Obituary: Morlin Saarinen
by Alphaville Herald on 29/06/08 at 12:01 pm
Aretai Warrior and Shivar Prime Minister
by montserrat snakeankle {RdS}
Morlin Saarinen
The SL Gorean community was saddened on June 3, 2008, to hear of the RL death of Aretai Warrior Morlin Saarinen. Master Saarinen, who was an active duty member of the US Army in real life, committed suicide the night of June 1, in Texas.
In addition to his duties in the desert, Morlin also found time to RP as Prime Minister of a small, mixed culture sim called Shivar. At Shivar, Morlin was instrumental in founding and organizing the military structure of the community and with First Sword Travis Maeterlinck, headed off at least two wars initiated by the hot-headed monarch of that land.
In RL, Morlin was fond of medieval sagas and Japanese military teachings. He was especially fond of Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. He was a Physician’s Assistant and was generous with his expertise. He was a help to many people in many ways. Master Saarinen also worked hard and studied as a D/s Master, something which he himself said he was learning, and for which he showed talent.
Tenaya Cathedral – Shivar sim
Services for Master Saarinen in SL were held at Tenaya Cathedral at Shivar. A memorial was also held on Gorean ground at Shaba School, where he was a teacher and Supervising Master, by order of the school’s First Master. The memorials for Master Saarinen were supervised by the Lady Joelle Tardis and built both at Shivar and Shaba by Aretai Captain Twisted Surface, and his girl, nathalia. The memorials were attended by many grieving and frustrated friends.
Morlin Saarien’s memorial service at the Cathedral at Shivar
Morlin leaves behind two sorrowing kajirae: Unwen, his First Girl, collared in 2006, and Aly, collared 2008, as well as his dear RL/SL friend, the Lady Tardis’ kajira, kitten. He also leaves behind many friends, and his RL family (whose anonymity we shall respect).
This poem, from the film LORD OF THE RINGS, was read for Master Saarinen:
May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home
Darkness has come
Believe and you will find your way
Darkness has fallen
A promise lives within you now
May it be the shadows call
Will fly away
May it be you journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun
Darkness has come
Believe and you will find your way
Darkness has fallen
A promise lives within you now
Those who love Master Saarinen urge anyone who is considering suicide to talk to your friends. Remember that you are loved. Please trust the people who love you to stand by you no matter what you are going through.
Bob Ross
Jun 29th, 2008
In other news, no one except goreans care.
Ageing Rockstar
Jun 29th, 2008
Oh Bob, you’re so ballsy.
Aya Pelous
Jun 29th, 2008
Someone around him in RL should have reached out to him as of SL, sad to hear someone kills them self.
Angel
Jun 29th, 2008
May you find sweet water and shade Morlin.
Ownage Emmons
Jun 30th, 2008
This is kind of weird.
Hardee
Jun 30th, 2008
So are the kajira for sale now?
Bidders anyone?
Lola
Jul 1st, 2008
@ Aya: There are so many suicide prevention programs and ways for people to talk about their issues in the Army. This guy just sounds like he was probably a loner, no one really took notice of the signs/symptoms, and voila.
It’s sad, but it’s even more sad that his brothers and sisters are dying over in Iraq and he didn’t have the balls to keep living his little peachy-keen life in the US. Or, maybe he was too chicken to go to Iraq. I’ve seen it many times.
Rip
Jul 1st, 2008
As a veteran myself of southeast asia I have known several combat soldiers and vets that have killed themselfs thanks in part to PTSS. For the most part I lay this directly at the feet of the Progressive Liberal Socialist in America yesterday and today. Today they speak out loud for public consumption of how they support our brave fighting men and women in harms way. But under their collective breaths they still call them baby killers , war criminals and worse. Over time this wears on even the best of the best we have fighting our battles. My wish for this courageous braveheart is that he finds the peace he couldnt find in this life. I will pray for him and his family. Damn to hell the Progressive Liberal Socialist that had a hand in this soldiers untimely death and the enemies he fought in our name!
Lykurgus
Jul 2nd, 2008
Rip, with respect – this is not the thread for political commentary. Whatever your side.
I wasn’t sent to Timor for the people back home – neither our cheerers nor our jeerers (nor for the Timorese either, but that’s a thread in itself).
I could speculate, but we don’t get told the real reason we fight this or that war, and neither do they. Mushroom farming for everybody.*
Sorry mate, I know the feeling – but that’s the deal. One camp spurns you, the other camp pretends to BE you. Just do what I did – stop reading newspapers.
(Lola):”There are so many suicide prevention programs and ways for people to talk about their issues in the Army”
Not in the US, sadly – Pentagon shrinks and command are still, largely, writing up PTSD as “cowardice” or “fuckin’ pussy”. They’re resistant to the fact that fear’s just part of the job, or that this or that bloke has just had enough. That’s why there’s always been a lot of suicide in the US Army (I think it’s 17 per 100,000 annually).
Some of the blokes in our unit have had PTS – one of them came back with nightmares (we have GOT to stop sending kids). What got each of them through it, was the others. They were able to have a yak to each other about it, see for themselves how normal it was… just having people around you that “get it”. I don’t care what anyone says, that’s the only real treatment.
For anyone else in the trade, this is important… look in his eyes. If he’s had enough, you’ll see it.
And if a mates personality has changed markedly, spontaneously, or for no clear reason, step in… he needs help, and you might be the only one that knows.
Aretai Strong, Brother.
Lola
Jul 2nd, 2008
@Lykurgus:
(Lola):”There are so many suicide prevention programs and ways for people to talk about their issues in the Army”
Not in the US, sadly – Pentagon shrinks and command are still, largely, writing up PTSD as “cowardice” or “fuckin’ pussy”. They’re resistant to the fact that fear’s just part of the job, or that this or that bloke has just had enough. That’s why there’s always been a lot of suicide in the US Army (I think it’s 17 per 100,000 annually).
Some of the blokes in our unit have had PTS – one of them came back with nightmares (we have GOT to stop sending kids). What got each of them through it, was the others. They were able to have a yak to each other about it, see for themselves how normal it was… just having people around you that “get it”. I don’t care what anyone says, that’s the only real treatment.
Maybe that’s your perception of it, but I know for a fact that there’s a great many programs out there for those returning from combat. It was never mentioned that this guy was in combat to begin with, anyways. But, there are a huge number of programs. Big changes have been happening. In fact, now, if you want to get a security clearance and fill out an SF 86/EQIP, you don’t even have to mention if you’ve gotten mental health help due to PTSD/deployment things. It’s a free license to get help. Plus, Military One Source gives you up to six free counseling sessions with a civilian mental health specialist that are completely anonymous to your chain of command.
So, again, maybe that’s how it is where you’re at – and trust me, that’s sad if it’s true. But, mandatory suicide prevention classes quarterly, command referred mental health visits, etc… uhm, no. The Army does a lot for its soldiers, and I’ll be damned if anyone says different. This guy could have been saved if he cared about himself, and others cared about him enough. Sounds like he was a loner and no one noticed.
Lykurgus
Jul 3rd, 2008
If that’s true Lola, then the reforms are either very recent indeed, or the scale of the problem is drowning them. It could just be more Pentagon press-copy:)…
but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.
I for one have trained or worked with more American soldiers than even the average American soldier, and I’ve heard (or more commonly seen) it all – med or psych reports citing “cowardice”, applications for treatment or counselling going into the “round file” (the bin, for those of you not in the trade), you name it. A few dozen GIs I’ve known have had this happen to them – I saw two of them being threatened with insubordination charges if they tried to get the med chit (as we call it).
We’ve never had anything remotely like this problem in our army, or most of the armies we’ve worked with or in (I’m Australian), so we consistently find ourselves more than a little stunned (we do however, have a couple of blokes that did time in the French Foreign Legion, and occasions like these took them down memory lane time and again).
Admittedly, all of these stories are at least three years old – and just about anything can happen in three years. But there’d have to be a seismic shift in its culture for the reforms to make significant inroads, and I haven’t seen it. I’ll bet my balls that you’re right, that nobody noticed. But if he was a loner, what was he doing in the army?
In my unit, a third of the blokes know my girlfriends birthday, even the CSM does – we’re that close. And we’re fairly typical. To ever use the phrase “nobody noticed” would just not be doable.
That was my whole point about your mates being the only real make-or-break help you’ll ever get as a soldier. You can have all the shiny new reforms you like – indeed, every army does, incessantly. They always turn out to be brainfarts, smoke-and-mirrors or jobs for the boys – if they even happen. These won’t buck the trend.
Which is why they won’t matter (and don’t have to). The bloke who had nightmares, KNEW (and still knows) that he could talk to me. Another of my diggers is being charged as I write this (no, its not related) – and he KNOWS that I’ll put my hand up to be his defending officer. It always comes back to backing your mates up.
If an army gets this one simple thing right, it can handle anything, and beat any odds.
If it doesn’t, it’s stuffed, and won’t be able to do a thing about it.
Lola
Jul 4th, 2008
@ Lykurgus: Well, there you go – you’re Australian, and you say you’ve worked with many US soldiers. Guess that means you AREN’T an American soldier, and I am. A soldier isn’t going to tell you about all the mandatory training we have to go through. Why? It’s boring as all hell. But, it’s mandatory, and it’s BEEN mandatory since I joined 6 years ago. I’ll also tell you this – I’m in a job where it’s maybe not so good to go see a mental health specialist, but I HAVE and my chain of command has supported me on it all the way. This isn’t Pentagon psychobabble… this is the real deal. If a unit is not allowing soldiers to see mental health specialists, or medical professionals are treating soldiers poorly, all a soldier has to do is go to the Inspector General (IG). This is an ANONYMOUS program that allows soldiers to air their grievances about things going severely wrong. I will tell you that currently, an entire brigade’s chain of command is about to get relieved (I won’t tell you where or who it is) because of IG issues. Oh, and this also goes for if they’re not doing their mandatory training – the chain of command will get canned for that, too, and letters of reprimand.
I know you mean well, and you’re talking from your experience, but please stop talking shit about MY Army. It’s bad enough that we’ve got shitty press across the world. The Army is one of the finer institutions in the world and it’s done nothing but treat me well. I can also say that it’s done nothing but treat other soldiers well from Germany to California. Yes, I TOO have worked with thousands of soldiers.
In closing, not to stereotype, but from my experience – sounds like you were working with combat arms guys (infantry, tankers, field artillery, etc). Those guys could have a foot full of fungus and gangrene and STILL won’t go to see a medic ’till that shit is about to fall off. They all think that medics and psychs are out to get them, when that’s completely not the case. I’d also like to know how YOU know that psychiatrists are labelling soldiers as cowards after mental health visits when psychiatry records are 100% CONFIDENTIAL, not even the chain of command can see them. In fact, I’ve gone from station to station, and my mental health record doesn’t even follow me. If you’re saying you’ve seen someone’s record, you’re violating not only HIPAA but quite a few of our regulations.
Frosty
Jul 4th, 2008
Does Australia even have a military?
Lykurgus
Jul 5th, 2008
(Lola):”If you’re saying you’ve seen someone’s record, you’re violating not only HIPAA but quite a few of our regulations”
So arrest me;)
(Lola):”not to stereotype…those guys could have a foot full of fungus and gangrene and STILL won’t go to see a medic ’till that shit is about to fall off…all think that medics and psychs are out to get them”
Good thing you’re not stereotyping:) It’s not perceived motive that’s the problem. Usually, its availability or result. For example, many of us came down with pretty bad congestion in Malaysia recently. The MO wasn’t gonna be much help.
He had it himself.
So it was lots of lozenges and coughing up the backwash.
The bloke with nightmares could’ve gone to Psych. But the shrink’s never been shot at – try as he might to “get it”, its common dogfuck that he won’t. But he knew I would.
(Lola):”I know you mean well, and you’re talking from your experience…”
Do you? Because you appear to have interpreted my every word as a personal attack, and met with a spray that can almost be construed as one?
Back to what I said about mates backing each other up. The US military – for all its strengths and successes* – is consistently NOT getting that one thing right. The brigade you mentioned, in which the entire brass had to get the heave-ho, is a case in point. If they HAD got that one thing right, the few bad apples would’ve been frozen out long before the contagion could spread, and certainly before anyone had to contemplate such drastic intervention. If the enablers of Abu Ghraib had got that one thing right, nobody would’ve had to put themselves in such a position, the pressure to do so (even if it came from the top) would not have worked. If Morlins unit had got that one thing right, someone would’ve stepped in to help him out of that hole, and he might still be with us.
I had to harp on about that one issue, because in any military – or any part of any military (in your own unit, they seem to be grasping this) – it is the one success, or the one problem, that will spawn all others. It’s a ludicrous idea that this one thing should have that kind of power, or that it could remain so impervious to any solution other than itself, but it does.
Hence my mention of the Foreign Legion – a distilled version of that very problem.
If relating that one fundamental problem constitutes “talking shit about MY Army”, that’s a hair short of shooting the messenger. I know you get bad press – I keep a Murdoch paper in the loo (guess why). Just do what I do, and what I told Rip to do – stop reading tabloids.
Read the internal publications of other armies instead. If you want realistic press, that’s where you’ll find it.
*(Especially its logistic support – which I might add, we all DREAM about… or did until it started getting farmed out left and right.)
Lykurgus
Jul 5th, 2008
Actually, going over this thread, it looks like we’re starting to hijack it. If you’re having similar thoughts, but would still like to continue the discussion, I invite you to email* me at…
lykurgus@gmail.com
*(goes for anyone here – I won’t even block name-callers, promise)
Lola
Jul 5th, 2008
Lykurgus, I’m simply sick and tired of people talking poorly about the US Army (or, our military in general). I’ll be the first one to say that I don’t support Bush or his reasons for our war, etc, but when you talk about the Army, you’re talking smack about the troops (regardless of rank). Troops don’t deserve that.
As far as that brigade goes, it’s because if those who knew what was going on had come forward, they would have been killed. No matter what the Army does, gang members will always find a way to join… and when they do, things get bad sometimes. Thankfully, we have measures in place that allow people to be able to come forward.
And again, speaking from my experience, my unit’s not the only one getting it right – every unit I’ve been in, plus every unit I’ve been near or had friends/acquaintances in are getting it right. Every time I’ve gone to a special school, suicide prevention, equal opportunity, etc. is always covered… and these schools I’ve gone to have nothing to do with that sort of thing. One school I was in even had post-deployment facilities set up and made those soldiers who had returned from the desert within a year report there, even if they had already been to their post-deployment stuff back at their previous unit. I could go on and on about the support that is offered, but – it’s obvious, you’ve got your own perception of this, and you’re not going to let your perception go.
The only reason why I replied in the first place is to show that if this kid killed himself, it was his fault and his fault alone. Not the Army’s fault for not intervening, not his fellow soldiers’ fault, not his family’s fault. He did it, regardless of all the help that was out there for him. Again, I’m tired of people talking shit about the Army, and I was setting the record straight – maybe not for you, but for everyone else who may read this regardless if they respond or not. This is why I won’t be e-mailing you – your perception is skewed, and I accept that. I was merely sharing my knowledge in response to your opinion.
Lykurgus
Jul 5th, 2008
Well, that’s your choice, but two final pieces of advice (to not give them would be negligent)…
1 – Grow a much, MUCH thicker skin. Because this is as tame as it gets.
2 – For all you know, the next suicide soldier they have to mop up, could be you.
My apologies to Morlin, for making him sit through all this.
Lola
Jul 6th, 2008
Excuse me, Lykurgus, but suicide isn’t something that just happens to a person – they think about it and execute it. The ones that are serious about suicide never mention it to anyone else. For you to intimate that I could be a “suicide victim” is laughable at best. You’ve obviously got a skewed perception of reality, so much so that you can’t even fathom that the US Army nor anyone else has zero blame for this guy’s death.
As far as thick skin goes, honey, you don’t fucking know me. Go back to your little gorean fantasy world where you can be uberl33tzOMG with your bare tittied pixel girlfriends, who are actually your boyfriends, playing dress up ’cause, you know, that’s like… so cool. Oh, I’m sorry if that offended you – grow a thicker skin.
Oh, and by the way? “Morlin” is dead, and he can’t read the Herald six feet under. Believe in the tooth fairy too?
humdog
Jul 6th, 2008
lola:
morlin had TWO tours of iraq.
how many did you have?
Lykurgus
Jul 10th, 2008
Where is she?
Lola? Loooo-laaaaa?
Looooooo…Laaaaaaaa?
Awwww, she’s left us:(
Was it something I said?