The Story Of Josh Omvig

Brantley Hargrove at the News-Record in Gillette, Wyoming, on a soldier's suicide (thanks, Paul): The events leading up to Josh Omvig's suicide were like a perfect storm — a confluence of the common and unremarkable realities of everyday life that led to a singular moment his mother and father never could have anticipated.
Nor could his parents have anticipated that the ripples precipitated by his death might change the often shameful light in which mental disorders are regarded in the military.
The tale of Josh Omvig's life after combat is not his own. It's a tale whose provenance is the height of human experience — war. And it belongs to any soldier who brings home pieces of it.
When the jubilant homecoming ends and the flags stop waving, there is only a soldier, the voices and faces of the dead, and a world that doesn't seem to make sense anymore.

Nor could his parents have anticipated that the ripples precipitated by his death might change the often shameful light in which mental disorders are regarded in the military.

The tale of Josh Omvig's life after combat is not his own. It's a tale whose provenance is the height of human experience — war. And it belongs to any soldier who brings home pieces of it.

When the jubilant homecoming ends and the flags stop waving, there is only a soldier, the voices and faces of the dead, and a world that doesn't seem to make sense anymore.