Submitted to OnFocus – A military overseas deployment normally means separation from family members. But a handful of Soldiers in the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 829th Engineer Company experienced an exception to the rule during that unit’s 2019-20 deployment to several Middle East nations deploying with a sibling. “Having a sibling with was a […]
J. Michael Haynie
Haynie recently spoke with Lauren Schellin, a member of the Wisconsin Army National Guard. Over the past six months, Schellin has experienced the loss of four members of her National Guard unit to suicide. While Schellin’s story may sound shocking, Haynie says that as a veteran and veteran advocate himself, he has heard of far too many similar experiences amongst families struggling with “the epidemic of suicide among service members and veterans.”
Several years ago Haynie gave a TED Talk called “The Moral Obligation to Know Our Veterans,” where he encouraged all people to truly get to know veterans and military families. “Too often military service has the effect of socially isolating those who serve from their families, friends and communities. Sometimes that isolation comes at a traumatic cost,” writes Haynie.