Military Children Serve Too

NPR

Published January 14, 2015 at 1:12 PM EST

Connor looks at photos of his father, Michael Deal, who committed suicide at age 33. (Andrew Katz-Moses)

Note: Parts of this story may be disturbing for some listeners.

There are some 2 million children of U.S. service men and women. Over the past decade, thousands of these young people have had a parent die in combat overseas, and others have lost a loved one to suicide.

Since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, approximately 3,000 service members have killed themselves. That doesn’t include veterans or National Guard and reserve troops not on active duty.

As part of a yearlong reporting project on military children, Kavitha Cardoza of Here & Now contributor station WAMU brings us the story of a Maryland child whose family has been forever changed by suicide.

Note: The full-length documentary will air on WBUR on Sunday, Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. Eastern.

[Youtube]

Reporter

Kavitha Cardoza, special correspondent for WAMU. She tweets @KavithaCardoza.