Murphy – Alan Rooney spent a typical childhood playing soccer, cheering for the Boston Red Sox and rising in rank as a Boy Scout. His mother, Lorrie Rooney, remembers the Scouting years as idyllic.
“We were tighter than tight,” she said. “I was involved with his Scouting troop as an assistant scoutmaster.”
However, around first grade, Alan – like most of the nation – had his world view altered when the Twin Towers fell in New York City. His mother was heavily involved in security work at the time.
“I worked for the government with high clearance on a classified submarine,” she said. After school that day in September, they talked about what happened. Alan’s takeaway was that “he wanted to do something for the United States.”
So it was no surprise that after he attended his high school graduation party Saturday, the military came to pick him Sunday. He served as a U.S. Marine with tours around the world, including Afghanistan.
Rooney’s specialty training concentrated on explosive ordinates disposal, a high-pressure assignment. He travelled and served for nearly 10 years, when he was assigned to Japan.
“He was anxious about moving to Japan,” Lorrie said. By this time, he was an expert on underwater explosive training and nuclear training, all high-risk duties.
One ordinary Friday night, as he sat at home in California waiting for his deployment, he ended his life through suicide. Alan was only 27 years old.
“22 veterans commit suicide every day,” said Gary Wilson, director of Warriors Veteran Outreach. His group intends to increase public awareness of just how many military personal are lost to suicide.
The WVO, which is 10 years old, organizes a yearly event called 22 Hump. Starting at Warriors Veteran Outreach headquarters, 46 Valley River Ave., participants walk with a police escort a 22-mile loop down to Marble and back.
“The main reason we do it is to raise money for suicide prevention classes for veterans, police, emergency medical technicians, just anyone who is a first responder,” Wilson said. “We need to bring awareness to the problem and educate the public.”
Lorrie saw her son shortly before he committed suicide.
“He was very sad,” she remembers, “not his outgoing self.” Lorrie asked him if was OK.
“One of the signs for all military (post-traumatic stress disorder) is when you ask them and their response is, ‘I’m fine,’ ” she said, adding that “ ‘I’m fine’ is a key sign that that person is not fine.”
Lorrie, who is organizing this year’s 22 Hump, believes awareness needs to extend beyond civilians.
“Military shun people who need help, especially the position that Allen held. They do everything that they can not to acknowledge it,” she said.
Lorrie concedes that while it’s getting better, she wants 22 Hump to “bring awareness to veteran suicide, raise funds and provide help for those veterans who need it.”
Rooney said her ideal outcome “is no more veteran suicide. No, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. How do we make the government understand that this a real issue and it’s not going away?
“I feel like the more awareness we can get out there, if we can get high-up military people to take action on it, that’s my goal.”
This year’s 22 Hump will start at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 28 – Memorial Day weekend. Participants will receive a T-shirt and barbecue dinner at the completion of the walk. Anyone wishing to volunteer, call Warriors Veteran Outreach at 557-6881 or visit warriorsveteransoutreach.com.