Monday, June 23, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

UPDATE: Las Vegas Army Reserve unit endures scorching heat of Iraq, Kuwait

Linda Flatt Suicide prevention activist who helped establish program

A Las Vegas Army Reserve unit, the 257th Transportation Company, continues to haul tanks and armored vehicles around Iraq and Kuwait, the company's commander said in his latest e-mails.

He said convoys from his heavy truck company have traveled more than 600,000 miles in and around the war zone since arriving at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait in April.

"We are now heavily involved with the redeployment of 3rd Infantry Division equipment and USMC equipment in Kuwait," Capt. Jonathan Cox wrote Wednesday.

The company includes 250 reservists mainly from Las Vegas, Tucson, Ariz., and Fresno, Calif. Most of them, about 145, are from Las Vegas.

In mid-May the company endured what he described as "a really bad sandstorm ... that I think left about two inches of sand over all that we own, inside and outside our tents."

That same month, the company drove more than 310,000 miles and hauled more than 11,165 tons of equipment in Iraq. "The missions went as far north as Mosul and as far south as Basra," he said in a June 13 e-mail, noting there were about 50 trucks from the company in and near Baghdad then.

"The only major drawback right now is that it is so hot over here. It is averaging about 115 degrees daily at our camp and it reaches more than 130 degrees in the cab of the trucks.

"And it is only June, so we are not looking forward to July or August," he wrote.

Cox said the days pass quickly when the soldiers are out on the road, but seem to last forever back at the camp.

"Some of our soldiers have referred to every day as `Groundhog Day,' like the Bill Murray movie where he keeps waking up and reliving the same day over and over again. ... It also seems that it is more dangerous to go into Iraq now than when major combat operations were taking place.

"It seems that every day one or two soldiers are killed by an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) or small arms attack on convoys or other patrols. We have been fortunate enough to stay out of the areas where the attacks are occurring, but it is still a little hairy traveling up to Baghdad," his June 13 e-mail said.

KEITH ROGERS

Suicide prevention

Linda Flatt says she can finally breathe a little more freely.

After six years of lobbying the Nevada Legislature, the Henderson mom was finally successful earlier this month when Gov. Kenny Guinn signed a bill establishing a statewide suicide prevention program.

"It's been six years of hard work," Flatt said.

Flatt's son, Paul, killed himself in 1993, when he was 25 years old.

She became active in suicide prevention efforts in the years since and discovered that Nevada had one of the highest rates of suicide in the country.

Legislators paid heed to the statistics, Flatt said, and in the waning days of the latest session passed three resolutions calling on local governments to do something about the high suicide rates.

The Legislature also passed two suicide prevention bills.

The first authorizes teachers and school administrators to become educated about suicide prevention, though the bill mandates nothing and does not provide any money.

Another bill, though, provides $355,000 to establish a statewide program, including hiring a program coordinator and someone who will be based in Clark County, Flatt said.

The details still must be worked out; indeed, no one has been hired to fill the positions yet, Flatt said.

Though she was successful in her efforts, Flatt said she is not about to take a break.

Her next move will be to travel next month to Washington, D.C., where she said she plans to lobby federal officials to recognize that suicide is a national problem, and perhaps to establish a federal suicide prevention program.

RICHARD LAKE

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