HUFFINGTON
09.01-08.13
COURTESY OF MIKE MCMICHAEL
INVISIBLE CASUALTIES
wouldn’t give up on me. My husband is a hero and he feels immense
pride at what he did over there.”
Still, she said in a quiet moment, being in the military “you
give up so much. I try not to think
about it in terms of sacrifice.”
As with many who’ve considered suicide, there’s no single,
overpowering factor that keeps
Mike back from the abyss. No
head-smacking insight. No one
wrestled him to the ground and
took him in handcuffs to the VA.
Nothing that dramatic.
Instead it is the constant and
steady presence of his wife, friends
and other veterans. And his kids.
The patient work of doctors and
therapists at the VA and elsewhere
who help Mike deal with pain
and frustration. And — crucially
important to those at risk of suicide — the absence of guns in his
house. Quick access to firearms is
the number one factor in suicides
among service members and veterans. Sixty percent of military
suicides in 2011 were by firearm,
according to the Defense Department’s most recent annual report.
Jackie, Mike believes, saved his
life. He owes her, and their four
“My brother used to say,
‘Why do you stay with
him?’” Jackie said one day.
“Because the man I married
wouldn’t give up on me.
My husband is a hero…”
children, big time. “It’s been rough
for me, but nothing compared to
what I put them through,” he said.
“What they’ve seen dad go
through ... I apologize to them,
because they never know which
dad they’re going to get. I can
go off like that! And sometimes
I don’t realize it until I see the
★