Report: Longview soldier committed suicide in Afghanistan
LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) - A 20-year-old soldier from Longview killed herself in Afghanistan last December as she served alone in a guard tower, where she was stationed despite a long history of mental-health issues that was not communicated to her supervisors, according to a new report.
An Army investigation determined that Spc. Mikayla Bragg's commanding officers were never told she had made an apparent previous suicide attempt while serving stateside in Fort Knox, even though officials at the Kentucky base knew of it, The Daily News of Longview reported. The newspaper obtained the investigation report through a Freedom of Information Act request.
"I found out after her death she had been seen (at Fort Knox) for issues like this. Of course the information was never provided to her commander (in Afghanistan)," wrote one frustrated Army captain, whose name was redacted. "Real effective policy they have in place."
Among the findings were that her superiors weren't told she had spent 45 days in an Army hospital at Fort Knox for mental-health treatment just months before she deployed. She had been hospitalized after telling doctors she wanted to crash a car and injure herself.
They also didn't know she had weaned herself off her prescribed anti-anxiety medication to satisfy requirements to deploy. That was six months before she shot and killed herself while stationed alone in a guard tower on Dec. 21 at Forward Operating Base Salerno.
"It is my opinion that (Bragg) 'fell through the cracks' created by the lack of information sharing that had been repeatedly requested and denied," a brigade behavioral health officer stationed at Camp Salerno wrote to investigators.
Bragg's father, Steve Bragg of Longview, declined to comment on the findings.
The report highlights a persistent problem for the military: Suicides have risen alarmingly even as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are winding down. Veterans groups and others have urged the military to do more to help soldiers who are struggling with long deployments, the stress of being away from home and pre-existing psychological trauma.
But it also portrays a young soldier determined to serve. Bragg, 20, enlisted in 2008 after graduating from Mark Morris High School. She volunteered at battalion fundraising events, referred herself to Fort Knox counselors when necessary, and, once she deployed, fit in immediately with a new group of soldiers.
The 135-page report, known as a 15-6 investigation, included written statements from Bragg's colleagues and commanders, mental-health counselors and Army officials at Fort Knox. All names except for Bragg's were blacked out in the report. Capt. Brett C. Shepard, an attorney with of the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General Corps, signed it.
Bragg showed no indications she was having trouble in Afghanistan, according to Army interviews with nearly two dozen of her fellow soldiers. All said she was a good soldier, and she had been promoted twice to specialist while in Afghanistan. She completed the Army's suicide prevention training in November 2011 - mandatory for all soldiers - and attended additional classes designed to help intervene in other soldiers' suicide attempts, according to the report.
The report does not say if anyone would face discipline in relation to Bragg's death. The investigators made three recommendations:
-Mental-health providers stateside should share more information about high-risk soldiers with mental-health providers in war zones. Camp Salerno's behavioral health officer said she had been unable to get mental-health records for Bragg because of privacy laws.
-Commanders should develop better procedures to ensure personnel data is not lost while transferring soldiers between units.
-No soldier, regardless of gender, should be stationed in a guard tower alone.
In the report, Army investigators said commanders at Fort Knox failed to properly track Bragg as a "high-risk" soldier who could potentially hurt herself or others before she was cleared to deploy to Afghanistan. Her death may not have been prevented, but she may have been better able to cope if she continued counseling and other services while stationed overseas, the report said.
An Army investigation determined that Spc. Mikayla Bragg's commanding officers were never told she had made an apparent previous suicide attempt while serving stateside in Fort Knox, even though officials at the Kentucky base knew of it, The Daily News of Longview reported. The newspaper obtained the investigation report through a Freedom of Information Act request.
"I found out after her death she had been seen (at Fort Knox) for issues like this. Of course the information was never provided to her commander (in Afghanistan)," wrote one frustrated Army captain, whose name was redacted. "Real effective policy they have in place."
Among the findings were that her superiors weren't told she had spent 45 days in an Army hospital at Fort Knox for mental-health treatment just months before she deployed. She had been hospitalized after telling doctors she wanted to crash a car and injure herself.
They also didn't know she had weaned herself off her prescribed anti-anxiety medication to satisfy requirements to deploy. That was six months before she shot and killed herself while stationed alone in a guard tower on Dec. 21 at Forward Operating Base Salerno.
"It is my opinion that (Bragg) 'fell through the cracks' created by the lack of information sharing that had been repeatedly requested and denied," a brigade behavioral health officer stationed at Camp Salerno wrote to investigators.
Bragg's father, Steve Bragg of Longview, declined to comment on the findings.
The report highlights a persistent problem for the military: Suicides have risen alarmingly even as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are winding down. Veterans groups and others have urged the military to do more to help soldiers who are struggling with long deployments, the stress of being away from home and pre-existing psychological trauma.
But it also portrays a young soldier determined to serve. Bragg, 20, enlisted in 2008 after graduating from Mark Morris High School. She volunteered at battalion fundraising events, referred herself to Fort Knox counselors when necessary, and, once she deployed, fit in immediately with a new group of soldiers.
The 135-page report, known as a 15-6 investigation, included written statements from Bragg's colleagues and commanders, mental-health counselors and Army officials at Fort Knox. All names except for Bragg's were blacked out in the report. Capt. Brett C. Shepard, an attorney with of the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General Corps, signed it.
Bragg showed no indications she was having trouble in Afghanistan, according to Army interviews with nearly two dozen of her fellow soldiers. All said she was a good soldier, and she had been promoted twice to specialist while in Afghanistan. She completed the Army's suicide prevention training in November 2011 - mandatory for all soldiers - and attended additional classes designed to help intervene in other soldiers' suicide attempts, according to the report.
The report does not say if anyone would face discipline in relation to Bragg's death. The investigators made three recommendations:
-Mental-health providers stateside should share more information about high-risk soldiers with mental-health providers in war zones. Camp Salerno's behavioral health officer said she had been unable to get mental-health records for Bragg because of privacy laws.
-Commanders should develop better procedures to ensure personnel data is not lost while transferring soldiers between units.
-No soldier, regardless of gender, should be stationed in a guard tower alone.
In the report, Army investigators said commanders at Fort Knox failed to properly track Bragg as a "high-risk" soldier who could potentially hurt herself or others before she was cleared to deploy to Afghanistan. Her death may not have been prevented, but she may have been better able to cope if she continued counseling and other services while stationed overseas, the report said.
The treatment of our vets is criminal- Congress, the Pres & the Supremes are at fault. All these politicians will build memorials, but that and glory don't cover it. The US gov needs to spend at least time & money training vets for civilian life as they did for military, and thats if they are still whole physically and mentally. OUR gov put these folks in harms way and should be responsible. In this election season, we all know who is responsible - the other guy.
I wrote to our Senators and Reps to call off Afghan mission off many times. Looks like no one listens the citizens who sent to the Capital. Another sad loss of a life and no one is still accountable.
We are in a constant state of war since 1999-2012. No other country in the world has been in a state of war, fighting across the world for so long. In the end, so may deployments and re-deployments has started taking a toll on our soldiers.
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Even machines don't survive so long, we are only human. You may be an republican or democrat, but both administrations have been fighting a losing battle at home against the defense lobby. If we continue down this path, more and more of our generation are going to kill themselves or worse kill others.
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This madness of fighting wars for world domination needs to stop!
 @NickM1979 Only brief time outs to re-arn since 1946
 @NickM1979 Say that again. Also state who started those wars.
@JLS1950 Well, 1999, Kosovo was because of Milosevic and was a humanitarian crisis so I would say that was started by Milosevic. Bill Clinton was our President but it was a NATO attack.
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I would say that Al Qaeda started the war in Afghanistan, although I still wonder why we had to go to war against that whole country. Ultimately, he was in Pakistan so Afghanistan was not even the correct target if we had to attack a country. That was under George Bush.
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And then the war in Iraq. Again, why we had to attack an entire country instead of just toppling Saddam's regime, I still don't understand. That was under George Bush. Hopefully that answers your questions.
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This article is more about the holes in the system that we have within the military to take proper care of our soldiers. If more of the people who just post on the Internet would step up then there could be a rotation instead of the same people being sent over and over again on deployments. It sounds like she wanted to do whatever she could to be deployed. Very sad for her family, but it was her decision to make, it's her life and I'm pro-choice.
 @spectaculareyedcat I believe we both support our troops. The problem is that our government - since 2003 at least - has NOT been so doing - and much of the blame falls to the House of Representatives for refusing to properly fund. You can only stretch a rubberband so far...
 @jellyfish  @JLS1950 Trust me if I was still in the age range that would allow me to re-enlist i would be right there at the front lines support my fellow soldier because i would rather stand with them then behind them ....and those who can't stand for them or support them i suggest they stand in front of them...
 @jellyfish Now start asking yourself these additional questions:
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How long were we in Kosovo? Did we focus on and quickly accomplish what we set out to do? How many Kosovo vets do we hear about not getting treatment and support they need? How many US soldiers in Kosovo were ever accused of crimes or atrocities?
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How long have we been in Afghanistan? Did we focus on and quickly accomplish what we set out to do? How many Afghanistan vets do we hear about not getting treatment and support they need? How many US soldiers in Afghanistan have been accused of crimes or atrocities?
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How long were we in Iraq? Did we focus on and quickly accomplish what we set out to do? How many Iraq vets do we hear about not getting treatment and support they need? How many US soldiers in Iraq were accused of crimes or atrocities?
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Now ask, why did we all but stop our pursuit of bin Laden in Afghanistan in 2003 as we attacked Iraq? Why did our then-leader(s) consider destroying Saddam more important than stopping or capturing bin Laden? What did that say their priorities?
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Have you studied the Soviet experience in Afghanistan? Do you understand how that experience ultimately tore the Soviet Union apart AND created al Qaeda in the bargain? Do you think our own leaders considered that history when they turned aside from the pursuit of bin Laden - leaving an ineffective force all but idle in Afghanistan - while focusing on Saddam? Again... priorities.
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This soldier died because of priorities (or lack thereof) including priorities still being controlled and limited and stymied by ONE party in Congress.
This is a two edge sword, with a lot problems 1 maybe women should not serve in or even close to the forward operations areas? 2 maybe we should screen the military a bit better with the troops so to prevent this.
 @wynooheeman Right, because only women have mental health issues?I This isn't a male/female issue buddy. Maybe the actual resolution is to provide adequate mental health care. Not forbid women from the military.
 @LeslieLouAnn  @wynooheeman or maybe the solution would be to discharge persons with mental illness. Im not even sure how she got on being suicidal and all
 @DylanJ She "got on" because the military treats suicidal thoughts as a "discipline" problem, and tells soldiers to "buck up or else we'll court-martial you"!
The military is apparently incapable of recognizing when someone has simply had enough and needs to be sent home.
 @DylanJ  @LeslieLouAnn  @wynooheeman I agree about discharging for people like her that were truly struggling! Poor girl. I was also reading something about how some people in the military try to feign that as a means of trying to come home, maybe she was afraid to talk to someone about it. It's not an easy thing to talk about!Â
What they don't tell people is that the Army's suicide prevention is specifically handled from an evangelical Christian "spiritual fitness" stance. . If you google Army Spritual Fitness, Army Suicide Prevention and for information about the make up of the chaplain corp... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/12/evangelical-christianity-_n_807635.html
My condolences to the family of this young woman. I hope they can find peace.Â
May Spc. Bragg rest in peace. Â After serving in the Army, I know, first hand, that stories like this are not just black and white. Â For every soldier with a real mental issue, there are 50 soldiers faking it to either get out of deployment, redeploy back home, get out of duty, or get out of the military with benefits. Â It is incredibly difficult for command to weed out the fraudulent soldiers and really help the one's in need like Spc Bragg. Â It is sad that she fell through the cracks, but maybe the military is actually doing their best. Â Maybe we need to see news articles about soldiers the military actually helped. Â Oh yeah, people don't care about them.
It's interesting how if the Armed Forces feels they haven't caused any mental health damage to a service member they are super quick and happy to discharge them and let them fend for themselves in the world. Yet if the Armed Forces knows that it was because of the service rendered to this Country the dance around the issue and try to find everyway possible to not help that individual, which is probably the saddest thing ever! These men & women volunteer to serve and fight knowing how jacked up in the head they may become. Yet they willingly serve and we need to start recognizing that service and HELPING our service members. The Officers & NCO's in her chain of command should be held accountable to teh degree that they failed to act when they had the chance. SPC. Bragg shouldn't have ever been deployed to Afghanistan. She should have been kept stateside and given the help that she despretaly needed. Fort Knox knew of her disire to cuase harm to herself, yet they outright refused to give her the assistance she needed. Yes, they admitted her for 45 days to BMH but what does that do? It might help for a little bit but it isn't the answer. We need to allow these service members to seek out mental health care without fear of retaliation... Yes they say they won't retaliate against you. That is the biggest load of garbage I've heard from the US Military. A service member shouldn't be deployed again and again without recieving the help. Yes when a service member gets back they are "encouraged" to seek out help if its needed but what the Military doesn't tell you is that if they do its a quick ticket to get discharged, because your a "plauge" to them.Sad I know and it MUST change! We will be withdrawing more and more of our Military from the Middle East and we won't be offering them any of the real assistance they need and deserve. You all probably wonder why I'm so passionate about this. Well because I'm one of those guys where the US Army was certain they didn't have anything to do with my mental health issues, which isn't at all true they did play a big role in it and they kicked me to the curb quicker than anything else refusing to help me. That is where my passion comes from because I know first hand the lack of care that the United States Military and the Department of Veterans Affairs gives. I do belive that there are individual care providers within both organizations that do but can't speak up in fear of their own jobs. My beef is with the political beauocrats in DC who don't care about everyone else!
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What happend to SPC Bragg is very unfortunate and was absolutely 100% preventable in my opinion. May she rest in peace knowing that she does have a grateful nation behind her and know that her service to this Country does not go unnoticed. May her family & friends have comfort in light of this new report. May we all continue to provide support and thanks to our many service members who continue to volunteer and make this sacrifices they do each and every day.
She should have been discharged long ago. People like this are a danger to everyone if left in the military.
Thus we send our young men overseas to be cannon fodder, and our young women to be "comforts" first and THEN cannon fodder, and the Republicans who started these wars just think this is all "fine".
 @JLS1950 That's funny, I don't see Obama in a hurry to bring them home. 2014 is too long, bring them home now.Â
 @Isadora He got us out of Iraq, didn't he? And he found and "neutralized" bin Laden too, didn't he? Those were both promises made by George W. Bush but only kept by Barack Obama. He is trying to find a way to extricate us from Afghanistan without creating a fertile field for a return of the Taliban and a revitalized al Qaeda.
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But Obama does realize that he cannot treat our troops like vehicles manufactured by General Motors that can just be scrapped out when damaged! That puts him head and shoulders above Bush and especially Cheney in my book!!!
 @JLS1950 Last time I checked, the Obastard hasnt brought them home either, like he promised.
 @Nuclearian He's brought many or even most of them home. Of course if he brought them all home - and given Republican stonewalling on his every job-creation and unemployment relief effort and veterans treatment programs - we would have a serious problem with our streets filled with traumatized, angry and and kill-trained veterans having no jobs, no prospects, no homes, no treatment for mental trauma...
And "Richard"-head Republicans like you would then be blaming Obama for all the violence and carnage THAT would bring.
@JLS1950 well Women wanted to be equal! Welcome to WAR! The most insane thing humans can do. If it F's with a man's mind when men have the hunter killer gene to do these things and it gives them PTSD. What the hell you think it will do to a woman who's biological makeup is to be a nurturer and care giver? Thanks to the Democrats wanting to make every one equal it has f'd up a lot of women. my niece went on deployment to Iraq. came home with PTSD and low and behold he daughter she left in the care of her husband was abused think of the guilt trip that played out.
 @JLS1950Â
This isnt a Republican issue. If I stooped to YOUR level, I would say its Obama's fault for not getting our troops out of them quickly like he said he would, and would blame the Obaminator for the large troop cutbacks, that are causing our soldiers to have to serve SEVERAL tours, rather than ALL soldiers take their fair share.
Dont politizies this. May God take her into his loving arms, and say "Job well done".
 @Nuclearian It needs to be politicized, because from 2002 onward it has been the Republicans - not the Democrats - who have been stonewalling and blocking every attempt to improve treatment and support for veterans and to increase the screening for soldiers who have become unstable on deployment. Remember Cindy Sheehan? She merely wanted to meet her President (George W.) and ask him face to face why her son had to die fighting the WRONG WAR against the WRONG ENEMY in Iraq while Osama bin Laden went scot-free in Pakistan. Georgy Porgy treated her like something squishy and smelly on the bottom of his shoe.
Republicans (politicians at least) think it is just "good business" to ship our jobs to China and India and our (otherwise jobless) young men and women to "wars" where the women are sexually harassed and raped and both men and women come back deeply damaged in their bodies and their minds - and then leave them up s#it river without so much as a Popsicle stick.Â
I don't. Neither, in general, do Democrats: ask Patty Murray.
 @Nuclearian Well, I have taken note that Republicans and their supporters seem better able (and willing) to rewrite history to their wishful thinking than even Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev ever did. Â
 @JLS1950Â
The Republicans tried to increase military manpower so that these men and women didnt have to make so many rotations, because of lack of people to take their fair share of time over there. Blame Obastard for cutting military manpower, and diverting it to killing our babies through abortions (legalized mass murder even worse than Hitler did to the Jews).
 @JLS1950 Too bad there is no dislike button.
 @JLS1950 Huh? Nice way to take the death of a soldier and politicize it. RIP Spc. Bragg.  Â
are we that desperate for soldiers that we hide mental issues just so we can keep people in the military longer? Wait and see this is only the tip of the spear in a long line of troubles to come.
 @vampiregoat69 I can tell you from experience that soldiers will attempt to hide their mental health issues out of a concern that it will prevent them from being promoted or lead to a discharge.
This is sad. I hope the Army will take the recommendations to heart and implement them. In my unit we never would have been stationed in a guard tower alone. This needs to be an Army wide policy.Â
Sound like typical Mental Health, Family Advocacy, or Public Health - whatever they're calling themselves today. When I was still in, I called to report someone who was possibly harming themselves. The stupid chick kept saying, "Do you feel like harming yourself or others?" I kept trying to tell her the situation, but she wouldn't budge until I said, "no". What a bunch of tools.
 @jelisized My uncle just shot himself in the head. In front of my aunt. I could NOT believe the phone call. Haven't been posting much, 3 deaths in a week.
My uncle was one of the nicest men..I guess he didn't like his wife too much..sorry gallows humor. Also, I was so mad at first.Â
I have learned not to judge. He was in pain.
I hope they both are out of pain, and in some perfect place.
 @Yeah_and  @jelisized Sorry for your losses, and I hope your family will be well in times to come.
 @two loons  @jelisized I have to tell you, thought you would appreciate this..
I was given a prescription, Cymbalta, for PMDD and the Dr and pharmacy didn't catch the interaction between one of my other meds. I had classic serotonin syndrome..clenching muscles, sweating, paranoid. So the funny part was I was telling my pharmacist, as I was getting my flu shot, that I was feeling funny and I had the feeling people were following me..he said.
"Are you sure someone isn't ACTUALLY following you?" (He knows my former LE employment history)
I started laughing, and said "NOOO, they went to Safeway"..
I think I'm the only one I know who has to convince someone that people are NOT following me!!..:)
Just because I'm paranoid..you know the rest. Made me laugh despite the horrible side effects of being poisoned. Happened in minutes.
I'm OK now! No coma or death, obviously. One more dose though and IDK..
Thaks again for the kind words. Need them still. My brother in law not doing so hot. We thought the cancer was gone..not so sure, find out next week. This family is tough ( well my uncle WAS..) but thoughts are needed.Â
I need them.
 @two loons  @jelisized Thank you. Getting there! Today seems a lot better. I think "Hey, I woke up today, that's already a great day!" ..right?
It sounds like she was fighting demons in addition to the known enemy. Poor kid, she really tried to do her best, I only wish the chain of command had given her their best in return. Vaya con Dios, Mikalya your demons can not touch you anymore. Rest in peace.Â
Time to get out of this game. Â Papers going in tomorrow.
Thank you for your service to the nation Spc. Mikayla A. Bragg. You did the best you could, of this I am sure.
tragic... I feel for her family and those who served with her
This makes my blood boil... Â What a totally avoidable tragedy. Â Someone in that chain of command needs to pay for this.Â
 @teahater You have obviously "never played the game."  Never put on the uniform.  Guess that makes you an expert.
I am extremely proud of her service to this country despite the tragic outcome. We have cowards that don't have the guts to do 1/100th what she did for this country.
Pretty scary that a background check didn't bring this up. Â Makes me wonder what else has been missed. Â God be with the Bragg family.
How on earth could they fail to track her as high risk with the potential to hurt herself? Â What a tragedy that the system's failure (again) contributed to the death of this young lady. It's hard to look at that picture and know she's gone. Â These findings probably hurt her family even more. Â Just awful.
@Doxie bend over, spread 'em (or lie back and grab your ankles) and my tongue will tickle & explore your crack and big penis... I'll blow you too. all I ask is that you be a goodlooking young white jock over age 21 please -where I can slurp some juicy sperm out your brown hole after my boyfriend jizzes his load up your anus. slurping and burpin baby
-No soldier, regardless of gender, should be stationed in a guard tower alone.
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Amen!