Damn damn damn fucking damn

[frogcycle]

militarycity.com:

Army Spc. Jacob J. Fairbanks

22, of St. Paul, Minn.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.; died April 9 in Baghdad of injuries sustained in a non-combat-related incident.



Minnesota soldier killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — An Army specialist from St. Paul died of injuries suffered in Iraq, the Defense Department reported Friday. He is the 73rd person with strong Minnesota ties to die in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Spc. Jacob J. Fairbanks, 22, of St. Paul, died Wednesday in Baghdad of injuries the military described as non-combat-related.

Fairbanks was a member of the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment in the 101st Airborne out of Fort Campbell, Ky. He had joined the Army in 2004 and was about six months into his second tour in Iraq.

Fairbanks’ family issued a statement that described Fairbanks as a “proud member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.” It said he was a 2004 graduate of St. Paul Johnson Senior High School, where he was active in Junior ROTC, wrestling and tennis.

Fairbanks is survived by his wife, Dwan, of St. Paul; daughter Kayla, 1; stepchildren Alexander, 11; Katelin, 9; and David, 5; and his parents.


Died:
April 09, 2008

icasualties:

US Specialist Jacob J. Fairbanks Baghdad Non-hostile - suicide

[NC_Nurse]

1. .

:cry:

[YDogg]

2. RIP and Godspeed

[MissWaverly]

3. what a sad loss

His poor family, his daughter growing up w/o a dad, another day in this war based on lies.

[JohnnyLib2]

4. Terribly sad.

[TomInTib]

5. Non-combat-related incident.

I used to read that and wonder just what idiocy or malfunction had killed them.

And now, or so I understand, a great many of these are by one's own hand.

A crying shame.

They are so under-prepared....

[goodgd_yall]

20. Code

I didn't understand it either until a couple of years ago.

R.I.P., Jacob Fairbanks.

[frogcycle]

22. yeah, generally they add something if that's not it

like "traffic accident" or "illness" or something. Last number I saw was 127 from self-inflicted wounds in OIF. That was a month or so ago.

It is very rare that I find any followup,like with this one, in the press. Generally they tell the family and there is just little publicity. The body is sent home, there is a quiet funeral, and the press leaves it alone.

Not ALL of the suicides are necessarily directly related to the war itself; there's a case from a year or so ago where a guy killed his former lover who had gotten a restraining order against him; it appeared that word of their relationship was about to get public and his wife and kids would learn of it. He then shot himself. That can happen in civilian society too, although it could be argued that the relationship might not have happened if they had not been in Baghdad. Their pictures are side-by-side on my website, because they are the same date. That kind of bugs me, but there is not really an alternative.

Both of them initially were that euphemistic "non-hostile incident," but the story did come out.

There's another where a sailor, shot his former girlfriend (another restraining order) and her roommate, then himself. They died; he didn't. The name was released. He was sent to Landstuhl, reportedly with no chance of recovery (profound brain damage). I keep watching for a notice of his death but have not seen it. Maybe he's still vegetating, but I doubt it. I suspect they decided just to not report it. Which begs the question of how many others aren't reported. Are there guidelines, or do they just kind of make a "judgment call," and who makes it?

And, of course, there are quite a few who check out after they are home, who don't get counted in the stats. I bet that 127 would be a lot bigger if the facts were known.

[OhioBlue]

6. ...

:cry:

[frogcycle]

7. of all the myriad obscenities of this illegal occupation

the carnage to the Iraqi people, the carnage to our wounded, and their families, the carnage to our killed, and their families, the appalling increase in suicides is somehow obscene squared.

I went through all 4351 recently (Afg & Iraq) updating Zeitlangers with more links to other sites, filling in info where there was little or none. Of 72 names where I didn't have a photo, five turned out to be suicides - three at Guantanamo, and two in the mideast, all involved with prisoners (four guards, one doctor.) I don't know what Specialist Fairbanks job was. But that little girl's daddy was dealing with demons we cannot imagine.

Whatever horrors we KNOW about this clusterfuck, the reality is probably ten times worse.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/another-us-soldier-suicid_b_97283.html

[Buzz Clik]

8. Thanks for this, froggie. It's always so sad.

[blue sky at night]

9. I lost my dad when....

I was four, so I really never knew the man. I have always wondered how my life would have been with a Father to look up too, to learn from, to love and respect.

I also have to wonder how the bastards that are getting rich from so much suffering can sleep at night.

When we can make money from PEACE then we will have PEACE, until then...we will just have WAR.

(And Stories like this)

[stillcool]

14. My dad...was a WWII vet...

"never the same after the war". I never lived with him, he drank himself to death after my mom died when I was a year old. When I grew up my first two boyfriends were Vietnam vets. Funny how I was attracted to the walking wounded casualties of war.

[shadowknows69]

10. Good journey soldier

Add this to your butcher's bill Bush.

[cascadiance]

11. Suicide is the sleeping giant that's going to bite us from this war...

... as well as homicide too. But I don't think we're fully aware of the potential magnitude of this problem in the future with all of the "injured survivors" of this war we have now.

People must see "In the Valley of Elah", which really illustrates how horrendous PTSD and what it later triggers can be...

[frogcycle]

13. yes, brutal movie

[Bonobo]

12. No words...

Our country's great shame.

[wundermaus]

15. Be at peace, dear brother, your death will not be in vain.

The criminals that sent you to your death will be brought to justice.
We, the People of the United States of America will see to it.
:cry:

[uppityperson]

16. Thank you for giving him a face and making it personal. RIP

damn damn damn damn damn

[frogcycle]

17. I cringed when I saw the initial report

the confirmation was not unexpected, but it still hit me in the gut when I saw it this evening.


Here's another I'm watching:

http://www.militarycity.com/valor/3473315.html#http://www.militarycity.com/valor/3473315.html#

non-hostile in Abu Gharab

[uppityperson]

18. You posted well, putting the personal stuff, then the last bit. shit.

Another soldier died, that's sad.
22, that's really sad.
With young child and several step kids, aw crap.
Suicide. shit shit shit.

Now this next one, non-hostile in Abu Gharab? Aw crap.

[frogcycle]

19. yeah, crap

thanks for the comment. I actually rearranged it from the way I first entered it. Wasn't trying to be melodramatic, but somehow it seemed right to have it unfold for folks here the way it did for me.

I just read another post quoting the Guardian about the meetings where they cooked up the torture plans. Those who were at those meetings are off to high-paying jobs in industry while some of those who carried out their decisions have blown their brains out, or, in one case, swum out to sea leaving their belongings on the beach at gitmo, and others are probably screwed up in the head for life. Not to mention those on the other end of the torture, some of whom are probably mistaken identities.

Not to say ALL the suicides are from the prisoner-detention ranks; others are in combat roles. What it is they can no longer live with, we'll not know.

[file83]

21. Words fail me...

Hope you are resting peacefully, finally.

[Berry Cool]

23. Another case where I just can't think of anything to say.

When and if this damn war is over, there should be a separate memorial just for the suicides. Engrave every name on it...every single one.

And put it on the lawn of the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

As his legacy.

[frogcycle]

30. You prompted me

to scour my database. Due to getting from multiple sources, I did not have consistent cause information; for many I had a blank for that field and a lengthy description paragraph. I wrote custom queries to search the description text, set cause where it could be determined. I now have a list of 171 that are either defined as suicide, or just left unspecified. I'll scrub it some more tomorrow against the original DoD releases and iCasualties and then can generate a page for that memorial.

[uppityperson]

24. kick for the day crew

[Olney Blue]

25. Oh no.

:cry:

[JCMach1]

26. Will be on the Delta flight tonight to Dubai with all the poor guys

headed back to paradise by the Tigris

:(

[libodem]

28. Sorry to hear that

best of luck. My nephew is here for a short break from Iraq. He goes back the 23rd.

[Fireweed247]

27. God help us end this horrible war!

:cry:

www.peacecandidates.com

[Kurovski]

29. .

.

[krispos42]

31. Kick

:-(