Wife watches husband’s death live on Skype
The other day, we discussed the wife who was notified of the death of her husband by a “friend” on Facebook. This one is a little more immediate.
The El Paso Times reports that the wife of Army Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark, 43, of Spencerport, N.Y, a nurse, says that she watched his death during their regular Skype chat Monday night. The article doesn’t give the details of his death, and neither does the DoD news release identifying him.
A statement from the family said they are waiting for results of a military investigation.
“Bruce’s wife tragically witnessed her husband’s death during one of their regular Skype video chats,” the statement said.
“At the time of the incident, the family was hoping for a rescue and miracle, but later learned that it was not to be,” according to the family’s statement.
“Although the circumstances were unimaginable, Bruce’s wife and extended family will be forever thankful that he and his wife were together in his last moments.”
I just can’t imagine…but I think the Army needs to be a little quicker to bring out the circumstances, because a nurse’s death seems a little remote in relation to the battlefield. I’m not going to speculate on the cause of the captain’s death, but it seems a little strange that the Army is taking this long.
Category: Military issues
Non-combat related? Maybe he had a coronary or something. Still tragic.
Since first reading this story one line continues to confuse me.
“At the time of the incident, the family was hoping for a rescue and miracle, but later learned that it was not to be,”
Rescue from what? Maybe the building/tent he was working in was hit by mortar fire and he was buried in the rubble, or he was trapped by a fire, who knows, but I wish somebody would come forward with more information on this strange quote.
JAG, that one just says to me that whatever caused his demise, he slipped from the camera’s view so that the family only knew he was in distress, hoping someone got to him to affect a recovery.
I had a different source of confusion – had to go to the original article to discover that it was Capt Clark, not his wife, who was a nurse.
In spite of our puzzlement, this is so tragic. But, I would in the long term agree with the family that it was wonderful that they were “together.” Short term, not so much.
A heart attack is plausible. During my deployment, I went to a farewell ceremony for a non-combat casualty – a USMC officer, as I recall. The guy reportedly died of a heart attack after just a few days in country. If I recall correctly he was about that same age.
If it’s your time, it’s your time. You won’t be catching a later train.
But if you’re not careful you can damn sure catch an earlier one.
Rest in peace, Captain.
Prayers out for this family. This was certainly a tragedy.
Suicide? I mean, Let’s not forget about the elephant in the room.
While I hope it’s not the case this sounds like a suicide to me.
As I grieve for loss of a fellow soldier and Nurse Corps officer, I can’t help but think there is more here to this story than the Army is letting on. ‘Under investigation?’ There are witnesses, for gods sake. Is it another green on blue? Suicide? Medical issues? The fact is that as ANC officers, we aren’t as exposed to hostile action as the line guys, but the articles all conflict in saying ‘killed’ versus ‘died’.
And a cardiac/pulmonary embolisms are certainly plausible. The changes in environment, stress, dehydration and being overweight can lead to lethal clots forming in the body.
Whatever the cause, at least he had a chance to say goodbye to his wife..not a privilege everyone gets. I hope she’s ok, and our prayers are out to her during this time.
Gentlemen, may I humbly request the “S” word not be used? There are too many medical possibilities for the Cpt’s passing that are extremely plausible.
RIP Cpt. Clark.
An update in the El Paso Times indicates his death was not combat related.
I guess that would rule out a green on blue incident?
There are always investigations in any death in the Army. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves speculating on what might have happened and focus our prayers on his family.
Actually he lived around here. One of my coworkers’ wife is a friend of his wife’s. He was shot in the neck….I don’t know how, but she watched him get shot….
Lets honor and bury the good CAPT. Plenty of time find out what happened. He was a young man … sad for his family.
From my local paper….
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2012/05/he_valued_family_brother-in-la.html
Two words that a lot of us know that unfortunately his family got to be a part of. Unfortunately, with the speed of communication pandora has opened the box…
Sorry for the loss of another brother.
Yas Yas: Good on you, and thanks for looking out for CPT Clarks family. We all need to let the speculation lie until more information is available. Lets get our brother home, ensure his families taken care of, and after the grieving is over, look for answers.
RIP brother!
Wait was the Internet tent hit or something?
c’mon Doc….
Saw this earlier and also thought it strange that it was his demise was viewed by his family but the cause was not released by the Army or family. Have to wait and see.
What has been released so far indicates only that the individual was a non-combat casualty. That could mean anything from sudden illness to Green-on-Blue (I believe those are classified as non-combat casualties since the ANA/ANP are technically friendlies), as well as anything in between – e.g., negligent discharge incident, other accident, result of crime, something else.
Cedo Alteram is correct – we need to stand by here for more info. Unless and until more is released, all we know is that it’s currently classified as a “non-combat” death and is under investigation.
May the Deity comfort and watch over his surviving family.
[…] saw bullet hole May 6th, 2012 The other day, we read about Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark whose wife watched him die during a Skype conversation they were having. Tman sends a link to an […]