Posted on 08/13/2009 9:07:15 AM PDT by Starman417
Life and the internet are strange strange things. I've been trading emails and posts etc with Chris for years now. It wasn't at all uncommon for his duties, deployments, and family to make those virtual conversations sporadic from time to time. Well, Chris won't be returning emails anymore. He passed away suddenly on June 30, 2009.
Last Fall he and his wife Shannon had a baby girl, Lilly. Chris was so happy. We teased him about how awful it is to step on Barbie Doll high heels in the middle of the night, and he bragged about how his friends Mossberg and Remington were gonna help keep the boys away from his little beauty.
A few weeks later he deployed to Afghanistan. We still got emails from him. He sent pics, talked about the firefights, artillery barrages on Christmas night, and how, 'once you accept that if you step off the path you're in a minefield , and you're dead, it's not that bad. Ya just stay on the path.' He didn't love it over there in the ass-end of the planet by any stretch of the imagination, but he was extremely proud to be doing his duty-at least, that's what he told us in emails.
Chris was always brash, blunt, bold, and beautiful in his political commentary. He was in no uncertain terms not happy with the Democratic Party, its leaders or its followers. Time and again he posted here at Flopping Aces in response to DNC talking points about Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Global War on Terror. He would NEVER stoop to re-naming it 'overseas contingency operations in support of combat in Operations Iraqi Freedom and/or Operation Enduring Freedom. People would post that there were no WMD in Iraq, and he's show pictures and links and tell personal stories of his time there. They'd say there was no Al Queda in Iraq, and that Saddam and Bin Laden had no relationship, and he'd wig out with tales of what he had personally seen.
[SNIP]
I've been noticeably missing the past week or so for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is Army business, but I can't blame it all on work. At the end of the show, I publicly admitted that I'm having issues dealing with life.-CJ, writing on June 30th, the very day ChrisG committed suicide.
Back in March, I was about to transition to a new job and had interest in having another go at the military reserves, although I was rejected 2 years ago.
The recruiter I had begun talking to abruptly broke off contact. On March 18th, I sent an email to CJ of A Soldier's Perspective, venting frustration. He wrote back:
To their credit this time, the Army is busy with a lot of suicide prevention training lately, especially the recruiters. Maybe give them another week, but keep trying!
Just the day before this, CJ had posted on suicide prevention programs within the military.
On March 6th, about 2 weeks earlier, CJ's post began:
I want to address that Soldier, Marine, Sailor, or Airman that may have come here for answers. You may be contemplating suicide and you're seeking help over the internet. If this is your only outlet, please seek us out. My email address is on the sidebar and regardless of the time of day, you may contact me. If you need help, I will give you my personal phone number. Above all, don't go to extremes and try to kill yourself.I can promise you that this world is a beautiful place and you are an amazing part of it. Please don't leave people wondering what kind of world it would have been had you stayed in it! There is nothing in this world worthy of taking your life. Believe it or not, a failed relationship, a bad deployment experience, a failed job, delinquent bills, terrible leadership, the loss of a family member or friend – none of that is worth your life. I desperately urge you to take those issues in your life and become something bigger in spite of your problems. There are people who care about you deeply and want to help you through whatever you're facing right now. We may not understand, but we care and want help you through it. Once you take your life, it can't be taken back.
If you don't contact us for help, please go somewhere. Check out www.militaryonesource.com for people that can help. Go to your chain of command. Seek out a complete stranger. Go to a hospital or police department. Just do something besides trying to take your life. I don't know you personally, but I'd like to.
Although I've never met Chris, and had only limited contact and conversations with him, it's difficult for any of us- his friends and family members most of all- not to wonder what we could have done to have made the difference in his life that might have given him that one moment of pause he needed to get him through. I had seen CJ's post in March; around June or July, CJ himself came to grips with his own need to reach out for professional help and was diagnosed with PTSD. Chris ended his life in late June.
The "what if's" inevitably begin to swirl around in my head: What if I had followed through with a blogpost of my own, then? Even just simply linked to CJ's important post? Like so many intended posts, it never got made...Would Chris have seen it? Read it? Remembered it in his time of need? Contacted CJ? Sought help? Or would events have unfolded the way they did, anyway? What if I had bothered to correspond more with Chris? Sent him a kind word of support about how much we admire him for the hard job that he does daily for our country? Would I have noticed any possible signs that he was in trouble?
Having had an uncle who took his own life, I will say that the grief and guilt of those loved ones left behind can be enormous.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net ...
I hope his demons are behind him now.
It’s been 35 years since my kid brother killed himself, but that pain comes fresh every time another child of God is lost.
Rest in Peace, Major.
Blessings to your family.
I pray Chris’ wife, Shannon, and his three children will remember the great man he was and the good times they had and find it in their hearts to forgive him for whatever reason he felt compelled to take his life.
I never knew Chris, but as a child of a military man who saw war up close and personal, I know it changes you. How can it not? I sincerely hope if there are others out there reading this now who are considering the same action, that you stop and think of the grief and burden placed on your loved ones that they will carry the rest of their lives. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Millions of people genuinely care about, admire and respect you for your sacrifice of service - and it IS a very precious sacrifice. You are precious!
Prayers for his family.
Hey,c'mon....that's wrong!! Depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain that sometimes gets so bad that it causes its victim to kill him/herself.Do you also call those with serious heart disease "selfish" because they can't walk up a flight of stairs? He had a brain disease that wound up causing his demise.
Of *course* you should be proud of your service but might it be that the fact that you've been able to "get on with your life" simply means that you're one of the lucky ones and that M1 Tanker was one of the very *unlucky* ones?
Prayers for his soul and for those he left behind.
Is there an education fund for the children?
Suicide, with a brand new child at home? I just can’t fathom it...
mark
I have no words. Simply heartbreaking.
So tragic. Prayers for his family and friends.
lack of support, lack of support, emotional, physical, economic. Take a look near the end of the site at the picture of his baby and 2 sons.. look around them! This is where a Major's wife can expect to live, small, cramped rooms... And even in the Commissary, there is a big sign up that says WE TAKE FOOD STAMPS. I'm sure his wife was getting a little stressed on trying to live on welfare. This is how we treat our MILITARY. This is an obamanation
And our young people who are on the front lines are expected to handle all of this apathy and hatred from the country they are dying to protect?
Many, many prayers for his young family. This is just awful.
That is very sad to hear, very sad.
Hear me out.
On the one hand, suicide is often (not always, but often) caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain that clouds and darkens both the intellect and the will. This kind of brain impact makes it difficult or impossible to make truly rational choices. God alone can look into the interior life of a man, but He knows exactly the degree to which the suicide's cognitive function and personal responsibility were limited. God's insight is perfect and His mercy is sure.
On the other hand, suicide IS the ultimate selish act IF the person had a significant degree of rational control. That is important to know, too. When I was going through a bad depressive bout (this would have been in 1984-85) one big thing that STOPPED me from destroying myself, was the realization of how damned selfish it would be, how it would impose an agony of suffering on the very people who loved me most.
May God protect and sustain this poor man's widow and children, and may He gather to Himself the soul of our brother Chris.
RIP to a great patriot and FReeper.
Prayers for his family.
From his own post.
Heros always find their way home. RIP Major Galloway
Prayers lifted.
So sorry to learn of this. My best wishes to his friends and family. He was trying to serve our country under trying circumstances. It can get the better of many fine men.
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