Daniel Somers: I am sorry it has come to this
Several of you have been sending me this link over the past couple of days about Daniel Somers. I could have sworn that I wrote about the kid before, but I can’t find the post now. But, this Iraq war veteran killed himself, somehow, and his family gave permission to publish his suicide letter. I expect they’ll withdraw that permission, here, in a couple of days. But the parts that jump out at me are about “things he saw” and “things he did” that he couldn’t live with. Well, according to Gawker;
He was part of Task Force Lightning, an intelligence unit. In 2004-2005, he was mainly assigned to a Tactical Human-Intelligence Team (THT) in Baghdad, Iraq, where he ran more than 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in the turret of a Humvee, interviewed countless Iraqis ranging from concerned citizens to community leaders and and government officials, and interrogated dozens of insurgents and terrorist suspects. In 2006-2007, Daniel worked with Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) through his former unit in Mosul where he ran the Northern Iraq Intelligence Center. His official role was as a senior analyst for the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and part of Turkey). Daniel suffered greatly from PTSD and had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and several other war-related conditions.
In his suicide letter he wrote;
The simple truth is this: During my first deployment, I was made to participate in things, the enormity of which is hard to describe. War crimes, crimes against humanity. Though I did not participate willingly, and made what I thought was my best effort to stop these events, there are some things that a person simply can not come back from.
To force me to do these things and then participate in the ensuing coverup is more than any government has the right to demand. Then, the same government has turned around and abandoned me. They offer no help, and actively block the pursuit of gaining outside help via their corrupt agents at the DEA.
Yeah, it’s pretty cryptic. I think it’s intentionally so. Specifics might open him up to criticism like those criticisms being suffered by the deadly SFC Dillard Johnson over the last few days. Of course, the money is in this part;
It leaves us to where all we have to look forward to is constant pain, misery, poverty, and dishonor. I assure you that, when the numbers do finally drop, it will merely be because those who were pushed the farthest are all already dead.
And for what? Bush’s religious lunacy? Cheney’s ever growing fortune and that of his corporate friends? Is this what we destroy lives for
Yay! Occupiers gather ’round! The kid killed himself and it’s Bush’s fault…and Darth Chaney. Wave the bloody shirt!
This is what brought me to my actual final mission. Not suicide, but a mercy killing. I know how to kill, and I know how to do it so that there is no pain whatsoever.
Actually, there are millions of veterans who suffer from PTS every day and DON’T kill themselves, they don’t threaten their families, they don’t make a big deal about “things they saw” or “things they did”. They don’t use their experiences as an excuse to cop out on their families and become a bigger name in death than they were in their lives.
Of course, the Left is desperately clinging to this as proof that, yeah their guy is bad, but Bush was worse.
While you may disagree with the war in Iraq, I’ve yet to see anyone offer a different solution to the Hussein’s Iraq problem. Is anyone going to say that the world would have been a better place if only Hussein was still alive? He’d been dealt more than a decade of Euro-wienie sanctions which only entrenched him more in power. Bill Clinton did his best to ignore Hussein, but every time Hussein farted, the US was sending thousands of troops to Kuwait to protect against the next invasion. Did I mention that Hussein was shooting at our pilots several times every month.
You can disagree with the way the war was conducted, but no rational person can say that it wasn’t necessary. And some dead guy who killed himself can’t point fingers to besmirch the character of everyone who served there without specifics. Yes, it’s too damn bad that he made the choice to end his life, but screw him if he thinks he can blame every soldier who served with him for his decision.
And screw all of you hippies who think this is going to change anything about the reasons we went to war. The war made you feel bad. Tough. It made you feel inadequate. Tough. Don’t start calling the people who did go there “war criminals” and blame them for the death of one guy who says that they made him do stuff he didn’t like without being specific.
In fact, I think we can reasonably make the case that Somers killed himself because of the way the hippies made him feel about his service.
Category: Veterans Issues
Dude’s a pussy: simple as that. Even if I was bottomed out I wouldn’t take my own life out of respect for my brothers who didn’t have the option and gave their all.
Well, he foreclosed discussion, didn’t he? There are no options open to him now. There is no chance for a miracle, for an emotional metamorphosis, or a spirtual awakening. I am sorry for his fate. I hope that his loved ones feel better by releasing the unredacted letter and thereby, intentionally or otherwise, indicting all who served in the ME.
I have no idea what he was like prior to his service and, for all I know, his experiences exacerbated a pre-existing issue. I would not be at all surprised to learn that a blood relative of his preceded him in death by suicide too.
Well said, Jonn. Thanks for that. I can’t think of anything else to add.
Suicide is an extreme example of having the last word in an argument. Blaming others for your own mental state is a game of control, and blaming others in a suicide note is the ultimate middle finger at everbody in the suicide’s life. This is a poison-pen letter, and needs to be shitcanned.
I agree, Jonn. Iraq was a war we had to finish, one way or another. We could either finish it on our terms or we could let Hussein continue to dictate the terms and as harsh as the war was, I think it would have been worse if we’d have waited longer.
As for the left’s reaction to this, I think it illustrates how neatly the meme of “the military will turn a sensitive kid into a tortured wreck” fits in with their anti-military agenda:
First, it justifies their own unwillingness to serve (“he was a sweet kid and the Army turned him into a bloodthirsty killer! Glad I didn’t go that route!”) and second, it allows them to “support the troops” and appear sympathetic while at the same time looking down their noses at the low-class plebs that they think are beneath their lofty station in life.
We used to take our THT kids out on patrols with us in case we had to take PUCs, so that much is possible. No doubt this guy had problems but I doubt his service or the crazy stories of war crimes were he driving forces. Really wonder why his parents chose to release this, you last paragraph probably says it all.
He might be the first in the history of suicides to bring politics into a suicide note.
Did he type it or write it? Did he sign it? If he typed it and didn’t sign it this could be all made up to push a political agenda.
Puts tin foil hat away.
Damn, it’s good to know someone is still out there ranting about the hippies. I thought it was just me.
The story was too damn general and inferred this guys was going out raping women or pulling little kids toenails off, or seeing it done.
I’m reading into this that he was an intel specialist. Thats a pretty open subject. I see that he was supposedly “in charge” of a large multi-national area for intelligence. Thats pretty expansive for a Specialist or lower ranking NCO. It sounds more like a LT Col billet or a high ranking GS.
I don’t know about the 200 missions as a humvee gunner either. Seems to be a lot of ops in one year.
If you look at the VA stats, the majority of veterans committing suicide are over the age of 60. But I guess if you have a persecution complex, you can be a victim of any war.
J.O.D., I did about 200 Convoy Security missions during my year in A-stan. One mission could take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, and we’d do multiple missions some days.
@6: not so, I give you the suicide note of Edmund Ruffin following Appomatax:
And now with my latest writing and utterance, and with what will [be] near to my latest breath, I here repeat, & would willingly proclaim, my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule—to all political, social and business connections with Yankees, & to the perfidious, malignant, & vile Yankee race.
@11 AP &P Are you also in the intel field?
@9/11: It says he did “over 400 combat missions” as a machine gunner in the turret of a humvee, then a year later, he was large and in charge of an entire intel shop? That’s some major upward move. When did he enlist? Before or after 9/11?
@12: I didn’t know that yankee was a race???
All of you make good points. My bet is this kid had some pre-existing emotional issues that got worse with his military service. Add that up, coupled with the fact he didn’t have the emotional maturity/disposition to try and fix it, he took the easy (hard?) way out. A lot of youngsters these days don’t have the mental metal so see themselves through challenging situations. That to me is more tragic, knowing a lot of youngsters today don’t know how to deal with their problems or seek help.
Call me hard-hearted, but all of his excuses for killing himself are just that – excuses. Like the choice he made, his excuses were poor ones to boot.
Old Trooper: I think that’s the mid/late 1860s version of “It’s Lincoln’s Fault”. (smile)
And yes: based on where I was born and raised, I do indeed have standing to say that as a joke.
— break —
2/17 Air Cav: yeah, it’s kinda hard to continue the game when you pull the ultimate “take my ball and go home” stunt.
I’m not trying to make light of suicide – but IMO, it’s virtually always a truly poor way out of a bad situation. It also doesn’t end the pain; it merely transfers the pain to the surviving friends and family.
Actually ending the pain requires learning to cope.
@5. Good point.
This is just sad all the way around.
Blame Bush!
Ha!!
If Bush was the village idiot, then Obama is the village big mouth. All talk, no action/leadership.
I read some of this yesterday and it was so stupid I stopped. Sucks he killed himself, but his nonsensical rant with bullshit general claims mixed in to some bizarre pill popping issues with the DEA was ridiculous. One would think he could have provided specifics to such outlandish claims instead of writing some deranged occupy wallstreet shit for a suicide note.
No wonder this guy killed himself. He was a nutbag that sounds like he was abusing prescription drugs to further his delusions.
I also can’t think of a single Marine that I knew that would keep track of how many missions we did. Since he did over 400 and I don’t know how many I did does that make his comments more legit than mine?
– sincerely some fucking grunt shitbag that stole oil and put it in his pockets at the direct command of Sith Lord Cheney.
People kill themselves every day, they blame whatever and whomever they can to justify their inability to advance their lives. They cause tremendous pain, which I believe is intentional, to their families who are left to deal with the death of a child/parent/spouse and the resulting life chaos that creates in addition to the grief. While it’s a terrible waste of your life to eat a bullet, eat some poison, or inhale some noxious fumes, or however you choose to go it might also be a blessing that they aren’t around to cause further anguish to others based on their inability to cope.
When you kill yourself you are admitting that your survival and self preservation instincts are malfunctioning, I can only wonder what else malfunctioned along the way. While I am sorry the family has to feel this pain, I am unsympathetic to anything a suicide has to say, their words are without merit and their opinions are those of a broken mind unable to cope and should be viewed as such.Those words are not a great revelation or a proper placement of blame or causation, but instead a feeble excuse to inject their family with guilt and grief and relieve the suicide of responsibility for their selfish self defeating act.
I’ll just keep out of the politic part of this as I don’t have any insight, but I hope their family can find comfort and their pain goes away soon. Unfortunately as someone that tried to kill myself (yes yes I know I know you are welcome to tell me how idiot and coward I am, you can’t be harder to me than myself) I saw the pain I brought to my family, that just made me say “I’m going to beat life, I WILL make it I can’t bring pain to my loved ones because of my selfishness” so for me I just hope the pain his family has lowers and they are in my prayers.
In fact, I think we can reasonably make the case that Somers killed himself because of the way the hippies made him feel about his service.
Money
Like others, I feel for the parents that have to pick up the pieces of their child’s life. I do agree with the statement that perhaps he had some emotional issues prior to his deployment or enlistment.
What anger’s me most is the fact that some are trying to use this kid’s emotional distress and subsequent (self-inflicted) death as a political grinding wheel.
@22 Glad you sorted it out, your family is better with you here than not…the same would be true for young Somers if he were to find help and “beat” life as you say, without help though it’s still years of misery for family while they watch a loved one continually break down and deteriorate.
I didn’t use the term cowardice, but chose malfunctioning for a specific reason. When your sh1t malfunctions, it can really break and make the unthinkable an option.
I do agree it is selfish because while you might end your pain you cause others pain in the process….
all suicide is,,is murdering one’s own soul. guilty as charged
Before I retired from a large West Coast fire dept, I had the honor and privilege to have Iraq ad Afghanistan veterans on my crew and on neighboring engines.
To a man, these gents did their jobs faithfully and with great courage despite the trauma many suffered in the Middle East. If they suffered PTSD, I tried my best to help ease that pain, they carried on in the tradition of our military and the fire service.
We did our best to help them cope with what ever bothered them due to combat experiences .
I feel sorry for this young man’s family and friends; guilt and grief are sometimes very hard to overcome, but, in my opinion, suicide is never the answer.
I am of mixed opinion regarding the letter published in the article, I really don’t know what to make of it
My son-in-law is a two tour Marine vet of Iraq and has been lucky to have adjusted so very well to his experiences.
Perhaps Somers might have felt a little differently if he had been at the forefront of the Gulf War, which was right after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and gave his Imperial troops free rein to kill and torture the Kuwaiti people. Or maybe, if he thought WE were so awful, he could have spent some time in Cambodia at the memorials for people whose lives were abruptly ended by the Khmer Rouge — just stacks and stacks of human skulls with no names, because their identity was destroyed in the Killing Fields.
On the other hand, he’d have done himself in using anything as an excuse, at some point in his short life, because that was where he was already headed. His reasons are too undefined to be anything other than an excuse to blame everyone else for doing it.
I feel sympathy for his family, but they ought to be aware that it was going to happen, regardless, and his term of service had nothing to do with it.
@25 I didn’t say it again anyone, is the first thing I hear every time “that’s a cowards move” for me is not a coward move, it does take gust to point that gun or slash those wrists, for me is a selfish thing like you said. if he couldn’t cope go to your family, we all know they are always there in Mexico we have a saying:
“Mal hombre ha de ser alguien que no tenga mujer que le llore”
“Someone has to be a very evil person that doesn’t have a woman that cries for him”
He should have reached out, he didn’t now I just pray for their family, unfortunately human nature is to assign guilt and now the favorite “turkish head” came about, the previous president.
But Veritas you nailed it right on the head … now back to work *sigh*
Letter sounds fishy. I don’t think he’s legit. Do we know if he even served with the units his letter claims?
@29 – It’s just something we’ll have to disagree on.
IMHO – I think it takes more guts to face your own problems and face the pain and work through it than it does to take a hand full of pills or suck starting a pistol.
Believe his DEA references are to the crackdown on so-called “pill mills” – used to be very easy to hit multiple clinics and doctors, get a bunch of pain meds, and junkie your way through life (hey, it worked for Rush, right?) Since the DEA finally noticed this and started cracking down, a lot of people tell me they can’t even get normal pain meds – the clinics don’t want the feds investigating and potentially blowing a small error into a headline. As an example, my disabled neighbor was having pain from his poorly-healed shattered ankle, and when he told the doc what he normally got (every year or so if the pain flared up) the doc told him “son, NO BODY can get those drugs any more – the DEA will coem down on ’em like a ton of bricks.” He got Advil.
@13, J.O.D.: Nope, I was just another 11b on a Gun Truck during that tour. Our unit did Convoy Security, some missions only took a few hours, and some lasted days. Or we’d do multiple missions during our stints on RRF Duty. As for counting, it helped pass time in between missions, whether it was a Convoy Escort or Mounted patrol.
@29 LostOnThemInterwebs: We’re glad you’re still with us. And it takes courage to talk about your experience. It also gives others a chance to understand.
My husband’s sister killed herself over the new laws that were taking effect over prescription medicines. She had severe pain and after years they suddenly told her no more meds. Because of my respect and love for my Mother-in-Law I couldn’t let the last time she saw her daughter be the way she was found. So I did her hair and make-up so the family could remember her the way they knew her. She had shot herself in the head and it was a bad scene that still haunts me to this day. A year later her son overdosed cause he couldn’t cope with the last words he’d said to his mother.
Suicide is not an answer it just leaves more questions and as and stated earlier it is the final Fuck you to friends and family. It is the coward’s way out and I have zero compassion for anyone that chooses to tell their family they don’t give enough of a shit about them to try to find help.
It makes me angry beyond words. For this guy to say the Military did this to him. It was fucking War what the fuck do people think happens during War?! It’s not a tea party and you don’t play ring around the rosie. What this guy did to his wife and kids is beyond selfish and then to blame the Military is an act of cowardliness that shows the ONLY fault with our Armed Forces is they’re signing up too many pussies!
Sorry for the vulgar words, I’m shaking I’m so upset!
(Ray- I’m sorry to bring this up, it was not to hurt you.)
This sounds more like the kid ad a drug problem rather than a PSD problem. This note is not from a man in deep pain. Those usually apologize for the pain their act will cause. They end with “I’m sorry”. This missive is more like a condemnation of all of those that caused HIM pain. “I’ll kill myself, and YOU will be sorry. You can’t prevent some people from killing themselves, after all “Suicide is the most sincere form of self-criticism”.
@3, perfectly stated. This is just an extreme example of “It’s Bush’s fault”. I’m sorry this family lost their son, but that letter is bullshit, pure and simple.
I am so glad to see that did a writeup on this, and I concur with many of the above that there is something fishy about this letter. I will be frank and call bullshit on what this guy wrote for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the tone of the letter. Aside from the sappy occupy wall street “it’s Bushitler’s fault” nonsense, is the clear and concise writing style, which is, to my mind inconsistent with a depressive/anxiety ridden mental state. When I was suffering in the pit of hell called depression, I know for a fact that I could not have constructed a letter like this. It just feels wrong. Am I reading too much into this?
If this guy was still with us, he’d be marching with Kokesh, Code Pink, and the rest of those freaks.
Yea well, Ron Paul and his anti-war crews are humping this hard, I’m seeing it on his website and the RP forums. According to the deep web Mr. Somers was a musician with a Phoenix based band, “Lisa Savidge”.
His widow, had this to say in a letter included with the original letter that was first published on the Phoenix New Times blog linked to above. “Somers’ wife, Angeline, sent the letter, along with a disheartening sentiment:
“It has been crazy . . . Daniel and I are private people and in the last week things have been ripped open and now everyone knows about how bad it has been. I wish I could believe that if it had gotten out sooner that he would still be here.”
Having lost friends to suicide that would not let anybody intervene and assist them, I have no earthly clue what to say to such a thing. Except maybe they should have sought help a lot sooner than trying to deal (on their own) with what ever things were bothering him and her in private.
My sincere condolences go out to Mrs Somers, the family members and friends.
Whoever penned that letter is a wordsmith. After reading, I couldn’t help but do what must be done and find out if it is for real or simply something the anti-war crews cooked up. His railing on the DEA about pill mills being shut down and some of the other writing is sort of pointing towards he may have had a problem or problems prior to going in to Army. This is simply my opinion, not a proven fact.
Bingo! Mr Somers supposedly took a trip back to Iraq in an attempt to try and understand why. A video was made of being made of the trip, posted and pulled from that site.
Iraq War veteran Daniel Somers is traveling back to Baghdad in order to meet with his former enemies (“insurgents”) face to face in order to discover why, on a personal level, he and they were literally trying to kill one another, and possibly to find some common ground… Or even redemption. A film crew will be joining him to document his quest and bring the human element of this latest war to the public in a way that has never been seen before.
Some folks from my old unit served there with him. I suspect that HE did not write that letter…it’ doesn’t sound right or like something he would have written.
I hate to say this but it seems too astroturfed to be real. I can’t say what he saw or did there and God knows I have no right to pass judgement on such things. I’ve contemplated the act of taking my life a couple of times and always came to the same conclusion: whatever “benefit” I would derive from the act, loved ones would be hurt far more. I just couldn’t do that. Giving my life for someone else yes, selfishly throwing away God’s greatest gift? No.
As others have stated I suspect that he had other problems either before or during his military service. While it might be instructive to see his record, unless someone makes him out as some great superhero I am not interested. I suspect that whatever pressures he faced after his service proved too much for him and for that I feel compassion for him. Life is not easy and certainly not for the weak. The hardest things we have to do sometimes is to face up to our sense of failure and drive through it. Perseverance, that ability to just put one foot in front of the other and move a little bit further ahead is sometimes the rarest thing we have, but life is based on it.
I do wonder about his true motives though. From the sounds of the letter, it looks like he was trying to find some “explanation” to give his friends and family as to why he couldn’t pull through. Perhaps someone else crafted it, or edited it before it went to the press. I would be curious as to whether or not it matches the original. Anyway, its late and I’m beginning to ramble. Mr. Somers, I pray that you have found peace and are with God. I pray that your family may have the strength to carry on. I thank you for your service and I pray we are worthy.
Not sure about TF Lightning being the name, but the Intelligence Unit 2004-2005 in Baghdad was 202nd MI Bn, at Abu Ghuraib. We arrived about the same time the out o’ control $hitstorm hit. Around July or August, we moved our TOC to Camp Slayer, right next to Camp Victory. It’s possible he saw some things that didn’t sit well with him,especially outside the wire, but none of our people abused anyone. Even if someone had wanted to, the media and DoD were everywhere and you couldn’t even look at a detainee without O6 approval. As far as 400 combat missions, I doubt that’s accurate. I wasn’t on his THT, so I can’t really say.
That being said, if he was making cries for help, then who gives a flying rats ass about the numbers, or the TF name, or what he claims he saw. That may have been part of his cry for help. A Soldier/Veteran needed help and couldn’t get it. Unfortunately, he took a path that can’t be reversed. Regardless of his political views, we lost one of our own. As Jonn pointed out, it may very well be because of those he associated with. That hurts more because they most likely welcomed him with open arms and then laid a guilt trip on him that he couldn’t recover from. Yet he couldn’t turn to a fellow Veteran or Veteran organization and not be shamed for his service. We let one of our own down, whether we realize it or not. Having been there, and having to pull my own ass back out of the fire, I know that no civilian could ever understand. I had military friends that I turned to who did nothing more than be there for me. And that was what I needed as I fought my own demons; I never found solace in a Powerpoint slide or a senior leader. Just a battle buddy. NOBODY can help us better than us. We take care of our own.
ScubaSteve, were you with 202nd? in 04-05?
If that is a real note, I personally find it pure BS, why in the hell did he join in the first place? A soldier knows what a soldier has to do & kill people is one of those duties & if it bothers you to the point of suicide then there was something bad wrong with this kid to begin with. We have a Volunteer Military so no one Forced him to do anything that he did not agree to in the first place & it’s not like he was ignorant of the way of war as much negative media coverage, when was the last time you read of our Military helping people. As a Combat Engineer I spent as much off duty time helping local farmers with their fields, I operated a Grader & I made many gardens for small villages that were just barely able to do in the middle of a war, a war that Politicians & the press lost not our military.
@ TBird Henry. I read your reply and was just blown away. I completely understand where you are coming from. Similarly, I went through a horrible period when I came back home from deployment in 2006 and watched my marriage disintegrate in front of me. I began suffering from terrible anxiety which kept me from sleeping for months, and eventually I suffered from depression so profound that I became suicidal. It seemed like it would never end…and I kept myself going by telling myself that it wasn’t real, and that I would be okay, that the feelings would eventually pass. First and foremost, like yourself, I did not want anybody I cared about to be the one who found me, so I took the pain, rather than pass it on to anyone else. When My unit was preparing for its2010 deployment to Iraq, I came to the regrettable conclusion that I could not go because of the depression I was STILL suffering from. I felt that my presence would be a greater liability than an asset, and in 2009 I decided I would not extend or re-enlist to make the deployment and I retired. Sorry for going on so long…this is the first time I have really written or spoken of this openly. At any rate, my experience tells me that there is bullshit afoot with this letter. Thank you for your service, sir.
Oh and I forgot to mention in my last reply my deployment in 2005-06 was to effing KOSOVO, a place where I got to do some things that I am very, very proud of, but certainly did not lead me to become suicidal. It was all events from my private life that turned me into a basket case.
@48-49Civilwarrior:
Glad to hear you beat the demon as well. Keep fighting the bastard! We create them and we have to go into combat and defeat them. My bouts of depression came largely due to a sense personal inadequacy. I’ve begun to realize that the most important thing I can do is to focus on that which I can do and remember that wahtever else is going wrong in my world that God is with me, even though I may not always be with him, I have good friends and family who will lend whatever help and support they can, and I have enough life experience and skills to survive (maybe not the zombie apocalypse, but definitely a major economic collapse). That means I WILL make it Good luck to you sir and thank you for your service.