The U.S. military has been reporting more alleged suicides than ever before – mostly for “noncombat” and unexplained gunshot wounds.

And for several females in the military, the number and irregular circumstances surrounding the “suicides” are highly suspicious.

The details concerning the deaths of several female soldiers labeled suicides are frightening, and clearly have not received full investigations – or worse yet, have been deliberately swept under the rug.

The bare facts of these cases are hard enough to stomach, but when delving into the details, the heinousness and injustice of what apparently continues to go on behind the closed doors of the military machine is easily apparent.

Of 99 military women killed in Iraq, Kuwait, and Bahrain, 41 are the results of “noncombat-related incidents.”  Fourteen women have been killed in Afghanistan. And of all these, fourteen have been classified as suicides occurring from 2003 until August 2008.

Col. Ann Write, a retired Army veteran who opposes the Iraq War, has done the public an excellent service by continually monitoring the details of several of the “suicide” cases and has assembled these statistics in her latest posting:

2008—Spc. Keisha Morgan (Taji, Iraq)
2007—Spc. Ciara Durkin (Bagram, Afghanistan), Capt. (medical doctor) Roselle Hoffmaster (Kirkik, Iraq)
2006—Pfc. Tina Priest (Taji, Iraq), Pfc. Amy Duerkson (Taji, Iraq), Sgt. Denise Lannaman (Kuwait), Sgt. Jeannette Dunn (Taji, Iraq), Maj. Gloria Davis (Baghdad).
2005—Pvt. Lavena Johnson (Balad, Iraq), 1st Lt.  Debra Banaszak (Kuwait), USN MA1 Jennifer Valdivia (Bahrain)
2004—Sgt. Gina Sparks (it is unclear where in Iraq she was injured, but she died in the Fort Polk, La., hospital)
2003—Spc. Alyssa Peterson (Tal Afar, Iraq), Sgt. Melissa Valles (Balad, Iraq)

•  Seven of the women, being between the ages of 30 and 47, were older than the norm (Davis, 47; Lannaman, 46; Dunn, 44; Banaszak, 35; Hoffmaster, 32; Sparks, 32; and Durkin, 30).  (Most military suicides are in their 20s).
• Three were officers: a major (Davis), a captain and medical doctor (Hoffmaster) and a first lieutenant (Banaszak).
•  Five were noncommissioned officers (Lannaman, Dunn, Sparks, Valles and Valdivia).
•  Five were women of color (Morgan, Davis, Johnson, Lannaman, Valles).
•  Four were from units based at Fort Hood, Texas, and were found dead at Camp Taji, Iraq (Dunn, Priest, Duerkson, and Morgan).
•  Two were found dead at Camp Taji, Iraq, 11 days apart (Priest and Duerkson).
•  Two were found dead at Balad, Iraq (Johnson and Valles).
•  Two had been raped (Priest, 11 days prior to her death; Duerksen, during basic training).
•  One other was probably raped (Johnson, the night she died).
•  Two were lesbians (Lannaman and Durkin).
•  Two of the women were allegedly involved in bribes or shakedowns of contractors (Lannaman and Davis).
•  Two had children (Davis and Banaszak).
•  Three had expressed concerns about improprieties or irregularities in their commands (Durkin’s concerns were financial; Davis had given a seven-page deposition on contracting irregularities in Iraq the day before she died; Peterson was concerned about methods of interrogation of Iraqi prisoners).
•  Several had been in touch with their families within days of their deaths and had not expressed feelings of depression (Morgan, Durkin, Davis, Priest, Johnson).

Focusing on just a few of these alleged suicides of females will prompt any reader to investigate more thoroughly the rest. Lavena Johnson’s death seems to be the most horrific for its brutality and subsequent cover-up. The details are very graphic and not for the fainthearted, but the story must be told nonetheless.

Lavena was less than 100 pounds and barely five feet tall. Photographs later released to her parents, Dr. John and Linda Johnson (medical doctor and Army veteran), revealed that her face had been beaten, nose broken, teeth knocked backward, elbow distended, her back contained imbedded debris, she was bruised everywhere, scratch and bite marks on the upper part of her body, the lower portion of her body bruised, lacerated, and a corrosive liquid had been poured on her. Her hands had been burned, and there was more than a little evidence of sexual assault. 

Despite all of this, and the protests of her parents, who, from medical and Army experience knew that the gunshot wound they now observed in their daughter’s head was not from her gun, the Army arrogantly re-classified the initial homicide declaration as a suicide. And when Dr. and Mrs. Johnson had their daughter’s glued-on gloves removed – yes, the Army glued her gloves on for shipment home – they knew they were dealing with a military coverup. This was confirmed when medical examiners said their determination was based on “investigative information” and not on medical evidence.

Joy Priest, Tina Priest’s mother, also disputes the Army’s declaration of her daughter’s death as a suicide. Tina Priest was found dead 11 days after she reported being raped. Tina talked with her mother after the rape and was duly upset, but her mother insists she was not suicidal. Receiving over 800 pages of documents from the Army, Joy Priest wants to know how her five-foot-tall daughter could have held the M-16 the Army says she shot herself with, at the proper angle and distance to match the wound in her head. The Army’s answer now is that Tina pulled the trigger with her toe.

Army Specialist Ciara Durkin, after warning family members, particularly her sister, that if anything happened to her to keep investigating her death, was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head.  Minutes earlier she had left a happy birthday message on her brother’s phone. Durkin told them she had discovered irregularities in the finance unit that she did not agree with, and knew she had made enemies because of it.

And an army interrogator, Spc. Alyssa Renee Peterson – an Arabic linguist – died from a gunshot wound to the head as well, after objecting to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners in Iraq. She had refused to participate in them was reassigned to guard duty at Tal Afar, Iraq. Her family members continue to challenge another pat army suicide conclusion – or should we say contrived conclusion?

The list goes on and on, and also includes male soldiers as well. The Army has a track record lately, of lying to parents about the true cause of death suffered by their offspring both as a result of war and in non-combat situations. What makes this worse is that none of these deaths would have happened had not this illegal and unconstitutional war been started in the first place.

Allowing rape and murder to go unaccounted for and unpunished is being part of the crime. And, with the military conducting its own investigations, an impartial conclusion will be hard to come by.

Regardless, justice must be pursued for these individuals – and for this country.