Daniel Somers, an Iraqi war veteran and only 30 years old, committed suicide on June 10 and left an eye-opening suicide note that uncovered problems among war veterans and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
Somers, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, was a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, first assigned to a Tactical-Human Intelligence Team in Baghdad from 2004-2005. He then worked with Joint Special Operations Command as a senior analyst for the Levant from 2006-2007.
According to CNN, Somers was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Gulf War Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and other brain injuries in 2008 one year after his second deployment.
In Somers’ influential suicide note that he left for his family, he shares his thoughts on the carelessness of The VA and how they tend to ignore or undermine the problems of depressed and suffering war veterans.
As reported by Gawker, Somers also reveals his frustrations with the government in the following excerpt from his note.
“Is it any wonder then that the latest figures show 22 veterans killing themselves each day? That is more veterans than children killed at Sandy Hook, every single day. Where are the huge policy initiatives? Why isn’t the president standing with those families at the state of the union?”
His parents, Jean and Howard Somers and his wife, Angela Somers, gave the media permission to publish his note because they thought he would have wanted people to better understand the corruptness of the VA and the need for better care for war veterans.