Soldiers Angels DO make a Difference...

My good friend Leslie of  Leslie's Universal/Catholic Thoughts said some very nice things in response to my post about Dustin leaving for war. (bless you,Leslie, and Thanks! for the prayers:)

And she mentions  in her post a story in her area paper about a soldier who committed suicide last December.

I went looking for the link and found it here

Click here: The Modesto Bee | A soldier's story: The enemy within

 

I went looking for the link because Leslie mentioned the article said Soldiers Angels gave Michael support.

 

(Mary Ann from Soldiers Angels Germany had previously mentioned Michael's death here)

Click here: Soldiers' Angels Germany: Soldiers' Angels Mourns SPC. Michael J. Crutchfield

 

and that post from the Modesto Bee reduced me to tears that the young man endured such a difficult life, and eventually felt the only recourse he had was to end it. 

 

I think the most wrenching thing was that, even when he emailed his suicide note, he didn't even have an email address for anyone in his family to send it to....he just asked the friends he emailed it to " If any of you can find the rest of my family for me and give them a message, it would be much appreciated. They should be somewhere in or near the city of French Camp, Calif."

 

 I can think of no more lonely feeling than preparing to kill yourself, and having to ask someone to find the people who mean the most to you to give them your suicide note. My heart weeps.

 

Even though being supported by Soldiers Angels did not change the eventual tragic outcome of the story, there were Angels who Did make a positive difference for Michael for awhile, at least.

 

Again, from  the article

 

June 2006

"Mail is something to look forward to. Normally. I don't get anything, but there was one time I did and it felt soooo good," he writes on his blog.

"Every day people come in and ask the supply sergeant if mail has come for them and almost every time the answer is, 'No.' ... Me, I was just happy because I got my credit card in the mail today. Now only if there was something that I wanted to buy.

"Nope, not really."

Fall 2006

Mail continues to come to Balad, but it's never addressed to him.....

November 2006

He signs up for Soldiers' Angels, a group that sends letters to deployed soldiers....

It's nice to get so much mail, sometimes as many as 25 letters a week. Most are from older women thanking Mike for their freedom. Some talk about their own lives -- one woman is 35 and wonders why the men she picks always treat her badly, another is in her 60s and her military husband died about 20 years before.

"You don't have to worry about me thinking too much anymore," he emails to a friend..."And I have a WHOOOOOOLLLLLLLEEE bunch of support now," he says about Soldiers' Angels.

While that support wasn't enough, in the end, for him to overcome the desire to end his pain the only way he thought he could?  It gave me some small measure of comfort to know that at least he Did have support from Angels for a time before he chose to end his life.

Again, here's the link to the whole article, and I urge you to take a few moments to read it

Click here: The Modesto Bee | A soldier's story: The enemy within

 

and then, I want to include this quote from Leslie's post

 

" If we ever wonder if the stuff we do for our troops matter this article would convince you that the time we take to write a letter to a lonely soldier boy or girl is worth the time."

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Won't you please consider adopting a soldier?

Click here: Soldiers' Angels - Adopt a Soldier

 

or joining one of the many other teams available at Soldiers Angels to support our troops?

Click here: Soldiers' Angels - Teams & Programs

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Or, if you simply want to send a letter to someone who is deployed? You can go by Anysoldier.com

 

You never know whose life you may touch.

 

 

Tags: Soldiers Angels , Anysoldier.com