Damn man. This happened in the very same town I live in, Pembroke Pines.
While suicides, even those of the "famous" viewed sort, come and ago and soon dissipate from our minds altogether, I was quite a bit bothered on a personal level of those who were egging him on, encouraging him to do it. Perhaps they believed the guy was joking, or maybe even perhaps they actually wanted him to go through with it. I hope it was the former.
Back in my days in the Navy, I encountered a similar situation. We had a new transfer come in and he almost immediately had problems adjusting to shipboard life(came from a shore station). Quarrels with leadership, and in his frustration, would run roughshod over the junior guys. After our difficult deployment was over and we came back home, his wife and two young children had run out on him across the country to California. Left him. The workplace difficulties continued for him as well.
Then the random comments came such as......"I was driving to work and thought about wrapping my car around a tree." or...."I'm not going to put a safety harness on when doing antenna maintenance." We laughed. I laughed. I even remarked to some fellas that the guy was gonna lose it and kill a bunch of people, or himself. They agreed, and we laughed more.
Then it happened. While on Quarterdeck watch, he put his loaded duty weapon to his head and stated he was going to kill himself. In the middle of the day. Traffic cleared immediately, with this guy still holding the gun to his head. Fortunately, a near 300 pound petty officer came up behind him and slammed him to the ground, forcing the gun out of his hand. Very risky move, for both of them. No one was seriously hurt, aside from a few cuts and bruises.
I felt like absolute shit. I felt like such a terrible and horrible person, feeling was almost indescribable. Here was a guy that I had laughed with, drank with, went on port o' call with, and had laughed behind his back when he was going through such a hard time. I didn't tell any of my superiors about the fact he had a problem. I sank even lower when my Chief looked at me and said, "You are going to go accompany him to his locker so he can collect all his belongings and immediately depart the ship. Because you know him best, you were his friend." Damn, man. Our last 2 days ever seeing each other was in complete silence.
I hope that some of those that had egged him on learn something, or feel something at least. Thnx for reading.
