived deployment to Afghanistan. But Berry’s toughest battle, his father said, was post-traumatic stress disorder.

Josh Berry committed suicide in February 2013. His family said that PTSD, combined with sub-par care by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, was what killed him.

Howard Berry has rallied on behalf of Fort Hood shooting victims, survivors and their families, and voiced general discontent with the VA.

“I’ve been lied to from the White House to the outhouse,” he said. “I’ve had the same questions I had the day my son died. They’ve never been answered.”
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