Jeremy M. Lange

Projects: - The War at Home (in progress): - Suicide in the National Guard

After returning from a year long tour in Iraq in which 2 members of their unit were killed just days before heading home, 4 members of the 1451st Transportation Company of the North Carolina National Guard, based in Boone, NC, took their own lives.

All had been recommended to mental health physicians for hel p with post traumatic stress disorder. They were to see a doctor once a month to help them deal with the stresses of the tour, as well as the trauma of losing friends and returning to normal life stateside, outside of a military base. One day you fight, the next you go grocery shopping.

Thank you to the families of 1st Sgt. Roger Parker and Sgt. Jeffrey Wilson for telling me their stories and allowing me their homes.

1st Sergeant Roger Parker, right, hung himself after returning from Iraq where he lost 2 men in his unit just days before returning home.Lawrence, his dad, and 1st Sgt. Roger Parker, before 1st Sgt. Parker deployed to Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
   
Lawrence Parker is the father of 1st Sergeant Roger Parker, who took his own life after returning home from Iraq.
   
The headquarters of the 1451st Transportation Company in Boone, NC.
     
  
A memorial to the soldiers lost in Iraq at the headquarters of the 1451st Transportation Company in Boone, NC.The men who took their own lives were added to the memorial.
   
Sgt. Jeffrey Wilson took his own life by overdose after returning from a tour in Iraq where he lost 2 men in his unit just days before returning home.
   
Jennifer Wilson is the sister of Sgt. Jeffrey Wilson, in his high school photo at right, who took his own life after returning from Iraq.
     
  
Elaine Hafner is the mother of Sgt. Jeffrey Wilson, who took his own life after returning from a tour in Iraq.
   
The cemetary where Sgt. Jeffrey Wilson is buried.