Noteboom The Law Firm

Surviving the After Effects of War...

The rate of suicide among our country's military personnel and veterans has dominated our headlines for months now. The U.S. Marine Corps reports that a service member dies by suicide every two days, and one attempts suicide every two hours. When I came across this veteran's story, it painted a clear picture in my mind of the struggles he is forced to endure everyday, every hour, every minute of his life as a result of the War on Terror. This was his breaking point: 

In his dreams, Ben Crary was always falling. So on the day he said he was ready to die, it felt right to plan one last plunge.

The Walnut Street Bridge would finally free him from the sickening reality in which the former Marine corporal lived.

It was a midwinter day about a year ago and, like every other day, the film reel in his head looped through scenes of sand, spattered brains and lost limbs. One boy in particular haunted him. He could feel the baby's cracked skull in his hands, and he could hear the child's Iraqi parents pleading with him and his fellow Marines for help.

That memory came back regularly while he was still deployed, cultivating a death wish that he said prompted him to shed his body armor often and walk around like an open target in hopes an enemy sniper would end his misery.

Story Continues: Erase the Stigma -- Get Help!