{"id":5475,"date":"2015-01-11T07:48:53","date_gmt":"2015-01-11T12:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lcpllutzlivetotell.org\/?p=5475"},"modified":"2017-11-07T22:01:40","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T03:01:40","slug":"2015ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/?p=5475","title":{"rendered":"Mother picks up the pieces after the suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mother picks up the pieces after the suicide of her Marine son<\/h4>\n

By\u00a0James LaPorta<\/span>\u00a0January 9, 2015<\/span><\/p>\n

Janine Lutz, the mother of Marine Lance Cpl. Janos Lutz, somberly looks over his closet at her home in Florida recently. He committed suicide two years ago. (Photo by James LaPorta)<\/span><\/div>\n

DAVIE, Fla. \u2014 It has been two years since Marine veteran Janos \u201cJohn\u201d Lutz committed suicide, wracked with the memories and guilt he came home with following a\u00a0deployment to Afghanistan. An enlisted infantryman, he had been involved in the largest helicopter offensive that the Marine Corps had launched since the Vietnam War, taking back territory from the Taliban. And he lost his best friend in that mission.<\/p>\n

Lutz\u2019s death sent his mother, Janine, 53, into a spiral, she said. She, too, considered suicide before deciding that she wanted to honor her son\u2019s memory by raising awareness about the unseen wounds that combat veterans can have, she said. In May 2013, she launched a foundation bearing her son\u2019s name, providing a support system for returning veterans and their families here in this town just north of Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I decided not to kill myself \u2026 I told myself, we need to raise awareness,\u201d Ms. Lutz said. \u201cWe need to tell the families about post-traumatic stress, how to deal with and what to expect \u2014 These guys need to know they are not crazy, that what they are feeling is normal for experiencing the theater of war. They are survivors, and they are awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the second annual Lance Cpl. Janos V. Lutz Live to Tell Awareness Motorcycle Ride will travel 26 miles, starting here at Western High School, where Lutz was a student before joining the Marine Corps, and finishing in nearby Pembroke Pines, Fla. Its purpose is to encourage veterans to grow from their most difficult days and provide information about post-traumatic stress to their families.<\/p>\n

Lutz, who left the service as a lance corporal, committed suicide two years ago on Monday while dogged by the memories of his 2009 deployment to Afghanistan. An enlisted infantryman, he had deployed to Iraq previously and found it to be a \u201ccakewalk,\u201d his mother said \u2013 but the violence and unforgiving nature of his next war-zone assignment was not.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nMarine Pfc. Janos V. Lutz races to get more ammunition while under gunfire from enemy positions in the village of Mianposhteh in Garmsir district, Afghanistan, on Sept. 6, 2009. (Photo by Sgt. Scott Whittington\/ Marine Corps)<\/span><\/div>\n

The worst day was July 2, 2009. Reveille came early that day as John and the rest of Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, of Camp Lejeune, N.C., began to awake from their slumber under the blanket of cool air and the growing anticipation at what the day might bring. The Marines didn\u2019t get much sleep the night before as Afghanistan\u2019s \u201c120 days of wind\u201d \u2013 famous for kicking up brutal sandstorms \u2013 rained a steady stream of dirt onto the men and their weapons and gear.<\/p>\n

By mid-morning the temperature had swelled to more than 110 degrees. Some Marines could be seen breathing every ounce of life out of the cigarettes they had lit, while others turned to their iPods. Most stood in silence, alone in their thoughts, as they began to clean their weapons.<\/del><\/p>\n

CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters started to land in the background at Forward Operating Base Dwyer. The objective was to seize control of supply routes the Taliban was using to resupply their forces farther north and improve security for the upcoming Afghan voter registration period.<\/p>\n

Second Battalion, 8th Marines, was about to\u00a0embark on Operation Khanjar<\/a>, or \u201cStrike of the Sword,\u201d the largest U.S. military offensive since the Battle of Fallujah in 2004 and the largest helicopter offensive that the Marine Corps had launched since the Vietnam War. I was there as an infantryman with a different platoon, and part of the same raid.<\/p>\n

The early morning anxiety was quickly brought to a halt once the helicopters touched down in the recently plowed marijuana fields of Mianposteh, a village on the outskirts of Garmsir district in Helmand province.<\/p>\n

Mere hours into a firefight that would not cease until sunset, one of John\u2019s platoon mates, Lance Cpl. Charles S. Sharp of Adairville, Ga., was shot in the neck by a sniper while trying to advance into a village.<\/p>\n

The 2011 Oscar-nominated documentary, \u201cHell and Back Again,\u201d depicts the scene. The Marines of Echo Company\u2019s 2nd Platoon huddled around Sharp as his blood poured onto the pants of another Marine holding his head. They called out to him to wake up \u2014 but he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n