Family wants to prevent soldier suicides after son takes own life

Family: Combat veteran commits suicide
Record Eagle
BY GLENN PUIT
January 2, 2013

BEULAH — Eric Lewis Harm survived combat in Afghanistan, but he couldn’t survive coming home.

The decorated Army combat veteran was found dead Dec. 28, an apparent suicide in Manistee County, four months after he left the military. Harm, 24, was a 2007 graduate of Benzie Central schools and grew up in Almira Township.

His family said combat trauma played a role in his decision to take his own life.

“He was just always a happy guy, always looking to help other people and do good,” said his aunt, Dwin Dykema.

“He couldn’t deal with the things that he saw over there.”

A Manistee County sheriff’s sergeant declined comment on the cause of death, citing an open investigation.

The tragedy has Dykema and Harm’s parents wanting to help other veterans deal with the stress of life after combat. Dykema also started an online fundraising campaign to help pay for Harm’s funeral.

“There needs to be more awareness,” Dykema said. “These guys don’t come home with a care package. We are going to move forward and see if we can start a (veterans’ assistance) initiative.”

U.S. Army spokesman Mark Edwards said Harm was a motor transport operator on active duty from May 2009 to September 2012. His initial training was at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and his duty station was at Fort Knox, Ky. Harm deployed to Afghanistan from January 2011 to January 2012.

The problem of veterans taking their lives after combat is not a new tragedy to northern Michigan. U.S. Army Sgt. Joseph H. Baker II, 32, bottled up his emotions and ultimately took his own life in January 2011 in Antrim County. Family members said Baker suffered from terrifying nightmares and other symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
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South Florida Soldier Returns Home For 2013

South Florida Soldier Returns Home For 2013
CBS Miami
January 2, 2013

WEST PALM BEACH (CBS4) – A South Florida family brought in the New Year with a special surprise, when a soldier was finally reunited with his loved ones.

Sergeant David Palma had been serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan for almost eight months.

The soldier left behind his mother, wife, and three daughters who had been anticipating his arrival.

“It’s his first deployment,” said Palma’s mother Cecilia Gil. “He misses his girls very much.”
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Fort Hood soldier killed in accident in New Mexico

Fort Hood soldier dies in New Mexico
Decorated GI was stationed in Texas since 2006
KXAN.com
Updated: Wednesday, 02 Jan 2013

FORT HOOD, Texas (KXAN) - A Fort Hood solider is dead after an accident in New Mexico.

Officials at Fort Hood say Spc. Marcus Orin Williams, 27, died from injuries after a single-vehicle accident in Albuquerque, N.M., on Dec. 19 around 2 a.m.

Williams is from Winslow, Ariz. He entered active-duty service in April 2006 as an motor transport operator.
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Is the no-draft military creating a warrior class?

Is the no-draft military creating a warrior class?
Some fear all-volunteer force may desensitize US to effects of warfare
By MATTHEW SCHOFIELD
McClatchy News Service
Published: January 2, 2013

WASHINGTON — Before a roadside bomb in Baghdad burned and tore apart Jerry Majetich, before 62 operations put him back together, even before he volunteered for the Marines, then the Army, there were five older brothers who’d enlisted and a mother who’d served as an Army nurse in Korea.

His family background shaped former Staff Sgt. Majetich, who’s now 42 and a single father and investment firm vice president in Jacksonville. Despite the torment since the 2005 blast, that history is part of what moved his 21-year-old son to consider leaving college to pursue a military career, and his 17-year-old daughter to join her high school Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

“I’d be thrilled if they chose to serve,” he said. “Despite everything, I believe in military service.”

January marks 40 years since the United States ended the military draft, and an ever smaller slice of the population appears to share Majetich’s belief, however. Statistics are rare, but a Department of Defense 2011 Status of Forces survey indicated that 57 percent of active troops today are the children of current or former active or reserve members of the armed forces.

A recent Gallup poll showed that despite the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a much smaller percentage of those who’ve reached military age since Sept. 11, 2001, have served than in previous decades.

In the wide halls of the Pentagon, the military often is referred to as “the world’s largest family business.” The fear among some military leaders, politicians and experts begins with the belief that as fewer segments of society have family or friends in uniform, others become desensitized to the risks and stresses of military service. The feared risks range from a reluctance to fully support those who serve to an almost cavalier willingness to wage war, reasoning, “That’s what THEY signed up for.”
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Business get tax cut to hire veterans

Congress passes tax credits for vet employers
Army Times
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jan 2, 2013

The tax extender bill passed on New Year’s Day by Congress includes five work opportunity tax credits aimed at encouraging businesses to hire veterans.

Called the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors work opportunity tax credits, the programs pay between $2,400 and $9,600 to businesses who hire veterans.

President Obama has promised to sign the measure, and the Treasury Department says it is working on how to handle the tax-related provisions.
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