NEW YORK - Gregg and Jannett Keesling are the parents of Chancellor Keesling, a US soldier who took his own life on June 19th of this year.
Chancellor was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. During his first deployment, he suffered mental health issues so severe he was placed on suicide watch.
After getting back to the United States, Chancellor had turned down a bonus offer to return to Iraq in the hopes he wouldn’t be redeployed. But he was called back in May. One month later, he took his own life.
Since Chancellor’s death, Gregg and Jannett Keesling have yet to receive a letter of condolence from President Obama.
After making inquiries, they discovered that this was not because of an oversight. Instead, it’s because of a longstanding US policy to deny presidential condolence letters to the families of soldiers who take their own lives.
They spoke to Democracy Now! about their ordeal.
"Once he did his first tour (in Iraq) ...his marriage broke up and during the second deployment, he also had problems again," said Gregg Keesling, his father.
"We have learned that during his enlisted time, the mental health issues that he faced never reached his reserve unit. There is actually a law that prevents mental health issues that occur during your enlisted time from passing over to the Reserves," said Gregg.
"That’s one of the messages we hope gets out, that we look at how mental health issues get transferred to the Guard and the Reserve units as these soldiers are deployed over and over and over again," he added.
"There is a law that prevents that information from passing from the enlisted to the Reserve," explained Gregg.
"So his commander in Iraq... and his commander had no idea that he had had mental health. It was incumbent upon him, the soldier, to share it. And I think that’s very difficult to put a soldier in that type of situation," he added.
In 2009, just twelve hours before he ended up taking his own life, he sent both of his parents an email, telling them he wanted to commit suicide.
"We spoke to him, I did several texts, emails, phone conversations, trying to tell him, you know, so many people loved him, and he should hang in there," said Jannett Keesling, his mother.
"The lessons that you learn is that you can’t also manage from your end here, and for the future, tell families, 'Intervene anyhow you can. You know, find a way,' because a crisis like this can change a person in a few minutes. And it did," she added.
His parents believe that his suicide was related to his duty.
"We do not believe our son would have taken his life if he had been here at home. This would not have happened. This is directly related to his military service," said Gregg.
To make matters worse, the parents learned that there’s a longstanding policy that prevents the President from acknowledging the death of a soldier who commits suicide in the war theater.
"I nearly dropped to my knees. I was shocked. And I just said to her that I think this is a policy that should change," said Gregg.
"Our loss is no different. He was on his second tour. The investigative report shows that he was a good soldier. One of my favorite comments in the report is that his unit commander ... He helped other soldiers," he said.
"Our grief is deep...but the acknowledgement from the President that our son gave his life in service to the causes of the United States is important to us, and I think it should be important to the hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of suicide victims in this war in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well," he added.
"It’s my understanding that the suicide rate in the military has, for the first time, surpassed the civilian suicide rate. The mental health issues are quite severe. And so, we’re just simply appealing to the President to change the policy, to offer condolences to the families, like ours, that are struggling and suffering with the unique form of suffering a military suicide leaves in its wake. And it’s been especially hard for us."
Receiving a letter from President Obama is very important to Jannett, too.
"A letter from the President is a little bit of closure to show us that he appreciated our son’s life. And I know he’s busy with a lot of issues, but this is not one that is so hard to change. I mean, it would give us some closure," said Jannett.
"That’s why I really am pushing forward for families like us who have suffered and will continue to suffer, receives a letter from the President, thanking us for our son’s life or a person’s contribution to this war," she added.
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