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Show Established in 1873 Newsroom Suicide rates climb for vets of Iraq war A Lee Newspaper Customer Service 375-510- Families charge that inadequate mental health care fosters suicide 3 801-344-25- Ton free FAX 8008O)75 Jennifer THE www.heraldextra.com Street address: Freedom Blvd., Provo, UT Send mail to: P.O. Box 717, Provo, UT 846030717 1555 N. News editors Executive Editor Randy Wright 3 rwrightheraldextra.com Metro Editor JoePyrah 6 jpyrahheraldextra.com City Editor AmieRose Sports Editor Darnell Dickson 5 ddicksonheraldextra.com Business Editor Grace leong Life & Style Editor ElyssaAndrus gleongheraldextra.com eandrusheraidextra.com Editorial Page Editor Donald W. Meyers dmeyersheraldextra.com aroseheraldextra.com Senior managers President & Publisher Circulation Director Advertising Director Craig Dennis 5 dbakeheraldextra.com Cindy Richards crichardsheraldextra.com Chief Financial Officer Mark Heintzelman Larry Hatch I.T. 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SUBSCRIPTION PROGRAMS Periodicals postage paid at Provo, Daily & Sunday Utah. Postmaster: Send address Thur. Fri, Sat. Sun & Holidays changes to The Daily Herald, P.O. Box 717, Provo, Utah 84603-0717- . Thursday Only SUBSCRIPTIONS MonSat Sunday Only Thur. Sun & Holidays MEMBER, AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS Holiday delivery includes delivery the weeks of Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day. Pioneer Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. All contents Copyright 2007, Dally Herald. Any reproduction or other use is strictly prohibited without written permission. Support the future of your community, give the gift of literacy. m For more information call 344-292- 3 PmlBCtaUl Tuesday, May 29, 2007 HERALD DAILY A2 llllk "'X C. Kerr ASSOCIATED The Defense Department does track suicides, but only among troops in combat op- PRESS erations such as Iraq and Afghanistan and in surrounding areas. Since the war started . four years ago, 107 suicides during Iraq operations have been recorded by the Defense Manpower Data Center, which collects data for the Pentagon. That number, however, usu- ally does not include troops who return home from the war zone and then take their WASHINGTON In the three months after Marine Maj. John Ruocco returned from Iraq feeling numb and depressed, he couldn't sleep. He had lost weight. He had nightmares. He was distracted and withdrawn from his two young sons. One night, he promised his wife, Kim, that he would get help. The next morning, he was dead. The Cobra helicopter pilot, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., had hanged himself. There are others. Army reservist Joshua Omvig. Army Capt. Michael Pelkey. Marines Jonathan Schulze and Jeffrey Lucey. Each came home from tours in Iraq and committed lives. For service members returning from combat, post deployment health assessments include a questionnaire with queries about mental health. This l DENNIS year, the Pentagon expanded health monitoring for war veterans to include another screening three to six months suicide. after combat. Veterans' groups and fami"We're trying to reach out," lies who have lost loved ones said Maj, Gen. Gale Pollock, the say the number of troops Army's acting surgeon general. "Will we get to everyone on struggling with stress disorder or other mental time? No, I wish we could." Pollock said the Army is health issues is on the increase and not enough help is being expanding a program started in January at Fort Bragg, provided by the Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs DepartN.C., which aims to lessen the ment. stigma associated with postFor some, there are long traumatic stress disorder. It waits for appointments at the brings behavioral health staff VA or at military posts. For directly into primary care clinics instead of making soldiers others, the stigma of a mental health disorder keeps them go to a separate mental health from seeking help. facility for help. Earlier this month, a PenPaul Rieckhoff , executive director and founder of Iraq tagon task force warned that and Afghanistan Veterans of the military health care system is overburdened and not sufAmerica, says that although ficient to meet the needs of suicides among troops returning from the war is a sigtroops suffering from PTSD nificant problem, the scope is and other psychological problems. The panel called for a unknown. "The problem that we face fundamental shift in treatment to focus on screening and right now is that there's no method to track veterans comprevention instead of relying on troops to come forward on ing home," said Rieckhoff, who served in Iraq as a platheir own. toon leader in the first year of Shortcomings in mental health care were also identified the war. "There's no system. in a recent report by the VA's There's no national registry." More than four years into inspector general. It found that several of the agency's hospithe war, the government has little information on suicides tals and clinics lacked properly trained workers and had inadamong Iraq war veterans. "We don't keep that data," equate screening for mental said Karen Fedete, a VA health problems. It said this put spokeswoman in Washington Iraq veterans at increased risk "I'm told that somebody here of suicide. is going to do an analysis, but Floyd "Shad" Meshad, there just is nothing right now." president and founder of the Press- - COOKAssociated naiiwiii wniviy inuim uwui lo aurt uoimu o auiuw uui ir i ur appearance before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 4. Omvig's wife, Ellen, is in the center along with Tony Bailey, whose son Justin, died of apparent drug overdose. Joshua Omvig, 22, a member of the Army Reserve from Grundy Center, Iowa, also took his own life. In December 2005, he shot himself in front of his mother after an tour in Iraq. His parents, Ellen and Randy Omvig, say Joshua wouldn't talk much about Iraq. They tried to get him help, but he worried that it would hurt his career if the Army found out, said his father. Randy Omvig says the iiuuiui j uiiu v i i iiv,vi iw isiiwk better readjustment counsel-ing. There should be teams of health professionals, he said, who come to the base to talk to the troops in a comfortable setting with their comrades. "It's like you and I going out on that interstate and driving 65 miles an hour and then all of a sudden deciding to put it in first gear," Omvig said. "What Kim Ruocco of Newbury, happens? Does the car handle it Mass., said her husband, John, very well? Some will handle it, was a role model for the young a lot of them are going to have Marines he led in war. He wor- problems." ried about the ramifications of The Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs is considerseeking help, personally and professionally. ing a bill named for Joshua "He felt like that was the end Omvig. It directs the VA to of everything for him," Kim develop a suicide prevention Ruocco recalls. "He felt like his program for veterans sufferMarines would, you know, be ing from PTSD and other delet down." pression issues. It unanimously Ruocco ended his life in passed the House in March. The VA declined to comFebruary 2005, a few weeks ment about the bill or its rebefore he was to redeploy to California-base- National d Veterans Foundation, has no doubt that military suicides are a growing problem. He said he receives 2 to 3 calls each week from Iraq veterans or contemplating suicide from their families. A Vietnam veteran who has counseled other vets for more than 30 years, Meshad runs a e support line based in Los Angeles. He was asked recently to help train counselors at the Suicide Prevention Center in Los Angeles, where a spike in calls from veterans has been reported. One of the biggest challenges for troubled vets is the stigma of a mental health disorder, said Meshad. "It's very, very hard for you to reach out and say 'I'm hurting.' It's hard for men to do it, but particularly (for) a soldier who's endured life and death situations." toll-fre- . . Iraq. quirements. Spring Sales Event Open Spaces LTD -- looking for the krfect & Friendly Faces Treatment by allergy specialists for children and adults with asthma and allergies to: PLANT POLLENS FOODS w fating A Nissan from Ken Garff can last forever... Well, almost! IIIMItJMmiiiii South Utah County and Juab County Real Estate. We Specialize in I II Jr jo. rm ii PETS INSECT VENOM MOLDS are board certified In allergy and asthma as wen as peamncs or inmnai meuiune. All physicians 7i Ken Garff. (St Nissan Orem Salt Lake Ogden Orem- - 866-448-01285 W. 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