Spc. Jeremy Seeley killed himself in
a motel room near Fort Campbell, Ky., in 2004 after
returning from fighting in Iraq.
Rayburn Seeley of Canton, N.C., says he believes that
if the military had stepped in to help, perhaps Seeley,
his 28-year-old grandson, would still be alive.
"If some of us could have gotten to him," he
said, his voice trailing off.
"I think the boys need
someone checking in on them when they come back."
Yesterday, the House unanimously passed legislation
aimed at preventing such suicides by helping veterans
in need of mental-health services.
The bill requires mandatory training for Veterans
Administration officials to deal with post-traumatic
stress disorder, as well as additional resources for
veterans at risk of suicide, including mental-health
care that is available 24 hours a day and a toll-free
hot line for service members to call and talk to someone.
According to statistics from the N.C. Violent Death
Reporting System, 24 percent of those who committed
suicide in 2005 (244 people) were veterans, a 3percent
increase from 2004.
Supporters of the bill say that it is aimed at excessive
bureaucracy that hampers service personnel from getting
help.
Members of Congress also hope to deal with allegations
of substandard treatment at VA hospitals, including
the Walter Reed Medical Facility in Washington.
Congressional oversight hearings have begun because
of the conditions, and several high-ranking military
officials have lost their jobs as a result.
Yesterday, three members of North Carolina's delegation
- Reps. Mel Watt, D-12th, Howard Coble, R-6th, and
Robin Hayes, R-8th - wrote to the chairman and ranking
member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and
asked them to investigate conditions at the W.G. Hefner
VA Medical Center in Salisbury in conjunction with
the inquiry into conditions at Walter Reed .
Repeated calls to VA officials in North Carolina for
comment on veterans' issues were not returned. Calls
to the VA clinic in Winston-Salem for information on
suicide-prevention services were forwarded to an automated
system, which directed one call to a VA clinic in the
Bronx, N.Y.
Rayburn Seeley, a veteran of World War II, says he
knows all too well the stress that war brings on a
young person.
"We called it battlefield fatigue. It had a different
name then, but a man's mind can stand only so much," he
said.
His son - Jeremy Seeley's father - served in the Vietnam
War. Jeremy Seeley was born at Camp Lejeune. After
his father was discharged from the military, the family
moved to Canton, outside of Asheville.
"He was soft-spoken, and he cared for everyone.
He was always willing to help neighbors with whatever
they needed," Rayburn Seeley said.
Jeremy Seeley left no note.
In the three years since Jeremy
Seeley put the "Do
Not Disturb" sign on his motel door, the Seeley
family has no clearer understanding about his death
than they did on the day that his body was found, his
grandfather said.
"It's hard to say or get to why this happened," Rayburn
Seeley said.
But he hopes that bringing attention to his grandson's
death will help others.
"If others don't have to go through this, then
it will be OK to talk," he said.
• Mary M. Shaffrey can
be reached at 202-662-7672 or at mshaffrey@wsjournal.com.
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