Army’s “Captain America” Tragically Died By Suicide After Nearly A Dozen Combat Tours – Master Sgt. Andrew Christian Marckesano was a decorated Green Beret and a Silver Star recipient committed suicide in front of his wife two days after the Fourth of July, despite still being on active duty and leaving three small children behind. Andy wasn’t his only nickname, as his fellow military comrades also referred to him as a real-life “Captain America.” And what a title to hold.
Andy had just moved to Washington, D.C. to start a new position at the Pentagon. But before that, according to Fox 6, this army veteran served six full tours in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne and the Ranger regiment and a half dozen combat tours overseas. Before he committed suicide he was having dinner with his former battalion leade and returned home in Old Town, Alexandria.
This “Captain America” suicide was the 30th one from this battalion, sending shock waves throughout the military. His close ones and military leaders told Fox News “that Marckesano never got over his tour in Afghanistan’s Arghandab Valley in 2009 with the 2-508, a battalion that had one of the highest casualty rates of any unit during the war,” and the battalion’s former Command Sgt Major Bert Puckett added, “That deployment was like being in the ring with Mike Tyson for a year.”
What made Andy’s suicide even more shocking, is he had even sent an appeal that week to the rest of his battalion, saying, “Text me, I told you before my door is open… my phone is at hand. We did things that people make movies about and in some cases, writers and producers wouldn’t even try to write our story… the rucksack is heavy… and when it gets heavy we [&$#*] help each other, but you have to reach out… Don’t let the Valley win.”
In 2013, Staff Sgt Allen Thomas, who served in the same battalion as Andy, also committed suicide, leaving his two daughters and his wife Danica. He was serving as a three-time combat tour infantryman with the 82nd Airborne, when a suicide bomber tore through his body, forcing him to recover at Walter Reed. However, Allen suffered from PTSD, and soon asked Danica to take him to Fayetteville VA Emergency Room for a psychiatric evaluation. Due to lack of space and beds, the VA just sent him home with pain killers, something that’s definitely not accepted today.