Posted on 10/03/2016 7:43:06 AM PDT by Sean_Anthony
Gutted: Polypharmacy and the epidemic of suicide among post-9/11 veterans
“Hammerhead sharks feasting on the dead make a unique sound.”
So says William, a disabled Navy veteran and survivor of a horrifying incident that occurred in the Persian Gulf.
At the age of twenty, William enlisted in the Navy and served for six years, working on radar and weapons systems. On 18 November 2001, he was part of a team from the destroyer USS Peterson that boarded the Samra, a suspected oil smuggler sailing under the UAE flag. The Samra capsized on the port side, and William spent the night clinging to debris, waiting to be rescued, and listening to the sounds of sharks devouring those who hadn’t made it.
“They taught me how to fight the enemy and survive.
What they didn’t teach me was that I would have to fight my own people and survive.
They didn’t teach me about the careerists who would attack me to advance their own careers.
They didn’t teach me about my peers who would attack me to make me look bad in front of the people rating us.
They didn’t teach me about the civilian government employees who would steal from me.
And they didn’t teach me about my countrymen who saw my sacrifice as just less welfare for themselves.”
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