When a soldier dies in war, they are afforded certain privileges . A military funeral, a flag draped coffin, and a condolence letter from the President of the United States. But not so if that soldier died by his or her own hand. During the Clinton presidency, policies were changed to exclude death by suicide, according to this article at cnn.com

Gregg Keesling found that out the hard and tragic way. His son, Spc, Chancellor Keesling committed suicide June 19, 2009 while deployed in Iraq. The family picked up the flag draped coffin, and attended the funeral complete with military honors. They even created a memorial wall in their home. They display their son's dress uniform, the flag from his coffin and the Indiana flag that was flown in Washington to honor his death. They left a space in that grouping for the expected condolence letter from the president. But one never came. Finally, after several inquires the family was informed that condolence letters are not written to the families of soldiers that commit suicide.

Gregg Keesling is very careful now how he explains his son's death. He explains it as "dying of suicide". He is also very involved in changing this policy that keeps him from the honor her feels he is due. The Keeslings have written a letter to President Obama, and they have enlisted the help of their local congressmen as well. Keesling feels that his family made the ultimate sacrifice for the good of their country, and the least the president can do for them is to want to send his condolences.



I agree. My late husband was ex military. When he died I received a condolence letter. He was not in combat and had not been in the service for over thirty years. I don't understand what possible good it would do for the president to NOT write letters. The main reason these kids are getting depressed is because they are in battle situations. So basically if they weren't on the battlefield they wouldn't be as depressed and as likely to commit suicide.

Another issue here is the fact that this young soldier was deployed the second time as a reservist. And as such his records (ones that listed his depression and at least one suicide watch) were not sent to his reserve unit. He was reluctant to reveal that he was depressed and had considered suicide. I would think that some better communication between the services would be of help here too. The article states that Spc Keesling was treated at the VA as well. I know from a friend that is a veteran of Iraqi Freedom that the VA is not what a lot of people think it is or what the soldiers need. I liked how the father in this article put it. He said that his son had been injured, but we couldn't see it. It was on the inside