“My last words to my son were, ‘Be a man and get through it,’” Mr. Keesling said. “I was the stupid dad. If my son had said, ‘Dad I’ve broken my leg, I can’t go on,’ I would have understood. But I didn’t understand the mental health side.”
Gregg Keesling, the father of a 25-year-old Army specialist who killed himself in Iraq, wrestles with his own confusion about his son’s emotional injuries as he helps to raise awareness about a controversial “unwritten policy.” James Dao explains (NY Times).
Since at least the time of Abraham Lincoln, presidents have sent letters of condolence to the families of service members killed in action, whether the deaths came by hostile fire or in an accident. So after Gregg Keesling’s son killed himself in Iraq in June, he expected his family would receive a letter from President Obama. What they got instead was a call from an Army official telling them that they were not eligible because their son had committed suicide.
