Marine’s suicide is only start of family’s struggle

The Washington Post ^ | Feb. 11, 2012 | Greg Jaffe

[Millicent_Hornswaggle]

For most of his 26 years in the military, Maj. Jeff Hackett was a standout Marine. Two tours in Iraq destroyed him.

Home from combat, he drank too much, suffered public breakdowns and was hospitalized for panic attacks. In June 2010, he killed himself.

Hackett’s suicide deeply troubled Gen. James Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps. Hackett had been plucked from the enlisted ranks to lead Marines as an officer. He left behind a widow, four sons and more than $460,000 in debts. To Amos, Hackett was a casualty of war — surely the family deserved some compensation from the federal government.

Amos asked John Dowd, a prominent Washington lawyer who had represented Sen. John McCain, for help. “There is absolutely no doubt that he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress,” Amos wrote to Dowd. “NONE WHAT SO EVER!”

“We will raise as much hell as we can,” Dowd, a former Marine, wrote back to Amos.

Almost two years later, the high-level intercession by the Marine commandant and the Washington lawyer has produced little from the federal government for Hackett’s widow. The inability of Dowd to wrest any money from the Department of Veterans Affairs shows the limits of what the federal government can do for families of service members who kill themselves as a result of mental trauma caused by war.

Dowd and a team of nine lawyers have fought unsuccessfully for the last 18 months to convince the VA and Prudential Financial Inc., which administers a life insurance program for veterans, to pay a $400,000 claim to Danelle Hackett. The life insurance premiums were automatically deducted from Hackett’s paycheck for 26 years when he was on active duty.

[jagusafr]

Good for y’all for putting pencil to paper and figuring it out. That’ s usually the long pole in the tent - getting enough good information to make an educated decision.

[jesseam]

Re: PTSD-There were a minority in my son’s platoon who said they suffered from it within a month after arriving in Afghanistan. One Soldier had never been outside of the wire. It is something that is hard to define and cannot be discounted.

If you are in country whether in the wire or out of the wire, you were exposed to hostile fire. I saw several killed while in the wire.

[oh8eleven]

PTSD-There were a minority in my son’s platoon who said they suffered from it within a month after arriving in Afghanistan.
As a combat vet myself, I can't argue with that minority. However, what they were experiencing were the normal stresses of combat.
Many come home and "get over it" - some don't.

[oh8eleven]

He was in EOD, an extremely dangerous field.
I know what EOD is - I spent 13 months in VN on the DMZ and our engineers had to clear the roads each and every day.

[Millicent_Hornswaggle]

What’s your point?