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DISGUSTED ATF AGENT

Member Since 14 Feb 2011
Offline Last Active Oct 29 2012 05:54 AM

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THIS IS ALL THE OIG COULD COME UP WITH FOR RECOMMENDATIONS TO DOJ AND ATF MANAGEMENT TO...

14 October 2012 - 11:17 PM

OIG REPORT P.428-431

"In light of Operation Fast and Furious and the results of other OIG
reviews, we believe that more rigorous oversight of ATF is necessary. The OIG
looks forward to future reviews of ATF that will improve its effectiveness and
accountability. Accordingly, the recommendations we provide below should be
seen as an initial starting point for needed reforms.

Recommendation 1:

The Department should examine ATF’s policies on law enforcement operations to ensure that they are in compliance with Department guidelines and policies.

Recommendation 2:

The Department should examine ATF’s case reviewprocedures to verify that they are consistent with procedures adopted in other Department law enforcement components to ensure that matters involving “sensitive circumstances,” “special requirements,” and “otherwise illegalactivity” are sufficiently evaluated. The Department should assess ATF’s implementation of these procedures to ensure that they are effective and consistently applied.

Recommendation 3:

The Department should work with ATF to develop guidance on how to conduct enterprise investigations against gun trafficking organizations consistent with lessons learned from Operation Fast and Furious.

Recommendation 4:

The Department should review the policies and procedures of its other law enforcement components to ensure that they are sufficient to address the concerns we have identified in the conduct of Operations Wide Receiver and Fast and Furious, particularly regarding oversight of sensitive and major cases, the authorization and oversight of “otherwise illegal activity,” and the use of informants in situations where the law enforcement component also has a regulatory function.

Recommendation 5:

The Department should maintain a regular working group involving leadership from its component law enforcement agencies to ensure appropriate coordination among them on significant law enforcement policies and procedures, case deconfliction mechanisms, and law enforcement
initiatives. We request that the Department update the OIG on its progress in implementing these recommendations within 90 days from the date of this report, including a timeline for completing its work on the recommendations. Upon completion of our ongoing work that we described in Chapter One, as well as our review of the report of the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security on ICE’s role in Operation Fast and Furious, we will consider whether further recommendations are necessary.

Recommendation 6:

The Department should require that high-level officials who are responsible for authorizing wiretap applications conduct reviews of the applications and affidavits that are sufficient to enable those officials to form a personal judgment that the applications meet the statutory criteria."

ATF AGENT JEFF RYAN - SYRACUSE, NY, FIELD OFFICE, NEW YORK FIELD DIVISION. MAY HE REST...

14 October 2012 - 04:32 PM

Why cant ATF ever do the right thing for hero special agents?


Local ATF agent Jeff Ryan was haunted by LA shooting, plagued by PTSD, before taking his life


Published: Sunday, October 14, 2012, 5:00 AM Updated: Sunday, October 14, 2012, 6:40 AM


By Emily Kulkus, The Post-StandardThe Post-Standard
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives his whole life. Yet nothing prepared him for that battle outside Los Angeles on Aug. 31, 2001.


ATF agents and sheriff’s deputies planned to arrest a man with a history of impersonating police officers. The job was supposed to be simple.

But James Allen Beck had an unexpected stockpile of weapons and wasn’t going down without a fight. Beck, agents and deputies exchanged hundreds of rounds. Students were evacuated from the schools; neighbors huddled in bathtubs.

Ryan was caught in the middle, crouched behind a car with L.A. Deputy Hagop “Jake” Kuredjian, a 17-year law enforcement veteran.

Beck shot Kuredjian in the head. Kuredjian, 40, died instantly, but it took nearly 10 minutes for Ryan and others to move the officer’s body to safety.

After three hours, agents sent tear gas into Beck’s house and it burned to the ground with Beck inside.

The standoff took two lives that day.

Ten years later, it took one more.

Ryan, 39, suffered severe post traumatic stress disorder from that day. He spent years studying every detail of the shooting and its aftermath. He relentlessly questioned ATF on its handling of the episode, and he suspected retaliation for his persistence.

He felt paranoid. He feared ATF was tracking his every move, from his honeymoon in Fiji to a Syracuse football game.


On Sept. 19, 2011, it all became too much.

That morning he kissed his toddler son and daughter goodbye at their home in Sennett and drove to his mother’s farmland on Onondaga Hill. He texted his wife that he loved her, wrote notes to his family and drove his pickup truck to a favorite spot on the 145-acre property.

He parked his truck so it wouldn’t be visible from the road, laid a bed of hay and shot himself in the chest.


A new diagnosis

Shannon Wright was working in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles in July 2002 when a beefy ATF agent with 19-inch biceps walked into her office, she said.

The California girl with British parents was interested in the East Coast Irishman — born on St. Patrick’s Day 1972. They soon found themselves on a double date with friends from work.

Ryan attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School, served four years in the Air Force and then attended the State University College at Cortland for criminal justice. The U.S. Border Patrol in California hired him in 1996 and he moved to ATF in 2001.

He loved to work and hunt. He flew cross-country several times a year to hunt turkey and deer on his mother’s farm. On one of those trips, Joyce Ryan heard about Wright and could tell her son was smitten.

They married April 24, 2004, in California. Their dogs, Max and Daisy, were in the wedding.

Even while dating, Ryan only occasionally discussed the 2001 shooting, Shannon said. But he was drinking.

Early in their marriage, he would sometimes go to a bar and drink all night, she said. He also began to question ATF’s 2002 internal report on the shooting.

He wasn’t the only one.

Many said the ATF underestimated Beck and was responsible for Kuredjian’s death. Ryan complained that the agency’s investigative report was littered with inaccuracies, most of which involved small details.

More and more, he would come home, sit on the couch and drink until he dropped, Shannon said.

He sought help from an ATF counselor immediately after the shooting. He never heard back and he didn’t pursue it further, his wife said.

When Shannon Ryan’s mother died in 2005, she saw a grief counselor. Her husband’s drinking came up, and the counselor recommended he get therapy. He agreed. What emerged from weekly sessions in 2005 and early 2006 was a diagnosis the Ryans had never heard: post-traumatic stress disorder.

In letters from two social workers dated July 2005 and February 2006, he is described as “anxious and depressed.” They wrote that he was having flashbacks. One letter said Ryan “denied any homicidal or suicidal ideations.” He was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress, the letters say.

Ryan told his wife and later his friend, fellow ATF agent Pete McCole, that he thought his repeated questioning of the shooting report was hurting his career.

In late 2006, he filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against ATF, claiming the agency denied him promotions because of his disability.

ATF settled the claim on a Friday in October 2008, and Ryan was offered a paid move to Syracuse. ATF admitted no wrongdoing, Shannon Ryan said.

In March 2009, the Ryans, including 10-month-old daughter Darby, packed up their life in California. They bought a house in Sennett, and he joined the Syracuse field office of ATF.

View full sizeProvided photoJeff Ryan, originally from Fayetteville, loved to hunt. Here he is on his mother's 145-acre farm on Onondaga Hill.


Endless questions

One of the first people Jeff met in the eight-agent Syracuse office was McCole, a Cazenovia native who lived in New York City and then Alaska before returning to Central New York in 2007 to raise his son.

They became fast friends. They both liked to hunt, had young children and a similar sense of humor, McCole said.

What bound them the most, however, was their sense of the job. They requested to work together often, McCole said. “If I needed anything from anyone, if Jeff wasn’t there that day, I’d put it off until he came back,” McCole said.

Ryan didn’t say much about the 2001 shooting in L.A., McCole said, but it was obvious the incident affected him deeply.

At one point, McCole said, he tried to help.

Ryan insisted he was being tailed. McCole followed Ryan into work one morning to see for himself. When they arrived, Ryan told McCole he’d seen 15 to 20 suspicious vehicles behind him. McCole tried to convince Ryan that wasn’t possible.

“I’d tell him what you just described requires like a 30-man team,” McCole said. “Our entire internal affairs ain’t even that big.”

In May 2011, Ryan began seeing a counselor paid for by ATF once a week, Shannon said. But his stress mounted in June. Ryan brought his concerns to his boss at ATF. The boss told Ryan to put it in writing, according to his wife and friend.

In late June, Ryan sat at his computer for four hours and produced a nine-page, single-spaced memo that contained hundreds of questions spanning a decade at ATF, including his claim he was being tailed.

He asked many questions about the 2001 shooting, about being followed on his honeymoon in Fiji, about whether ATF had installed surveillance outside his mother’s house on Onondaga Hill and about whether the agency was taping his therapy sessions. He cites conversations and emails among colleagues dating back half a dozen years and claims he and his wife were “blackballed” for promotions and job opportunities because he continued to question the shooting.

The next day, Ryan asked McCole to proofread his memo. McCole said he told Ryan he should tone it down.

Ryan could not be convinced. Later that day, Ryan placed it in the boss’s mailbox.

Provided photoJeff Ryan on the beach with his daughter, Darby.

Fitness for duty

ATF responded to Ryan by letter in July 2011, notifying him he was on restricted duty. ATF took away his gun, badge and most responsibilities.

“Your memorandum gives me reason to question your mental stability and fitness for duty as a special agent,” wrote Ronald B. Turk, special agent in charge, New York field division.

The letter told Ryan he would have to have a psychiatric exam and reminded him of the bureau’s employee assistance program.

Ryan wrote to his Syracuse supervisor and Turk, pleading to go back on active duty. He was denied.

His Syracuse supervisor, who has since transferred out of Syracuse, would not comment. Turk could not be reached and ATF spokesmen declined comment.

For more than two months, while he waited for his psychiatric exam, Ryan reported to work but didn’t have much to do. McCole said Ryan did paperwork at his desk. Shannon said he brought books and magazines to read.

The time demoralized her husband, Shannon said.

Ryan traveled to Rochester Aug. 17 and 30 for the “fitness-for-duty” exams. The two-day test included seven hours of a written exam and then a four-hour interview with a psychologist, Shannon said.

The 10th anniversary of Kuredjian’s death passed as he waited for his exam report. He was upset that only one ATF agent attended Kuredjian’s memorial, she said.

In early September, Syracuse ATF agents prepared for an all-day training session at Onondaga Community College, about which Ryan was wary, she said.

The training materials provided in advance included information about post-shooting protocols and PTSD.

“I saw a bunch of things here that I knew would piss him off,” McCole said.

Two days before the training, the weekend of Sept. 17 and 18, the Ryan family went apple picking and spent time with his mother.

Unusually early the next morning, Sept. 19 — the day of the training — Shannon Ryan said she heard her husband awake with their son, Connor, then about 18 months old.

She made breakfast, and he asked her to take the kids to day care — an unscheduled inconvenience since she was teaching that day. He kissed and hugged Connor, gave Darby her “bear hug” and said goodbye to his wife.

He walked out the door at two minutes before 8 a.m.

He sent his wife a text message at 8:52 a.m. It read: “I love you.” She said she almost didn’t respond. She figured he was trying to make amends for the last-minute day care assignment.

“Life’s too short,” she remembers thinking. She wrote back “I love you, too.”

Police told her that he died minutes later.

View full sizeMichelle Gabel / The Post-StandardDarby, Connor and Shannon Ryan at the bridge where Jeff Ryan spent his final moments.


Fragile or faithful?

Shannon Ryan delivered a crisp 32-minute eulogy at her husband’s funeral Sept. 24 of last year that bluntly explained her husband’s job in the last months of his life.

Read text of the full eulogy here.

For a guy used to going on stakeouts and raiding illegal gun shops, Jeff Ryan was forced to sit at a desk with little to do for much of the summer, she said.

“He informed me in the note he wrote minutes before his death that he was taking his life to allow me and our children to move on with our lives without any of his burdens,” she told the mourners.

Read Ryan's obituary.

The day after the funeral, ATF finished Ryan’s “fitness for duty” report and sent it to his wife.

The report says the following: Ryan was depressed and paranoid and had “extreme thinking” of sometimes “delusional proportions.” Ryan reported a history of alcohol abuse but said he’d stopped drinking. He denied considering suicide, according to the report.

The psychologists could not give Ryan a prognosis or recovery timeline because of the “severity and duration of his illness” and because Ryan refused to take medication. His wife disagrees, saying his doctors never recommended medication.

The report says Ryan should remain suspended and he should be given nonstressful work while continuing therapy. Ryan says in the report he was not having trouble fulfilling his job duties. The report concludes that Ryan’s “vulnerability makes him fragile.”

The lighter workload would allow Ryan to continue treatment and take time off “to decompress.” Ryan could return to duty once a therapist said he was stable, the report says.

Shannon Ryan has never doubted her husband’s ability to do the job.

“Any claim or suspicion that Jeff Ryan was unfit for duty is nothing short of laughable,” she said in the eulogy. “In the last several months, even with the results of his evaluation pending, Jeff has faithfully performed his duties, has been the most wonderful husband and father and has been making plans for the future.”

Posted ImageView full sizeJohn Berry / The Post-StandardJoyce Ryan, of Onondaga Hill, holds the memorial flag case displaying a banner from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that was presented to her following the death of her son, Jeff Ryan.


PTSD’s damage

Joyce Ryan has struggled with Jeff’s death. She said her son didn’t share his troubles with her and she’d never heard of PTSD.

She has written to ATF asking why more wasn’t done to help her son and she’s asked lawmakers to support PTSD treatment. Her goal, she said, is to help others avoid the choice her son made.

Shannon Ryan, 41, doesn’t blame ATF for her husband’s death — taking his life was his choice, she said — but the agency could have done more to support him.

Shannon acknowledges that her husband was privately struggling with irrational thought. Still, she says, the agency made things worse by making him report to work with nothing to do and making him feel worthless. It failed to help him recognize how severe his paranoia was, she said.

Ryan’s story demonstrates the crushing weight of post traumatic stress and how PTSD’s damage extends beyond the military, where an estimated one in five soldiers suffers from the condition when returning home. The military has struggled with how to treat such a debilitating and widespread problem.

McCole said he was disgusted by ATF’s response to Ryan’s death. The agency and its local agents did little to acknowledge his friend, McCole said.

The day after Ryan died, McCole decided to retire. He wrote “hostile work environment” in capital letters on his papers and used sick and vacation time until his official retirement Nov. 30.

McCole went out of his way to speak diplomatically of how his former employer handled Ryan’s slide.

“Management missed several opportunities to do the right thing for Jeff,” he said.


One year later

Last fall, on the first day of archery season, Shannon spread her husband’s ashes beneath his deer stands on Onondaga Hill.

She’s focusing on her children and teaching part time. Darby, 4, asks about her dad often; she wants to see him and asks where he is. Her mother explains that Dad’s in heaven, where she will see him many years from now.

The Ryans like to hike the cornfields on Joyce Ryan’s farmland — trails Jeff Ryan walked and hunted as a young man and later explored with his kids on his camouflaged ATV. When her children are older, Shannon Ryan said, she will give them notes their father wrote to them the morning he died.

Sept. 19 was the one-year anniversary of his death.

His mother, widow and two children gathered at the farm to remember him. The kids drew pictures — Darby’s drawings are always of her family, including her daddy — and sent them up to heaven by balloon.

Shannon Ryan went back to the bridge that morning and cried.

“The farther I move away from the day he died, it’s like the farther I move away from him, too,” she said. “It does not get better with time.”

Contact Emily Kulkus at ekulkus@syracuse.com or 470-2184.







Rusty S



I think about Jeff everyday. He was a great man and a greater friend. This is so tragic all the way around. I know in my heart he was hurting so much that it drove him to do this. We cannot understand fully how much pain he had inside. Jeff was not an impulsive person and always thought everything out. He loved Shannon, Darby, Connor, Joyce, TC and his family so much and he knew what he was giving up. Heck he even believed that he was doing everyone a favor by not burdening them with his troubles. I question all the time if there was something I could have done to help him, but not knowing how hurt and troubled he was there was nothing anyone of us could've done.

I do hold ATF accountable for how he was treated by them years following the incident and for not making couseling mandatory for each agent involved in a shooting. This is all too common of a problem in the US law enforcement community. Why is it that on average there are roughly 75 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty every year, but on the flip side about 450 officers commit suicide every year? Problem is, the law enforcement community looks at officers who go through an incident and have issues with it as weak and soft. Therefore, an officer, including Jeff, must put on a persona of showing no emotion and hide those feeling of pain and hurt. Law enforcement in the US has put so much emphasis on protecting officers with better equipment, training in tactics and firearms, but for years, heck even decades we have ignored the mental health of our law enforcement officers. I will say a lot of the bigger local agencies have moved in the right direction, but as for Federal Agencies, we suck!!!

I met with the local agency psychologists three weeks after my shooting a few months back. My agency was trying to do the right thing by letting us go to counseling, but three weeks, the psychologists told us, was about 2 1/2 weeks too late. Lucky for us, no one died. This is unsat! Especially after we had two other shooting incidents in a three month span.

The thing I find most appauling about Jeff's death, is the fact that he reached out to the ATF counselor for help within the first 72 hours post shooting. She was too busy, and later too drunk, to call him back and check on him. That was when the damage was done. ATF should be embarrassed and ashamed that their hired help was derelict in her job. Another problem with federal agencies and some government employees. They are not held accountable for not doing their job!

Enough ranting. It won't bring my friend back and relieve the cross we all now bear. Thank you Ms Kulkus for writing this article and Thank You Syracuse Post-Standard for printing it! ...



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salinqmind



How unspeakably sad. My sympathy to his family, may the poor man rest in peace.

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ChairmanAl01



A very sad story. R.I.P. to Agent Jeff Ryan, and condolences to all his family and friends....


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catzndogz



Hindsight is 20/20 so it's no surprise Jeff Ryan and others felt the ATF underestimated Beck on that fateful day in 2001. Clearly the intensity of that incident started the downward spiral that led to this man's suicide and the questions he had were most likely one of the first manifestations of PTSD. He lived through an unspeakable horror and unfortunately our country does not put much emphasis on ensuring adequate mental health services are available to anyone, let alone law enforcement. Alcoholism and drug addiction is rampant. There are lessons to learn here and I hope ATF and other law enforcement agencies are placing more emphasis on caring for both the mental and physical fitness of their personnel. Taking away the gun doesn't protect them from themselves nor does it protect others from harm. All it does is remove liability, which is probably all the government cares about. I am so sorry Jeff Ryan's beautiful children will grow up without their daddy. Shannon, you are a brave woman to share such a personal story and I hope you find happiness again. My condolences to everyone who loved Jeff....
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oomie



He should have had a lot of questions about the August 31, 2001 operation. Just from what I read here it was amateurish. We all know what floats most particularly in government management.

I am sorry for his wife, mom, and children. ...



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totfedup11



What a sad story. But so typical of our government. We are so interested in taking care of others in other countries that we don't take care of our own. And that really pi$$e$ me off. My deepest and most heartfelt sympathy to the Ryan family and friends....
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stopprofiling



July 25, 1996 was a normal evening in Saudi Arabia (peace keeping operation. Hot!!! Only problem is. The terrorist who car bombed Riyadh a year prior were just executed. We were warned, that if the terrorist were executed, they would retaliate against us. While I was on duty, at or around 10:00 PM, a terrorist bomb exploded. 19 servicemen were killed, and over 300 were injured.

Immediately, as a Senior Sergeant on duty, I shared the responsibility for emergency operations with my Commanding Officer, and officer on duty. I was not relieved of these responsibilities until the next evening, only to jump right into damage assessment. I was the Billeting Manager for Khobar Towers a housing complex for military personnel. My responsibility included managing 8 high rise building, the equivalent of 8 hotels.

The mission suddenly turned to evacuating all personnel to safety. The Airforce packed up and moved their personnel to the middle of the desert and provided security. The Army decided to build new quarters, and move their personnel. I would be directly involved in that mission.

As we were involved with moving our personnel, we were hit with another challenge. Iraqi forces invaded the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq and we responded with strikes on targets in north and south Iraq. This required an abundance of new combat troops being deployed from the United States, to include, the emergency deployment of Patriot
Batteries.

All missions were accomplished. Point is, I was a high speed soldier, on special assignment to a war zone (during peace time). I was well trained, spent years in our most stoic divisions, but was not prepared for the enemy "PTSD." Military personnel are trained to accomplish the mission, regardless of the dangers and odds. I left the war zone with gratitude of mission accomplished, and thoughts of I survived.

PTSD started to invade my life immediately. In fact, after leaving the war zone, I stopped by the VA Medical Center in Syracuse because I feel numb, out of touch. One thing is for sure, I wasn't the same upbeat go get'em person. I was dianosed with depression. I started drinking more, I didn't care about my military career anymore. Eventually, I made it to retirement four years later. Then, all H broke loose. My life started to turn upside down. I couldn't keep a job, this is the same individual who just completed a distinguished military career. I just didn't care about anything, or anyone.

I never talked to anyone about my experience until 12 years after the event. My rational was, I survived, I have nothing to complain about, besides the real hero's lost their lives. My saving grace came while working under a lot of stress in my last job, I had a panic attack that brought me back to the bombing and it's aftermath. While lying in a hospital bed, I made the decision to get help. I owe it to myself, my family, and those hero's who died, so that I could live....

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stopprofiling



Correction June, 25, 1996....


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EducatiON



Thanks for your service. My Dad had nightmares after WWII. I never have, but from talking to those that did, you never understand the horror of combat until you have been through it.

Please keep seeking that help. If there is anything I can do for you, feel free to ask. You have questions, and maybe we don't have the answers, but I listen good.

How many more like you are out there? Wanting answers to questions that may never get asked. My prayers are with you. ...

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ChairmanAl01



Thanks for sharing that, stopprofiling; and as far as I'm concerned, you are are a hero, too. Take care of yourself, you deserve to be happy and to find joy in life, as do all who give of themselves to serve our nation and our communities. May peace and joy find you all....
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EducatiON



here is more to this story than we get here. What was his explanation as to what went wrong. Did he feel he was inadequately trained, or did he feel directly responsible for the other officers death in some way. Whatever it was, it magnified in his mind over and over until he ended the pain by taking his life.

What is ATF's story about went down tactically?

Sad story we will probably never know the truth about. ...



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StandAgainstSuicide



This is such an unfortunate situation that ended in the loss of an amazing man. Mental disorders are so much more common than people want to admit. Please, take the time to help the ones you love. Don't stop until they get the help they need! Our organization has free support groups for situations like this. Please visit our website for a schedule. Let's try to raise awareness so that these tragedies may not happen anymore. www.StandAgainstSuicide.org <3 My heart goes out to Jeff Ryan's family....


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ctcuseguy



A sad story. PTSD must be absolutely horrible to deal with. Yes, we are just humans. I don't believe his paranoia was misplaced or made up - that's not how it works. ...


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DudleyDooRight



Emily, thank you for such a thoughtful and moving tribute to ATF Special Agent Jeff Ryan, who paid the ultimate price for questioning authority. May God Bless and keep him. We will keep the Ryan Family in our thoughts and prayers. ...


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amazedinnc



Jeff Ryan felt the ATF handled the situation in 2001 incorrectly and let them know it. I don't doubt his paranoia was misplaced. It's tragic he ended his life with such a burden, the same burden that has now been lifted. May God bless your family brother....


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marat



Has the burden been lifted, or sadly transferred onto his wife?
Won't judge the man, but must judge the action.... suicide isn't an answer. Not with physical health and young children.
Now, instead of him questioning, it will be the poor wife having to both take care of the kids and question herself, unfairly, "Did I do everything I could have?"
...



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upnext



What a Very well written article...it made me feel like I knew Jeff. What a sad and moving story.
May his Family and especially his children be proud. Mental illness is so tough on everyone and hard to live with.
May Jeff R.I.P. Prayers to his family and friends....



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goldenheart



...This broke my heart..........
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SUOrangeBuffaloBills



R.I.P. Jeff Ryan...