[Peace-discuss] A curious omission by the News-Gazette

[Randall Cotton]

Mention was made at last Sunday's AWARE meeting about the quite prominent
story on the front page of the Commentary section of the Sunday
News-Gazette.

It was a McClatchy Newspapers article about the rising suicide rates in
the military. The article was somewhat unexpected in my opinion and
laudable on the surface. It featured the story of Sgt. Joshua Barber's
suicide as related largely by his wife Kelly (who is featured in large
compelling photos). However, it turns out the article as printed was an
edited version of what was originally a somewhat larger article. In
particular, a very significant part of the story was omitted in the
snipped News-Gazette version. The following is the end of the full
article, describing the end of Sgt. Barber's life, when he arrived at
Madigan Army Medical Center (referred to as "Madigan" below). All of this
was completely lopped off in the News Gazette version:

*****************************
Surveillance video shows that Barber arrived at Madigan about 7 a.m. the
next day and didn't get out of the pickup, according to the police report.
A Madigan employee found his body two days later and called 9-1-1. Kelly
Barber, who was working at the time of the discovery, was notified later
that morning.

According to the medical examiner's report, Barber had put a revolver
loaded with hollow-point rounds to the right side of his head and pulled
the trigger.

He was dressed in his old combat uniform.

"He was making a statement to the military," Kelly Barber said.
*****************************

It's not like the NG didn't have room to fit this in. The front page photo
was exceptionally large (over 70 square inches). Did the News-Gazette omit
Sgt. Barber's last desperate statement under the rug because it reflects
poorly on the military? So it would appear. A google search turned up the
article in 8 different places. None was missing the above excerpt. Sgt.
Barber's statement is arguably the most compelling part of the story, but
apparently it was left out deliberately by the News-Gazette for no other
discernible reason.

Following is the full article, taken from:

http://www.individual.com/story.php?story=92728145

Please read it. It's not long.

**********

"Do you think that God's going to send me to hell for killing innocent
people?" former Sgt. Joshua Barber asked his wife one day last summer.

Kelly Barber tried to reassure her distraught husband. Nearly three years
after a combat tour in Iraq, he was a shell of the loving and fun-loving
man she'd married nine years earlier.

Joshua Barber was quiet, withdrawn, constantly fighting demons he couldn't
exorcise. His question reinforced her fear that he was sliding further
into a well of guilt and despair as she tried desperately to hold on.

The couple had sought help from the Army and U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs, but Kelly Barber said they got caught up in red tape.

"He just had to fight so many battles, and no one would help him," she
said.

The 31-year-old soldier killed himself three weeks after asking that
terrible question.

On Aug. 25, a day after his wife reported him missing from their home in
Lacey, Joshua Barber drove onto Fort Lewis in his silver 2005 Ford F150
pickup, a gift from his wife when he returned from Iraq.

He parked in the lot at Madigan Army Medical Center and shot himself in
the head with a revolver, one of several guns he'd taken from home.

Barber's death is hardly an isolated case. In a nearly three-year period,
more than half of the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who
committed suicide did so at least a year after their deployments ended,
Army data show. A large number of soldiers who hadn't deployed also took
their own lives. The number of suicides involving veterans ages 18 to 29
receiving care from the VA nearly doubled from 36 in 2005 to 68 in 2006,
the most recent figures available, according to the VA.

The Army and the VA have redoubled their efforts to prevent suicides. Both
have expanded services and launched initiatives aimed at suicide
prevention.

The Army is hiring dozens of counselors and has developed an interactive
video so soldiers can identify warning signs and help a distraught
colleague through various scenarios. The Army and the National Institute
of Mental Health recently announced a five-year, $50 million research
program into the factors behind soldier suicides.

The VA, meanwhile, is taking steps to improve its screening among veterans
diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and increase
training so chaplains can look for warning signs. In July 2007, it
launched a national suicide hot line, which receives thousands of calls
each month, said Fred Blow, director of the VA's Serious Mental Illness
Treatment Research and Evaluation Center.

"The Army is doing everything possible, but you still have those who
choose to take their own lives," said Maj. Nathan Banks, an Army
spokesman.

A cook -- and a gunner

For Joshua Barber, the serious problems began a year after his return from
Iraq.

He had deployed with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division
from September 2004 to October 2005. The Stryker brigade has since
transferred to Germany.

Barber was a cook but found himself a gunner on missions in Iraq.

His VA physician wrote in an assessment after his death that "it is
reasonable and valid to attribute his suicide to post-traumatic stress
disorder, particularly in light of the fact that he joined during peace
time, not knowing he would be called on to serve in war. ...

"At the point of enlistment, he probably never suspected that he would be
called on to serve in a combat role," she wrote in the assessment, a copy
of which was provided to The Olympian by Kelly Barber.

Barber joined the service before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

On Dec. 21, 2004, a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a mess tent
near the Mosul airport, killing 22 people. Among the dead were 14 U.S.
service members, including six Fort Lewis soldiers.

For days, Barber and other soldiers had to keep the area secure and escort
federal agents around the crime scene. After his return home, he had
nightmares about the mutilated bodies lying everywhere, his wife said.

"He would say that all he could remember was the smell of death," she
said. "That bothered him quite a bit."

When a sniper's bullet killed his first sergeant, Barber blamed himself.
He was convinced the noncommissioned officer would still be alive if
Barber had gone on that mission, his wife wrote in materials submitted to
the government.

Barber noted in his post-deployment health screening that he felt at least
one time during his deployment that he was in "great danger" of being
killed. He also acknowledged that he had an experience so frightening and
upsetting near the end of his tour that he felt numb or detached.

However, the screening official concluded that Barber had "no medical
issues" and didn't refer him for treatment, including for combat and
operational stress, according to the screening, a copy of which was
provided by Kelly Barber.

Her husband eventually sought private care.

During his leave, the couple attended a concert by Weezer, an alternative
rock band. Barber, who his wife said was usually "the first one in the
mosh pit," couldn't handle having so many people around him.

She later recalled a camping trip where she remarked about the beauty of
the surrounding mountains. Her husband said he liked the scenery, too -- 
because there would be "good hiding places so no one would get me," she
remembers him saying.

Medically unfit

Barber's status with the military added to his stress. He transferred to
an Army Reserve unit based in Tacoma to serve out his military contract.

He was required to undergo a retention physical. It wasn't until August
2007, nearly a year after he underwent the physical, that he was found
medically unfit to continue serving. The military deemed the reasons to be
nonduty-related.

He was given an honorable discharge in January. He was hired as a cook at
Madigan, where his wife also worked. (Kelly Barber no longer works there.
The 40-year-old just moved to Florida, where her family lives.)

By spring, and after some initial delays, Joshua Barber had received a
disability claim from the VA for post-traumatic stress disorder and had
begun receiving treatment at one of its hospitals.

He had requested a transfer back to the active-duty ranks so he could join
a Warrior Transition unit, where injured soldiers are assigned until they
either can return to their regular unit or are medically retired.

He thought receiving counseling in an environment where other soldiers
shared his experience with combat would aid in his treatment, his wife
said.

Kelly Barber said the couple worked with Madigan officials to help approve
his transfer, but there were numerous delays and no decision had been made
at the time of his suicide.

Sharon Ayala, spokeswoman for Madigan, declined to comment because an
investigation is pending.

Drinking and an apology

Early in the morning of Aug. 24, Kelly Barber awoke to find her husband
watching television in the living room, drunk. His drinking had become a
problem.

She became angry and stormed back to the bedroom. Later in the day, he
called her at work to apologize. In one of their last conversations, he
"said he loved me and he was sorry," she recalled, breaking down during an
interview.

"Sometimes I think it's my fault," she said a little while later.

He wasn't home when she returned from work. She later discovered that he'd
taken all the guns and ammunition from the home.

On the kitchen counter, she found his cell phone and a green Post-It note.

"I love you. Please do not blaim (sic) yourself. Sorry," it read.

She called police.

Surveillance video shows that Barber arrived at Madigan about 7 a.m. the
next day and didn't get out of the pickup, according to the police report.
A Madigan employee found his body two days later and called 9-1-1. Kelly
Barber, who was working at the time of the discovery, was notified later
that morning.

According to the medical examiner's report, Barber had put a revolver
loaded with hollow-point rounds to the right side of his head and pulled
the trigger.

He was dressed in his old combat uniform.

"He was making a statement to the military," Kelly Barber said.

**********