This makes me furious

I keep up with news at home through the local paper online. Over Thanksgiving, a story broke about two young men that were found dead in an apartment, no sign of trauma. I told Kevin right after I read it that I guessed drugs were the culprit. One of the men was a soldier home on leave from the Iraqi War.

Yesterday, they reported that a heroin overdose killed the man in the Army. It made me so mad, for several reasons. Firstly, this man was buried shortly after his death, with full military honors. I realized they can't exactly hold off to wait for toxicology reports to come back, but he deserved no such honor in my opinion. He may have been a great soldier, and yes, he served in Iraq, but when you make such a selfish, stupid choice to do such a horrific drug- especially while under contract by the U.S. Military- well, no honor should come to you. Soldiers take an oath, to serve this country honorably, in uniform and out. You are held to a higher standard. You are more accountable for your actions. You represent this country. Not to mention you stand the chance of wrecking your whole future if you get caught, a dishonorable discharge will follow you around the rest of your life. It isn't like getting fired from a job, it's more like having a criminal record.

This man had a family. He had a child. Why?? It was only a matter of time before that article got a comment wondering if things he had experienced in Iraq had pushed him to use drugs to "forget". Ok- well I can understand experiencing the unimaginable during war. I still cannot understand why choose to use drugs.

If there is one thing that I have learned while being married into the military, is that help is around every corner. They provide more resources for any kind of help than any civilian job or insurance coverage I have ever heard of. And not only is it free of charge to the soldier, they remind you constantly that it is there. I am sure even moreso when you are in a combat zone. I, as a military wife, have gotten help in a heartbeat. (not for drugs! lol- for other things) I know, as only a spouse, how much help is out there. That is how much they let you know. In Okinawa, where we only had AFN channels to watch on TV, there were no commercials, so they ran historical facts and local facts and information on military services in turn. Many of those commercials revolved around resources for help whether it be gambling, abuse, substance abuse, emotional help... so on.

It disgusts me that someone who should have been representing our country honorably, died doing such a selfish thing. And his family, his child have been left to pay the price.