Veteran’s Suicide Prompts Seminar for Deploying JBLM Airmen

A military mom is trying to make a difference after her son killed himself after returning from deployment in Iraq.

“You could see he was sad, you could see he was struggling,” said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Saudi McVea. Her son, Bryce McVea, killed himself last year. McVea said her 26-year-old son was never the same after returning from a deployment to Iraq in 2011. He suffered a concussion and burns from an IED explosion.

When her son came home, he was more distant and had trouble sleeping. McVea said she now believes those were warning signs and wished she had sought help.

As part of their upcoming drill weekend, 300 service members from the 446th Airlift Wing will hear a presentation on resiliency from retired New York firefighter Tim Brown. The 446th Airlift Wing deploys overseas next month. McVea hopes after talking about resiliency they’ll be better prepared to handle the stress that comes with the job.

Those who need someone to talk to about suicide can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24-hours a day at 1-800-273-TALK.  (KING 5 News, November 29, 2018)
--

JBLM Service Members (and civilian employees) are not getting the help they need for mental health related issues, as we saw in a recent report:   Army Punishes JBLM Soldiers Who Need Help.

The Suicide Prevention Lifeline can help, but there is too often a large number of people in line and very long waits in order to connect with anyone, as can be see with 71 people in line on August 19, 2018, and 85 people in line on September 11, 2018.

 

 

While there is, of course, a need to maintain order and discipline within the armed forces, personnel suffering a service / workplace related mental health issue need to be afforded treatment and counseling, not just thrown out of service.