'The struggles are real': War veteran Neal Currey who died by suicide battled PTSD, reveals wife
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
LINDON, UTAH: Social media firearm influencer and Iraq war veteran Neal Currey who died by suicide on Saturday, September 10, was fighting post-traumatic stress from the war for a long time. The Army Ranger who served four tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan was pronounced dead by her wife Casey Currey via an Instagram post which is now unavailable. This time around, Casey chose to share more information and reflect light on her husband's actions.
Casey, 30, shared how the memories from his time served in Iraq and Afghanistan during the war troubled Currey, 42, for a long time and how the post-traumatic stress was a battle that was not similar to combat. In a new Instagram post, Casey shared, "Despite his incredible ability to fight and persevere, Neal unfortunately and ultimately lost this war and took his own life on September 10th and tragically became one of the many in a long line of statistics that have come to be a long-term and painful reminder of the costs of our twenty-plus years at war." The 42-year-old war survivor served in the US Army for 5 years from 2004-2009. Being a firearm enthusiast, he was also the owner of a Utah gun range, Ready Gunner.
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Neal Currey enjoyed a strong Instagram family with videos usually featuring high-powered weaponry that his followers loved. The pair had one child together, and both raised four children from Neal's previous relationship. Currey's decision to join the Army at the age of 24 was emphasized after the tragic 9/11 attacks. Casey further wrote, "Although Neal lived what many considered to be the 'perfect life,' it is also important that people know that there was another side of him that reminds all of us that life is never a perfect as it seems and that the struggles we face in life, especially those of soldiers who have seen the horrors and trauma of combat, are real no matter who we are and what our lives seem like on the exterior."
Neal Currey battled PTSD for a long time before committing suicide
Casey further explained Currey's battle that social media did not see. She wrote, "Neal struggled, like many of you with the unseen wounds that follow soldiers home from war and continue to live within the recesses of their psyche for the rest of their lives, long after the battles are over and the accolades of their service go silent." She explained how Currey tried to compartmentalize his issues saying, "Although Neal was able to compartmentalize this part of his life most of the time, the struggle would periodically surface and became an internal war which not unlike combat, sees days of triumph and days of loss."
The Utah native and former Army Ranger with the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, comes from a line of men who loved adventures. His grandfather Jack was a white water rafting river guide and his father Stephen took river rafting to an international level by being the first to navigate the Upper Yangtze River in China, the Upper Ganges in India, and the Caura River in Venezuela, as per Coffee or Die Magazine. Currey became so obsessed with firearms that he started another company called 2A Media which focused on spreading a positive message about guns on social media.