Col. Andrew Poznick, One of Too Many Fort Hood Suicides

Soldier suicides: Stressors, substances and shootings
Killeen Daily Herald
By David A. Bryant | Herald staff writer
December 17, 2106

By all outward appearances, Col. Andrew Poznick was a man with success written all over his future.

Spc. Jared Forsyth | U.S. Army
Lt. Col. Andrew Poznick speaks to his troops with 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, in Basrah, Iraq, on July 29, 2011. Poznick was commander of the battalion. On Sunday, March 20, 2016, Poznick was found dead at his residence near Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

He was a successful combat commander who led 1st Cavalry Division soldiers in Iraq. He had just been promoted to the rank of colonel. And he was preparing to join the faculty of the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

On March 20, 2016, he took his own life.

He wasn’t young. He wasn’t new to the Army. He wasn’t under financial duress, and he had left Fort Hood only a few weeks earlier.

But like at least 13 other soldiers on Fort Hood in 2016 — 13 confirmed and four pending confirmation — he chose suicide as a way to end his personal pain.

The soldiers lost to suicide this year on Fort Hood had little in common. About half had deployed to combat before, the other half had not. The youngest was 20 years old; the eldest 45. They were Americans of African, European and Hispanic heritage.

Some were junior enlisted, some were noncommissioned officers and some were officers.

Their names:

Staff Sgt. Devin Lee Schuette

Maj. Troy Donn Wayman

Staff Sgt. Brian Michael Reed

Staff Sgt. Steven Daniel Lewis

Sgt. John Andrew Stobbe

Sgt. Marcus Lamarr Nelson Sr.

Spc. Bernardino Guevara Jr.

Sgt. Duane Cass Shaw III

Spc. Alexander Michael Johnson

Spc. Dion Shannon Servant

Spc. Bradley Michael Acker

Spc. Korey Deonte James

Pvt. Wanya Bruns.

Four other deaths are still under investigation by the Army as possible suicides.
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Veterans outnumber non-veteran suicide rates 80 to 29 percent

Veteran suicides: Mohave County ranks third in Arizona
When thanking them for their service isn't enough
Daily Miner
By Aaron Ricca
Originally Published: December 18, 2016

Suicides caused by homelessness, easy access to guns and substance abuse are well known and documented. “Those are the ones that are reported to the VA,” said Farrell. He added that the grisly deaths – car accidents and suicide by cop – that don’t make the official reports “is unacceptable.”

Wartime deployments can be brutal, but coming home can sometimes be more destructive than combat itself.

For more than a decade, suicide rates among veterans has surpassed that of non-veterans. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have given rise to a new generation of service members returning with PTSD, sexual assault trauma and mental and physical scars related to military – especially combat – service. Millions of these Americans join those of past wars who carry the same burden, and many of them have taken their own lives when they can no longer endure.

According to a recent study by the Arizona State University’s Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety, Mohave County ranks the third highest in Arizona in veteran suicide rates (the highest being La Paz County). The latest U.S Census population estimate of Mohave County is 204,737 (including 25,312 veterans). There were 121 veteran suicides per 100,000 people from Jan. 2015 to June 2016. Pinal County had the lowest suicide rate at 51 per 100,000.

Of the total Arizona veteran suicides, 78 percent were from gunshot wounds. Suffocation (including hanging) was second with drug and alcohol overdoses, incision (cutting and stabbing) and blunt force trailing.

Men commit suicide more often (nearly 81 per 100,000) than women (25 per 100,000). Veterans outnumber non-veteran suicide rates 80 to 29 percent.
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Don't Bumble Healing PTSD--Join Other "Misfits"

If you are in the military, you fit in fine with others serving, yet, not so much when you are among civilians. Yep, even though you were one of them once, you'll never really be one of them again. 

You do not get back your civilian title. You become a veteran. One thing you'll notice is, you may want to "fit in" with them, but you won't, simply because they are not like you.


That is not always a bad thing because while some young folks spent way too much time on self-promotion, you were worried about staying alive. This lady is talking about what she encountered with a group of 16 year olds. 


Being a misfit among them, you can get along with them, but when you meet others like you, you discover where you do belong and fit in.

Bumbles

In the movie Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer  none of the main characters felt as if they did not belong anywhere. 

Circumstances led them to discover others and they helped each other get through whatever life dealt them.

By the end of the movie, the "normal ones" discovered they were wrong about the outcasts.

 "Maybe misfits have a place, too. Even Santa realizes that maybe - he was wrong."

It is really amazing to understand that you may feel like a misfit until you notice how well you fit with others just like you. How can you expect folks to see the goodness in you if all you show them is someone to fear? Bumbles bounced back from going over the cliff and so can you if you do not bumbled your future. Find other veterans just like you!

Iraq Veteran, Robbed of Gifts, Embraced With Love Then Pays It Forward

Family that had presents stolen plans to pay it forward
Reno Gazette Journal
Sarah Litz
December 16, 2016

“We will be paying it forward for a long, very long time. Everyone has been so amazing to us and they just want to make sure our boys have a good Christmas, and that means the world to us.” Kelly Howe

Kelly and Brian Howe sit together with their adopted children Charlie, left, and Kirt while speaking with the RGJ in their home in Reno on Dec. 15, 2016.
(Photo: JASON BEAN/RGJ, RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL-USA TODAY NETWORK)

Kelly and Brian Howe saved up for months to create the perfect Christmas for their adopted 2-year-old twins, Charlie and Kirt. The parents hoped to get the twins things they loved for Christmas – toy cars, books and anything with lights or music.

After a day of shopping, the family made a last stop for the day at the Walmart on Kietzke Lane. When they returned to their car in the parking lot, they found the car door open. What they didn’t find was a stroller, diaper bag, bottles, jackets and the presents they had just bought.

According to Lt. Zachary Thew with the Reno Police Department, the doors were locked and the suspects popped a door lock to get inside and burglarize the vehicle.

Kelly said the family lives on a fixed income with many hospital bills. Brian was shot in the Iraq War and suffers from traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and cognitive seizures. Kelly – who is a full time caregiver to her husband and children – was diagnosed with a rapid form of Meniere’s disease.

Both boys suffer from cortical visual impairment, sensory and auditory processing issues and agenesis of the corpus callosum – a rare birth defect in which the matter between the two hemispheres in the brain is missing. She said the boys have trouble focusing, don't talk and are being tested for autism.read more here

WWII Veteran Lost His Greatest Love Again

WWII Veteran Mourns Death of Girlfriend He Reunited With 70 Years After War
BY TRIBUNE MEDIA WIRE
DECEMBER 16, 2016

Over the last year, each step of the amazing love story between a Virginia Beach veteran, Norwood Thomas, and his girlfriend from World War II, Joyce Durrant, has been chronicled by KTLA sister station WTVR in Richmond.

The latest update is not a happy one, however. Exactly one week ago Friday, Durrant died.

"Joyce was my first great love," Thomas said through tears. "When we reunited, the old feelings rejuvenated. I had a wonderful trip to Australia and was looking forward to another one, but it didn't happen."

Durrant's death comes a little more than a year after Thomas and Durrant reconnected on Skype. According to Durrant's son, she suffered a heart attack in November. Although across the world in Australia, Thomas did whatever he could to make sure he was still by Durrant's side.
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