Thanks for your post. I hope the therapeutic aspect of writing about your buddy will help. It's pretty hard to deal with something like that, and I'm speaking from direct experience, having just buried one around this past Christmas. It doesn't go away with time and forever those left behind are wondering 'what if I was a better friend' or 'what if I reached out to him in time' and so forth.
I don't recall anyone in the army ever talking about suicide. When it happened it was always assumed it was out of the ordinary although all over the world it's as common as McDonalds. I've never been through the medical process there for anything related to emotional issues but if its anything like the shit process for physical injuries then the entire system is designed to make it look like the suffering person is at fault, that they miraculously caused it themselves or had a pre-existing condition, etc. No wonder no one comes forth to address anything emotional; they just live with it until it explodes and that's that. I'll stop ranting in your post now. Thanks for writing it.
I greatly appreciate your kinds. You hit the nail on the head in several key aspects concerning what you wrote in your response. And, yes getting that out did help a lot. More so than the treatment offered by VA. I concur with what you said as far as the medical treatment being a joke. I didn't know what sort of reaction to expect from this post, but at the end of the day, I'm just glad that it didn't fall on deaf ears. I really appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your day to let me tell you about SGT Shirley, and I hope the day finds you well Saiku. Take care.