Pray for the Family...

[Dragonscout25]

Army's 'Captain America' dies by suicide after nearly a dozen combat tours

The enemy could never break him, but what this decorated Green Beret eventually found was that his enemy was within.

www.foxnews.com

Master Sgt. Andrew 'Andy' Christian Marckesano served 6 full tours in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne and the Ranger regiment...

The family is hurting badly and this man couldn't handle the demons....Unfortunately he killed himself in the house with his family present.

 

[10ring'r]

What a loss. Hope that more, with demons, will reach out and get the help they need. It even makes it tougher, when these men and women, come home to the shit that's happening in this country. No escape. Mac

 

[cast1]

So tragic. I ask this is the most sincere way, why does this happen? I’ve never served so I don’t have any idea what it’s like to see the type of stuff this guy has seen. What happens to and haunts a man enough for him to end his own life? Especially after fighting so hard not to surrender it... Is it the loss of comrades? An inability to switch out of survival mode? What are the hurdles returning to civilian life? Is there anything a schmoe like me could do to help?

 

[Huskydriver]

Death no longer means anything.... You become desensitized to it

 

[diverdon]

RIP

Once again we see the true cost of war. It is nearly unbearable, yet must none the less be born. We move ever closer to war with China, a near peer power. Yet our military is still recovering from this confrontation with stone age savages. Expect the pain from the next war to be more broadly spread thru America.

 

[Det. John McClane]

It is a terrible loss and highlights the true cost of war. The casualties do not always manifest themselves on the battlefield. Six combat tours is overwhelming to try and comprehend. About 20 veterans take their own life every day. We need to honor the promise we made to them when we sent them off to war, that we would take care of them when they returned.

 

[Dragonscout25]

First, Every American is blessed, unlike any other on the planet. Even the most basic American history used to show that we, as a nation were cut from a different cloth. Coming here meant you valued life, the true semblance of more liberty and freedom than anyone else on the planet and the chance to pursue your version of happiness.

Veterans have always been willing to give up some, most or all of their life so that the rest could benefit. And if you have ever had time in any hostile assignment you understood the stress, the midset to prepare for that last full measure if necessary of yourself or your buddies. The weight was there and the ethos of the warrior culture, passed down was that there was weakness if you expressed the human frailty in all of us. We all want to live, but that desire when haunted by the extreme brutality and factual need to shut out emotions can, for some be extinguished. We lose someone closer than a brother that the rest of the world can never understand. We've done things no one can believe unless they were there. The intensity, the randomness, the insane 'luck", and indescribable misfortune others will never know. More alive and exciting, more terrifying and depressing than one can tell...

Then you come home,,,you come home to those who will not know or understand, or care. You come back to a country eating itself. You had structure, mission, results and the next mission cycle. Here you have snowflakes that are "entitled" to everything, people trying to tear us apart just to see the world burn. People expect to be handed free everything and to do nothing. We served faithfully, gave it all, and come back to get spit on, pitied or accused of being "broken".

We're the most together, righteous, dedicated, faithful, everlasting, motivated and forthright men and women on the planet....And we can't help save our own country or we'll be locked up in one facility, list or program or another for being the Real Americans....the only ones willing to give the last full measure for the very nation that marginalizes us with trite phrases...And finally when it seems no one cares and they've had enough of the pain, internal external or mental, they feel the only way is to believe the lie that it's easier to quit. I only ask you here, this one time if you ever get to that place...know that you are better, your life IS worth it. If you need to talk PLEASE call tel: 1-800-273-8255, press 1; or PM ME!!! I will do everything I can to try to get you to a better place in this life for you ARE my Brother, you ARE my Sister...

 

[pmclaine]

Our fucked up corrupt govt created this shit.

Engage in war with no strategy, hang everyone's ass on ROE that indicates no desire to win anytime soon yet ensures a slow steady bleed of friends, sons, daughters, etc., deploy the same few multiple times fucking up any stabilizing foundations in their lives, than let your sacrifice become a mere game of checkers between stupid political parties.

Twenty years of war.

We need a draft and every citizen with skin in the game.

I think the war was for good reason but it was cut adrift by not defining an end and allowing only 1 percent to fight it.

All in or none.

We owe no country we are drawn in to fight to be rebuilt or stabilized. Go in, address your grievance and get out.

While war is noble for the sacrifice and love between those fighting it for the rest of society it is corrupting and debasing unless they are with the shoulder on the yoke sacrificing and supporting.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

I read that yesterday... it left me just stunned.

We are destroying the best of two generations through utterly incompetent political meddling and a segment of the American People who are rooting for our enemies every second of every minute of every hour of every day.

Sick about this.

Sirhr

 

[308pirate]

I can't believe I'm going to say this.

Perhaps it's time for Americans to boycott the armed forces, as in just fucking stop enlisting and joining officer programs.

 

[pmclaine]

First, Every American is blessed, unlike any other on the planet. Even the most basic American history used to show that we, as a nation were cut from a different cloth. Coming here meant you valued life, the true semblance of more liberty and freedom than anyone else on the planet and the chance to pursue your version of happiness.

Veterans have always been willing to give up some, most or all of their life so that the rest could benefit. And if you have ever had time in any hostile assignment you understood the stress, the midset to prepare for that last full measure if necessary of yourself or your buddies. The weight was there and the ethos of the warrior culture, passed down was that there was weakness if you expressed the human frailty in all of us. We all want to live, but that desire when haunted by the extreme brutality and factual need to shut out emotions can, for some be extinguished. We lose someone closer than a brother that the rest of the world can never understand. We've done things no one can believe unless they were there. The intensity, the randomness, the insane 'luck", and indescribable misfortune others will never know. More alive and exciting, more terrifying and depressing than one can tell...

Then you come home,,,you come home to those who will not know or understand, or care. You come back to a country eating itself. You had structure, mission, results and the next mission cycle. Here you have snowflakes that are "entitled" to everything, people trying to tear us apart just to see the world burn. People expect to be handed free everything and to do nothing. We served faithfully, gave it all, and come back to get spit on, pitied or accused of being "broken".

We're the most together, righteous, dedicated, faithful, everlasting, motivated and forthright men and women on the planet....And we can't help save our own country or we'll be locked up in one facility, list or program or another for being the Real Americans....the only ones willing to give the last full measure for the very nation that marginalizes us with trite phrases...And finally when it seems no one cares and they've had enough of the pain, internal external or mental, they feel the only way is to believe the lie that it's easier to quit. I only ask you here, this one time if you ever get to that place...know that you are better, your life IS worth it. If you need to talk PLEASE call tel: 1-800-273-8255, press 1; or PM ME!!! I will do everything I can to try to get you to a better place in this life for you ARE my Brother, you ARE my Sister...

Your point about the mil civilian disconnect is an important one.

I never earned a Combat Action Ribbon....had some rounds fly close as an observer but not nearly what this man has been through.

When I came home I couldn't have been more severed from friends of before than I was. I still have those friends and it's better but initially it's like being cut adrift, a stranger in a new land. Interesting and great things you did just cause their eyes to glaze over when you try to explain it.

Perhaps that is looked at as "Hey concentrating too much on your experience while not appreciating theirs" but there are differences.......completing an arduous hump, taking guard in a magazine targeted by Communist guerillas, having NEO OP clear your post and assist a company of combat Marines assault your "home" is different from the cool college party that someone threw up at.

You just can't get the two experiences to balance.

In our Father's Day they at least had some Guard or Reserve experience.

If you were a regular their probably were people available to help you work through what you had experienced.

Nothing is like the mil, the sense of over coming adversity, taking action, making decisions, operating at the "now" not "when I get to it".

A draft would bring a lot of tards into an extremely well trained and effective organization but Moms of America will not allow a twenty year bleed if Buffy or Muffy have low draft numbers.

They would demand to know the strategic goal and they would force tactics ensured to end the war fast and ensuring the greatest safety of the American service person.

Limiting the duration ensures less damage to the war fighter and the general society.

Everyone loved Gulf I, it was over in three weeks.

I got called back for that. People that otherwise would not have skin in the game suddenly saw family taken from their lives to train as infantry.

My sisters comment on seeing the Western Union orders ( WU I shit you not) was "Fucking nuke that motherfucker!"

That's the fighting spirit and the concern that supports the warrior.

 

[Son of Dorn]

So tragic. I ask this is the most sincere way, why does this happen? I’ve never served so I don’t have any idea what it’s like to see the type of stuff this guy has seen. What happens to and haunts a man enough for him to end his own life? Especially after fighting so hard not to surrender it... Is it the loss of comrades? An inability to switch out of survival mode? What are the hurdles returning to civilian life? Is there anything a schmoe like me could do to help?

Well in the article, one soldier killed himself after accidentally killing a pair of neighbors during what his wife presumed was a PTSD episode. According to my cousin, one of her friends who was staying with them after having been in Afghanistan (I think) just bolted out of bed in the middle of the night, proceeded to clear the house with a (thankfully unloaded) handgun, and then woke up properly and realized where he was. So in that case, I reckon it was the realization he'd just done something horrific that was out of his control and it just clicked something in his brain. I don't know how many incidents have occurred like that. It was a mercy the guy's gun wasn't loaded with my cousin otherwise something bad might've happened to her and the other people in the house. My cousin's dad, on the other hand, who served in Desert Storm, has occasionally just sat in bed "looking at the desert" after waking up partway. To the best of my knowledge, he's not done anything like clear the house, but then again he was a IFV crewman and not regular infantry. In the case of MSGT Marckesano, I couldn't say. I suspect something similar and PTSD related but I wouldn't want to speculate outside of that.

And I want to note that I haven't served either and mean no disrespect about the subject to those who know better than I do or have gone through PTSD or anything related.

 

[pmclaine]

I’m against a draft unless the mainland US is invaded. I would never go overseas to fight a foreign war so the elites can get even more rich and powerful. Volunteers can do that if they want.

Peace to the captain and his family.

I can respect that.

The draft goes against my idea of individual freedom.

Knowing what I know about my govt right now it goes against my idea of human decency.

What will you fight for?

If we had a a government with the best ideals of the Declaration and Bill of Rights in mind would you fight for it?

If our strategic goal requires and it makes tactical sense would you fight outside CONUS?

 

[pmclaine]

Yes and yes.

I would love to have the government you described and the people in the country to make it all possible. I would fight for that. If fighting outside the CONUS was crucial in protecting and preserving what you described I would like to think I would have the courage to engage.

I am with you about where the country and our government currently are. That was the reasoning for my first post. There is no way I could sign up to represent the government we have right now. I am with @308pirate in this regard. I als9 agree with most all other points that you made.

We had that country not so long ago.

A lot of very good psychology has got us to the point where we are now.

Humans ain't much different than you average dog in reward training.

I don't know if I have the courage but at some point my big mouth is going to have me responsible to pay a bill I've talked myself in to.

Why you bringing that HighSpanic @308pirate into this?

If he ain't in some sailor meat fest he's out tossing commies out of his imaginary helo.

That keto 6 pack...............is it for Rest Area action only or fighting for your country?

 

[BufordTJustice]

God speed and His grace to the Captain! Prayers for the family. Thank you to all who serve and have served. Right or wrong, MY COUNTRY owes you a debt of gratitude for sacrifices made for liberties and freedoms. This is why I stand for the flag and pledge my allegiance. Not for the degenerates who take from her, but to honor those who gave her glory.