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Soldier, 25, killed self in Iraq, family says

The family of an Indianapolis soldier who died in Baghdad last week confirmed Monday that he took his own life.

Army Spc. Chancellor Keesling, 25, Indianapolis, shot and killed himself Friday, just two weeks after he returned for his second tour of duty in Iraq and days after an argument with a girlfriend.

Keesling’s father, Gregg Keesling, said his son and his son’s wife had separated during his first tour, and he was despondent over the possibility that a second relationship was crumbling.

Chancellor Keesling suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from his first tour, his father said, but neither his commanding officer nor fellow soldiers with the 961st Engineer Company out of Sharonville, Ohio, had any idea.

Keesling’s firearm, his father said, was taken away from him for one month during his initial deployment for fear he would harm himself.

“When he switched to the Reserves, he didn’t fit into a unit in Indiana, so he was assigned to a unit in Ohio,” Gregg Keesling said. “They let him do his training at Camp Atterbury, but when the time came, he went to war with a bunch of people who he didn’t know well. He didn’t feel he could reach out to the other soldiers in his unit.”

Chancellor Keesling was encouraged by his family not to redeploy. But, unable to find a long-term job, he agreed to go back to Iraq, where he would help build roads and other infrastructure.

“He told us he was all right going back, but he was losing weight in the weeks leading up to his redeployment,” Gregg Keesling said. “In hindsight, we should have seen this coming.”

Suicide among soldiers has been a problem in the military for much of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to Department of Defense data, 17 U.S. soldiers may have committed suicide last month. So far in 2009, there have been 82 confirmed or suspected active-duty suicides, compared with 51 at this point last year.

Professor Elana Newman of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma said half of the soldiers committing suicide had recently ended a relationship.

Recognizing the problem, the military has created a suicide prevention task force and recruited additional psychological and behavioral health counselors.

“It’s a big problem in the military, but the Department of Defense is really committed to solving it,” Newman said.

Calls seeking comment from the military and the Army’s suicide prevention program were not returned Monday.

Gregg Keesling applauded the military’s efforts to assist soldiers with mental health issues, but he said something as simple as the family having the e-mail address of the unit chaplain could have helped save his son’s life.

“We talked to him 15 hours earlier and told him to go see the chaplain, but he didn’t go,” he said. “There was enough time to get to someone to keep this from happening, but we didn’t know who (to talk to).”

Funeral arrangements were pending.