Racine nurse involved in counseling soldiers
Russell Seager, a nurse from Racine, Wis., was heading to Iraq to help soldiers suffering from mental health problems because of the war.
So it was a terrible irony that he was shot to death not by an enemy overseas, but by a colleague — an Army psychiatrist at Fort Hood, Texas.
(AP)
Seager, a 51-year-old nurse at the VA Medical Center in Milwaukee, led a mental health team whose patients ranged from soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq to veterans of World War II. He also taught at Bryant & Stratton College in Milwaukee.
“His unit was involved in counseling soldiers,” said Peter Pavone, director of the college’s Milwaukee campuses. “In July, I went to his going-away party. I stood back and watched as his co-workers and students gave vignettes about what he meant to them. It was touching.”
Seager was among 13 people shot to death Thursday at the military base. Authorities have identified Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, as the killer.
“I just don’t know what to think,” said Larry Seager, an uncle. “The guy that done the shooting was a psychologist, too. To take someone’s life because he didn’t want to go oversees is just too much.”
Seager, a permanent adjunct teacher at Bryant & Stratton since May 2005, was “unassuming, dedicated and full of energy,” Pavone said.
At graduation ceremonies, students have given keynote addresses singling out Seager as the primary reason for their success, Pavone said.
Seager was profiled in August by WUWM-FM (89.7), a public radio station in Milwaukee.
He said he signed up for the Army Reserve about four years ago and aggressively pursued his first deployment to Iraq.
“I’ve always had a great deal of respect for the military and for service and I just felt it was time that I stepped up and did it, actually, I mean it sounds corny and patriotic, but when you talk to people that decide to do this, the feelings are similar,” he said in the radio interview.
Seager said his Combat Stress Control Unit would watch for warning signs among soldiers on the front lines, things like anger and insubordination.
“Every soldier wants to be perceived as being strong, but the Army has made it a point to stress that it takes a strong soldier to ask for help and I think we’ve come a long way,” he said.