Military suicide is a scourge in our nation. As someone who has never been impacted by a suicide in my family, I have always struggled to understand. Lt. Col. Angelina “Strike” Stephens opened my eyes.
“Strike” had been an Air Force ambassador for suicide prevention for over a decade. She says she knew what it looked like on someone else and knew what it sounded like. In many ways, suicide became a dominant theme in her military career. The first Airman she lost to suicide occurred within a year of Angelina coming on active duty.
Then, following the birth of her first child she fell into deep postpartum depression and began to have what she now recognizes as suicidal ideations. She says that these feelings were not rational, but were occurring nonetheless. In her case, it was the relationship to the thoughts that were troubling; the idea of her on catastrophic death was comforting rather than jarring.
Despite potential risk to her command and career, “Strike” made the very courageous decision to share her story very publicly in an Air Force publication in the hopes of helping others. She received thousands of positive responses in return.
We discuss Angelina’s journey towards healing, including the role played by her military husband. She also shares suggestions on how to begin the conversation with someone you may be concerned about. Angelina says it is okay to start a difficult conversation bluntly, but one should be curious, not judgmental. Often the closest people are not the best ones to have that ugly messy conversation, but you can encourage them to seek other help.
TAKEAWAY: “Life is a beautiful and amazing thing and there is something brighter around the corner. If you avoid the struggles they build up in the background. If you are willing to face them you are going to grow stronger through the process and there are more people than you realize out there ready to walk through the process with you.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing a crisis, please call the Veteran’s Crisis Line. Dial 988 and press 1 or visit Veterancrisisline.net.