Posted on 07/10/2020 4:00:56 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Edited on 07/10/2020 4:01:44 PM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
The enemy could never break him, but what this decorated Green Beret eventually found was that his enemy was within. Friends who served with him in the military say he was the real Captain America.
Master Sgt. Andrew Christian Marckesano served six full tours in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne and the Ranger regiment and a half dozen more combat tours overseas. He rose to become a decorated Green Beret and a Silver Star recipient. He had just moved to Washington, D.C., to start a coveted job at the Pentagon. Two days after the Fourth of July on Monday night, after having dinner with his former battalion leader, Marckesano returned home from dinner in Old Town, Alexandria, and died by suicide in front of his wife. He had three small children and was still on active duty.
His death sent shock waves through the military. His friends, family and military leaders were at a loss. Many told Fox News that Marckesano never got over his tour in Afghanistan's Arghandab Valley in 2009 with the 2-508, a battalion that had one of the highest casualty rates of any unit during the war. That deployment was like being in the ring with Mike Tyson for a year, according to the battalions former Command Sgt Major Bert Puckett.
He sent a passionate appeal this week to the rest of the battalion: Text me, I told you before my door is open... my phone is at hand. We did things that people make movies about and in some cases, writers and producers wouldnt even try to write our story... the rucksack is heavy... and when it gets heavy we [&$#*] help each other, but you have to reach out... Dont let the Valley win.
What has happened to FR HT? How a hate filled poster like that get’s to stay here is beyond me. It is the main reason I do not participate here anywhere near what I used to.
Exactly, you do NOT understand that America still raises warriors. Thank God there are more willing and able to SERVE voluntarily in harms way. On that note, my best buddy a few years ago unexpectedly committed suicide after three tours. In these days of a fear ridden society, it is obvious we need more righteous warriors like these men, they can never be replaced.
There were a lot of questions after 9/11 .....and those murdeous acts certainly will never be understood in entire.
If they knew each other that well, the CSM should have seen warning signs. I suppose he has a lot of guilt now too. I pray for the wife and kids. Terrible situation.
“I pray that the family of Master Sgt. Marckesano can find peace.”
Me too. Must have been hell for him.
We are there because of George Bush and his neocon buddies wanting to remake the world. It didn’t work.
“Both the active military and the VA have intense programs to save suicidal folks. All a person has to do is ask.”
Sometimes “asking” is THE difficult task. One sloughs off whatever-whoever the bother with “teammate X needs my help” or “things will get better”. Finally, one finds themselves beyond points previously rationalized with no way out. MSG.’s last act probably made all the sense in the world to him.
Semper Fi All
“The father of someone I knew
tried and only managed to blow off part of his face.
His daughter heard the shot and found him in a pool of
blood begging her to finish him off.”
This is why I believe there should be euthanasia boxes on demand. Kind of like tanning boxes, except you press a button and it releases gasses that kill you painlessly.
Other forms of suicide are too sad and messy. Too traumatizing to the clean up crew.
I was on the LIRR when a man in his 40’s jumped right in front of the train speeding through the station at the end of the platform.
He knew what he was doing and which train would speed through. I was in the first car and heard his body parts disassemble under the train.It was terrible.
So, the point is that you don’t have the right to snuff someone else’s life out, like in abortion,or murder, but you do have the right to commit suicide.
I say that the state has no right to make you suffer in life.
The only way to eliminate endless war is a comprehensive draft with zero deferrals. Everyone drafted goes straight into combat, no in the rear or reserves for the wealthy and connected. War would be limited to CONUS thereafter.
“I agree. And the Terri threads were brutal.”
I remember. I was there. It was nasty.
What ever did happen to her? I can’t remember.
“Suicide is pointless.”
Not necessarily. What’s so great about life if you’re in terrible pain or terminally ill?
I don’t understand why the Army sends somebody to so many combat deployments; at some point, that person can never really come back. I also don’t understand why somebody serves in the military AND has a family simultaneously; it would be almost as tragic if he had died in combat (in terms of depriving them of a husband and father). Many marriages don’t survive endless deployments.
Prayers for all involved.
Tragic. How old was he ?
It sure may be. But posting that crap here is BS virtue signalling, like I said. Grow some balls and go tell it to his widow and kids.
Its become a place to show off and get attention, like Twitter.
I think you mean Liz Cheney,the representative from Wyoming who’s VP Dick’s daughter, not Lynne Cheney, Dick’s wife. Unless Lynne is engaging in policy now and I don’t know about it.
Very sad.
I know someone still around whos in a similar situation. Still around but much changed.
```
War changes everyone who experiences it.
Some die during the experience, ‘
some live through the experience,
but are never the same person they were before.
We become “other”
people who have a very difficult time connecting
who we were before with who we are after.
We live in a timeless time
never here never there always the unbearable agony
that must be borne alone with just ghosts
phantoms for company.
The living make noises at us
but they are noises for the person before
we cannot hear understand
Its in that in between time,
we lose it are lost wandering
some fall over the cliff
some don’t.
Its a crap shoot.
Alone we search for an anchor
finding none are lost.
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