The unseen stress and strain of our Uniformed Protectors

As both a former U.S. Marine and a Military Policeman this article written by Sue Epstein and Tom Haydon for the New Jersey Star-Ledger titled In rising numbers across N.J., troubled cops are killing themselves in which they reported “the March 27 death of Sgt. David Powell, 46, marked at least the fifth time this year an active or retired officer had taken his life in New Jersey, putting the state on pace to eclipse last year’s grim tally of 13 suicides, according to records kept by Cherie Castellano, the founder and director of a state-sponsored counseling service known as Cop2Cop.  Nationally, more than 400 active and retired officers commit suicide each year, said Robert Douglas, executive director of the National Police Suicide Foundation.  No single force can be linked to the increase, according to those who study the issue.  Rather, it’s a combination of factors that includes the ready availability of firearms, the stresses inherent in police work, difficulty explaining those stresses to loved ones and an inability to "transition from the street to the home," said Douglas, a retired Baltimore police officer.”

I remember a time when I was discharged from the military and took to heart the lessons learned there thinking that it could easily transfer to the “civilian world”.  I had heard how easy it was to get a job as with local law enforcement because of the experience I enjoyed in the military but was not prepared for all of the politics it would take to land that job.  I fell for the line that employers were looking for former military personnel and how quickly you would be able to move up because your military time would be counted as experience “on the outside”.  That too was not true and depending on the mindset of the interviewer, military experience carried little to no weight at all.  That is what is probably meant by “an inability to transition from street to the home”.  It was rough for me, a man who had supervised over 150 people in one of the most stressful jobs outside of parenting but could not land a decent job or use the advantages of military service that others used.  There were many times I thought about suicide because I could be trusted to put my life on the line with a loaded weapon but was not worthy of running a department or trusted.

While this article was about police officers it should also include those former and currently serving in our nation’s military.  I learned later that suicide was not and never will be an answer or a solution.  I learned that the only true person who could make me feel inferior was me and that just because they thought they knew all about me did not make it so.  I learned these things after contemplating suicide but I was lucky, some never get a chance to see this after those thoughts because some actually commit it.  As with the New Jersey sponsored program called Cop2Cop as mentioned in this article, I have now decided to do whatever I can to help by creating The Uniformed Protectors Group.  This group is designed to do nothing but provide the often sought but seldom found answers to questions that uniformed members of society might have.  I have created a blog for this at www.tupg.blogspot.com for anyone who may need answers or family members of those in uniform.  I do not posses an accredited degree in this but I have something that most of those licensed professionals don’t.  Real world experience and if this group only helps by just being around then its worth it in the end because we all deserve better especially those who serve in any type of uniform.