Clearing the Fog of War

A charmed life ends in a horrid death

GRAND PRAIRIE — The photo album, “The Journey of Becca & Ian — Our Story,” shows a happy couple after their engagement.

In a snapshot, she leans into the attack helicopter pilot, smiling broadly, her eyes closed as he kisses her. One word, written on the binder next to the picture, captures the mood: “Forever.”

Perhaps it was blind optimism, but Capt. Ian Morrison and his young wife, Rebecca, had reason to bet against the specter of death and disillusionment that has shadowed many American troops and their families after a decade of war.

A West Point graduate some friends jokingly called “Capt. Brad Pitt” because of his Hollywood A-list looks, Morrison flew AH-64D Apache Longbow gunships in Iraq.

Back home near his post at Fort Hood, his wife was the attractive girl next door working on a master's degree.

His yearlong tour in Iraq was smooth, but Ian began to lose control after his return a year ago.

He slept poorly, was anxious and, as time passed, aware of feeling depressed. While not uncommon issues for troops back from war, he mostly appeared to cope as GIs often do.

Then one evening last March, everything unraveled.

Sitting in the bedroom of his home in Copperas Cove just west of the post, Ian Morrison put a .38-caliber handgun to his throat. There was no note and no explanation, no alcohol or drugs in his blood.

He died instantly.

At 26, he was one of two Iraq veterans living in Copperas Cove to commit suicide during a 48-hour period that week.

“He was a highly successful, accomplished Apache pilot, and certainly not someone that you would think would be in the category of people who would commit an act like that,” said Copperas Cove Justice of the Peace John Guinn, who pronounced Morrison dead at the scene. “There were some stressors in his life, stressors that obviously we don't understand.”

Overall, 2012 will mark a new, bleak record for Army suicides, exceeding the 305 deaths recorded two years ago. And the toll throughout the rest of the military is grim.

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Grim war story is a tale of success

When Capt. Scotty Smiley stood before 500 people Thursday, they gave him a standing ovation before he said a single word.

As the Army's first blind officer on active duty, he instantly earns respect and admiration.

But his recovery from an April 6, 2005, suicide car bombing and return to service is a tale of success that includes an agonizing back story.

Like other times in his life where things went sideways, there are moments of doubt and even anger.

“There are some memories that day that I definitely wish I don't have, but I think the more important thing to say is it's those memories that enable us to grow, if we can get past them, if we can focus on getting past them,” said Smiley, 32, of Spokane, Wash.

A West Point graduate, he gave the keynote speech for USAA's annual Veterans Day tribute at the company's headquarters.

For USAA CEO Joe Robles, a retired Army two-star general and Vietnam veteran, Veterans Day is a time “where I can salute my fellow veterans, talk to them about something that we can share some commonality about — the people that we've known, the people who passed, the people who did miraculous things, folks like Capt. Smiley there who are truly an inspiration to all veterans.”

Smiley's 10-minute speech was a talk of brushes with defeat spliced with humor and a simple theme — never quit.

There was the day he faltered at the start of his freshman year at West Point. As a new cadet, a rank he joked was “below the commandant's dog,” Smiley had to deliver laundry to upperclassmen. Confused, he had a meltdown when confronted by a sergeant.

“I just began to weep and cry, and as pathetic as it might sound, I was broken, and after she picked her jaw off the ground in shock and awe she told me to go back to my room. She told me to figure out if this is where I wanted to be,” he told the crowd.

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Woman general says 'shift happens' on the road to success

Becky Halstead's “success” diagram has as many lows as highs — a coach's fatal skydiving accident, her appointment to West Point and soon after, marriage, divorce and rising to general.

There's a word to describe the scraggly hand-drawn graph that illustrates her life, but not the one some of the women veterans hearing her speech Saturday in San Antonio might have been thinking.

“When shift happens in our life it's about the response more than it is about the shift,” Halstead, who led 20,000 GIs in Iraq in 2005, told a veterans support group for women. “And so I give most of my speeches on leadership with the premise that the first person you must lead is you.”

At 53, Halstead is the first female West Point graduate to become a one-star general. But she has an untraditional resume, one that includes falling ill to a chronic illness and jettisoning the drugs that were supposed to help — but didn't.

The tale of her recovery was perfectly suited to Grace After Fire's fall summit, “The Power of Women Veterans." The gathering touched on healthy nutrition, family resiliency, relaxing techniques for women and a seminar, “Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired?”

Psychologist Sunita Trevino pointed to a range of issues faced by women while they are in uniform and, later, while reintegrating into civilian life. The problem starts with a simple perception.

“When you think of a veteran,” she said, “the first thing you think of is a man.”

The military was even more of a man's world when Halstead went to West Point in 1977. At first rated among the worst cadets as new students began summer training, she became a top performer. Nothing was easy. As a one-star general, a commander gave her a scathing performance review, prompting Halstead to say, “Don't think the challenges stop. They never stop.”

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Shift-Happens-on-the-road-to-success-3946218.php#ixzz29F3sO2aW