Grieving family hopes Army finds what prompted suicide

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Before Monday morning’s funeral for Army Spc. Travis Virgadamo, his relatives and friends wondered how he became his own worst enemy in Iraq.

The priest conducting the service, Father Manny Guico, gave voice to what was being asked in hushed tones inside and outside a packed Palm Mortuary chapel on Jones Boulevard: "What was going through his mind?"

Army officers told the grieving family of the 19-year-old Las Vegan that the cause of his Aug. 30 death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"We’ll never know the real truth of what happened that day," Guico, a retired Air Force chaplain, told mourners.

But Virgadamo’s family — all of whom say they respect the military — wants to make sure an investigation into his death gets as close to the truth as possible.

"We don’t want any other family to go through what we’ve gone through if they don’t have to," said Virgadamo’s grandmother, Katie O’Brien of Pahrump.

"We think a misjudgment was made," said Robert Virgadamo, the soldier’s father, who flew in from the Philippines for the funeral.

O’Brien said her grandson told her he was on suicide watch before he ever went to Iraq, and that once there he was placed again on suicide watch.

O’Brien believes that the Army first erred in allowing him, under such circumstances, to be deployed to a combat zone. And she believes what created his suicidal thoughts in the first place — and also put him on suicide watch again in Iraq — was a type of medication that can worsen, rather than help, a mental condition.

"I told Travis when he was going back to Iraq in July to make sure to tell his doctor and chaplain that he wanted to go off Prozac," O’Brien said, weeping. "I had read that sometimes it had caused the opposite effect on young people. Instead of being an antidepressant, it caused them to commit suicide."

In May the Food and Drug Administration proposed that manufacturers of some antidepressant medications, including Prozac, update their labeling to include warnings about increased risks of suicidal thinking and behavior in young adults ages 18 to 24 during initial treatment.

"Travis never had any suicidal thoughts, as far as I know, until he started taking that medication," O’Brien said.

Dina McCain, a spokeswoman for the Army, said that because of an investigation into Virgadamo’s death, military authorities could not get into details of his medical treatment.

In Washington, D.C., Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said Monday that Virgadamo’s death was heartbreaking and she feared for other soldiers serving in Iraq with emotional or mental illnesses.

"This is not an isolated incident," she said, noting that "we are going to see a lot more of this" as troops are being recirculated into combat after only short rest periods.

"How many other kids are on Prozac in the middle of this civil war?" she asked.

In 2006 Army soldiers committed suicide at the highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a military report released in August.

There were 99 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers during 2006, up from 88 the previous year.

O’Brien, who said she was exceptionally close to her grandson, said he was candid with her about his difficulties in the military.

"He had always wanted to be either a policeman or soldier but he started having trouble in boot camp," she said.

He had to take anger management classes, she said.

At Fort Stewart, Ga., O’Brien said, her grandson told her he saw a therapist and psychiatrist for his anger issues and was put on Prozac.

"Then he ended up on suicide watch and they took his gun away from him," she said. "Why they gave it back to him, I don’t know."

Virgadamo, who was home schooled in his high school years, was deployed to Iraq in May, his father said.

"Look at this picture of me with him after he got out of basic training," said his father, choking back tears. "Look at that smirk on his face. He was telling me, ‘See, dad, I told you I could do it.’ At least, he got to live his dream."

In Iraq, Virgadamo drove an ammunition truck. The young soldier came back to Las Vegas in July for a leave.

"I thought it was strange that he came home so soon," Robert Virgadamo said. "But I thought it was because he had rolled a vehicle over there."

O’Brien said, however, that the purpose of the visit was to help her grandson’s mental condition.

"I told him to get off the Prozac. I think he did, and maybe got on to Paxil, but it takes time for a drug to get out of your system."

She also voiced concern that her grandson not only could be a danger to himself but to others considering the circumstances.

Though the military has told them their loved one’s death was self-inflicted, both Virgadamo’s father and grandmother still are having a difficult time accepting it.

"Why would he have bought a new truck if he was going to do that?" his grandmother said.

"He told me a month ago he wanted to start a security company with me," Robert Virgadamo said. "Does that sound like someone who wants to commit suicide?"

Many of Virgadamo’s friends who were at the funeral couldn’t conceive of their friend taking his own life.

"He always knew how to make people laugh," said Marc Cruz, 18, who served in the civil air patrol with Virgadamo at Nellis Air Force Base.

Michael Hutchens, 19, who knew Virgadamo since they attended Guinn Middle School together, had learned his friend was taking anti-depressants.

"He told a mutual friend of ours that he had suicidal thoughts and I was really worried," he said. "I wish I had seen him when he was back here in July. I think I could have helped him get the help he needed, get off those drugs."

Major Gen. John M. Custer, commander of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca in Arizona, spoke on behalf of the military at the funeral. He didn’t speculate about drugs possibly having a negative effect on Virgadamo’s behavior. His death, he said, may be explained by his heart.

There are people such as Virgadamo, he said, who give everything they have to make the world a better place.

"Maybe they just care too much," he said.

Stephens Media Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report.