Army suicide widows: Too little, too late

(CBS News) A decade of war has put enormous stress on American troops and Thursday the Army reported that the number of suicides among active-duty soldiers in July more than doubled the previous month's total.

July was the worst month ever for Army suicides. Thirty-eight active duty and reserve soldiers took their own lives. Among active duty troops, 2012 could turn out to be the worst year ever.

Behind the numbers are heartbroken widows who say their husbands sought help but couldn't get it.

U.S. military suicide rate doubles for July

Capt. Ian Morrison and his wife, Rebecca.

/ CBS News/Personal Photo

"He was failed. He was failed and now he's dead," said Rebecca Morrison told a conference of care givers.

In video shot by the Pentagon, Morrison told the conference her husband, Capt. Ian Morrison, had been feeling anxious and unable to sleep, so he went to walk-in a clinic.

"He sat there for three hours, three hours, before a doctor told him he couldn't be seen because he was a pilot," Rebecca said.

Ian flew Apache helicopters, so he went to see a flight surgeon who prescribed sleeping pills. That didn't help, so he tried another clinic.

"He told them what was wrong with him and they said we'll see you in two-and-a-half hours," Rebecca said.

But Morrison was too busy to wait. Later he called an Army help line called Military One Source.

"He was on hold with Military One Source for over an hour before he hung up," she said.

A memorial service for Capt. Michael McCaddon.

/ Gloucester Daily Times

Ian had spent three days looking for help.

"I came home from graduate school on March 21st at 9:23 in the evening and found my beautiful husband dead on the floor of our room by gunshot wound," Rebecca said.

"We saw this freight train coming for seven years," she said.

Michael McCaddon had a family history of suicide and appeared overwhelmed by the demands of a young family and his training as an army doctor.

Capt. Michael McCaddon and his children.

/ CBS News/Personal Photo

For Leslie McCaddon, the signs had been there for much longer.

"I was told by senior leadership 'this sounds like a family issue to me, not an army one'," Leslie said.

She had overcome the stigma of admitting to a mental health problem in the family, but felt no one was listening.

The Army has doubled the number of mental health counselors in the past four years but admits it still does not have enough to answer all the pleas for help.

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The U.S. Army encourages soldiers to call the Military Crisis number at 1-800-273-8255 and press one if they find themselves in a situation where they are contemplating, or know someone who is contemplating suicide.

[BullyExpert]

Healing Horses & Armed Forces is an equine assisted development program that is FREE for all veterans, service members and their families. If you go to our face book page you can see more about it. I also have a mini horse who comes with me on my talks, and presentations who works with the Vets to help them deal with anxiety, depression, and getting on with their lives after service. Please, if you read this message, let veterans know about us. They served us and were willing to die for our freedom, now it is our turn to serve them, and help them put the pieces of their lives back together. We are a 501c3 and we are in Ca.

[My3Bucks]

Suicides? Or "suicided"? I suspect the latter for many. Comment from an Army Times blog:

"We have all heard the reports about the troops on SSRI's coming home and going postal. We've heard about Pat Tillman being killed by friendly fire. Does anyone really believe these 38 men killed themselves vs. just smoking a joint and getting kicked the hell out of there ??? They could just moon the commander and likely get booted out. I have a feeling the few who really did kill themselves were on SSRI's or some new chemical concoction that destroys ppls minds. I have a much stronger feeling that most of these ppl were "suicided" Pat Tillman-style. These ppl came across information they were not supposed to see, hear, or tell anyone." Dead men don't talk.

[My3Bucks]

Suicides? Or "suicided"? I suspect the latter for many. Comment from an Army Times blog:

"We have all heard the reports about the troops on SSRI's coming home and going postal. We've heard about Pat Tillman being killed by friendly fire. Does anyone really believe these 38 men killed themselves vs. just smoking a joint and getting kicked the hell out of there ??? They could just moon the commander and likely get booted out. I have a feeling the few who really did kill themselves were on SSRI's or some new chemical concoction that destroys ppls minds. I have a much stronger feeling that most of these ppl were "suicided" Pat Tillman-style. These ppl came across information they were not supposed to see, hear, or tell anyone." Dead men don't talk.

[IAMCS]

As a widow of a 100% service connected vet I have on occasion had to call the 800 number for info. When you call this number you get a an automated answering service that has you press this number for that and that number for this and on and on and then finally they say all lines are busy due to heavy use and asks if you would like an appointment for call back. If you say yes you get a date and time for next callback time. My last callback time appointment was for over a week later! 1 whole week before you can even state your problem! ***! I bet it don't take 1 week to talk to someone for welfare or food stamp program! Why are veterans and their spouses treated this way? It is absurd! If they are THAT short of help answering phones I am sure alot of us spouses would be willing to help. I WOULD LOVE to help Veterans in this way. No way should it take a week or more to even get through to talk to someone. Just imagine if you called 911 and it took a week to get through! Totally unacceptable!

[aneiberger]

Both of these young widows are active with TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. TAPS is the national organization providing compassionate care for anyone grieving the death of someone who died while serving in the military, regardless of where they died or how they died. TAPS provides peer-based emotional support, grief and trauma resources, grief seminars for adults, Good Grief Camps for children, case work assistance, connections to community-based care, and a 24/7 resource and information helpline for all who have been affected by a death in the Armed Forces. More than 3,000 people grieving a service member who died by suicide are involved with TAPS and specialized support and programs are available. TAPS was founded in 1994 by bereaved military families and has assisted more than 35,000 people. Services are provided free of charge. For more information go to www.taps.org or call the toll-free crisis line at 800.959.TAPS.

[Teddie Seeley]

I am so sorry this is happening to our men and women, and their families and friends.

[fredm6900]

So, do you think one can kill others and scape immune to that? Regardless the motive, to kill someone or any other being is killing oneself. Side effects will show up sooner or later in various forms affecting one's life and personality.

[nohater]

yet they keep volunteering for military service, go figure. if anyone asks my advice regarding volunteering for military service, or selecting the military as a career, always advise against it. once in military uniform, of any branch and rank, you are subject to orders from the sitting potus to serve in a combat zone which may mean you might be giving up your life, being seriously wounded, maimed, or suffer mental disorders. those that volunteer or select the military should do it with eyes wide open.

[BullyExpert]

We have a program in Kern County, Ca. close to Edwards Air force Base. We are working with the Bakersfield Veteran Center. We are doing programs working with Veterans with our horses. It is FREE of charge. We are a no profit, waiting to get our non profit status. My husband and I can barely make ends meet, but we feel it is soooo important to be of service to our son's and daughters who go to war to fight for the good of our country. With 500,000 veterans coming home in this next year we all need to be doing what we can to love and care for our kid's, our soldiers. Our program is called, Healing Horses & Armed Forces. You can see photos on facebook. Please, if you are reading this comment and you know a veteran, tell them about the program or email me, and I will send you more information. We can't reach everyone but with your help we can help many. The horses can really help with learning new coping skills. PTSD will never go away, but our programs can help Veterans deal with the effects of anxiety, stress and getting back to life after war. I am also available to come talk about our program and share what we do at Healing Horses & Armed Forces. You don't have to know anything about horses, and riding is not involved. [e-mail] for more information. www.risingmoonranch.org We are in need of sponsors and grants soon.

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

I would agree with you entirely about the need to rehabilitate combat vets.

I will not agree with you that they have been used "for the good of the country", however.

[ActiveDuty]

the Army forces its soldiers to report any non-combat related counseling on its security clearance questionnaire (SF 86, Question 21). this means that if a troop is suffering from ordinary depression and wants to get counseling, he has to disclose that counseling on his security clearance. this form goes up through the chain of command. as a result, many troops (especially senior nCOs and officers) tell themselves to suck it up b/c they don't want their chain of command finding out they are in counseling or they have clearance concerns. even for those that do seek counseling, the security clearance issue makes them feel so ambivalent about seeking help that they end up stopping treatment. they tell themselves it is better to be sad than to be unemployed. i've tried to reach out to the leadership on this issue but no one is listening. if it were solely about combat, there wouldn't be so many nondeployed troops killing themselves. As long as the leadership forces the troops to report depression counseling and links it to clearance, people will keep killing themselves.

[MomsHugs]

Same thing happens in corporate life. People self-medicate - booze &/or drugs - to avoid treatment that shows up in health insurance records. Once known, he person seeking/receiving medical treatment for depression is taken off of the normal "promotable" list HR maintains for officers. As long as society in general perceives depression as an emotional condition to be handled personally in private, people will continue killing themselves - military or not. We are still in the dark ages where the brain is concerned!