I have been quiet in the blogosphere for a while now. Maybe doing Monday’s evening news for Amanda got me missing it or maybe I just couldn’t let a comment on a recent story of mine go unanswered.

As far as people’s opinion of me goes, I got alligator skin. Two years of running Off the Cuff and taking daily abuse should have proved that.

I wrote an article that appeared in Thursday’s newspaper and was posted online later that day about a widow struggling with her Marine husband’s suicide.

Tom and Katie Bagosy:

Let me say this, the article was not easy to write, for me or Katie. We began communicating two days after her husband died. I waited until she was ready to tell her story. The timing coincided with  suicide vigil held aboard Lejeune.

In case you haven’t read the report.

Now the part that angers me. Some jackhole with the screen name maarnold1775 posted this comment:

“Seems to be more to this story than either she’s telling or the reporter really screwed it up, and oh by the way, the reason mental health is a stigma in the Marine Corps is because not everyone who comes back from Iraq and Afghanistan has physiological issues. Their always seems to be a select few and maybe because of that they don’t need to be promoted. Their are plenty of Marines that did their jobs and they are fine. They are the ones who deserve promotion!”

Now, like I said, I don’t care that this person said I screwed up the story. One, because I didn’t and two, because I have enough awards hanging on my wall that I don’t sweat insignificantly anonymous Internet hacks jealous of someone actually doing something worthwhile.

But for someone to disparage a dead war hero and kick his widow while she is down makes me sick. Tom Bagosy had real mental health issues brought on by traumatic brain injury he received during a tour in Iraq. He returned to combat in Afghanistan and came home even worse.

But he didn’t hurt his wife. He didn’t hurt his kids.

He could have. Easily. So many other service men hurting on the inside have lashed out at loved ones. But not Tom. He was strong enough not to hurt the woman he loved and his children.

Katie told me Tom once said that his purpose in this world was to serve his country and bring his two children into the world. Having done those two things he felt ready to go.

It is like he knew he was heading to a dark place, he felt no one was helping him and he took the only way out he could imagine in his confused mind.

Make no mistake, Tom Bagosy was a hero. He earned medals in both this nation’s current wars. But he came home changed. He manned up and sought treatment. It didn’t work.

I am not blaming any one doctor either. I have spoken to several of them. They care. They  are overworked and stressed out themselves. But the answer isn’t medication.

So what am I saying? Sgt. Tom Bagosy is a true hero while  maarnold1775, hiding behind a computer keyboard and an anonymous screen name, is a real coward.

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