Daniel Somers

Daniel Somers (14 January 1983 – 10 June 2013) was an American soldier who committed suicide in 2013. He had been suffering from various health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and left a suicide note that was later published on Gawker after which it went viral.

Background
Somers was a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, having served over 400 combat missions, and worked in intelligence in Baghdad. According to his parents, Howard and Jean Somers, he was diagnosed with PTSD, a brain injury, Gulf War syndrome, fibromyalgia and a host of other medical problems in 2008, a year after the end of his second deployment. His death highlighted the ongoing struggle of US veterans to try and deal with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Former US Representative Ron Paul described Somers as representing "a generation of American veterans facing a life sentence in the prison of tortured and deeply damaged minds as well as broken bodies. […] We should be angry with those who send them to suffer and die in unnecessary wars. We should be angry with those who send them to kill so many people overseas for no purpose whatsoever."

Feeling deeply troubled by his involvement in the Iraq War and a lack of post-combat support from the US government were two primary reasons behind choosing to take his own life:

Somers died at the age of 30 in Phoenix, Arizona, where he had lived with his wife Angeline, his former high school sweetheart; they had married in 2001. He had been a singer and guitar player, the founder and band leader of a Phoenix-area band named Lisa Savidge which had performed at various live events in the US Southwest and on KWSS-LP, the independent radio station in Phoenix, frequently donating its proceeds to benefit people wounded in the Middle East. Lisa Savidge disbanded in 2011.