Sister of dead soldier criticizes government's PTSD support for veterans

Inbal Dagan said her brother, combat navigator Major Asaf Dagan, who recently ended his life in a forest near Atlit, criticized the government in a Facebook eulogy for her sibling on Friday for outdated and absurd policies towards traumatized war veterans.

She included the letter he left for their mother, in which he said, “I want you to know, Mom, that I am no longer in pain. Now, Mom, I have finally found peace… I am so tired and exhausted. Every day my pain and difficulties worsen, as I watch you fight with the remnants of your strength… I don’t want you to have false hope. I have no place in this world.”

Dagan described her brother’s struggle this way: “My mother dedicated her life to saving Asaph… He showed all the classic symptoms of PTSD.”

She highlighted her mother’s continued efforts and noted that her pleas to the Ministry of Defense and several other organizations fell on “deaf ears.”

Asaf, who began his service as a paratrooper, was a combat navigator in the Israeli Air Force and fought in the Second Lebanon War, participating in every military operation for twenty years. Despite his deteriorating mental health, his sister noted in her Facebook post that he continued to serve on the reservations until weeks before his death.

Dagan emphasized, “Asaf was a clear case of a combat veteran suffering from PTSD… The most severe cases isolate themselves and wither away.”

Military funeral and criticism of PTSD support system

In her post, Dagan also highlighted bureaucratic indifference, stating: “Under the outdated protocols of the Ministry of Defense… Asaf had to ‘reach out to himself’ and ask for help.”

Highlighting the “absurdity” of the system, she noted: “Everyone knows that a hallmark of severely traumatized veterans is their inability to seek help.”

Asaf’s body is currently at the Rambam Health Care Campus, Dagan wrote in her post. In his letter, he expressed his wish to have his organs donated, which was honoring to the family, she explained.

According to the post, Dagan’s family is calling for public support to ensure that Asaf receives a military funeral and recognition, stressing: “The family will not allow this double injustice… we firmly refuse to bury him in a ceremony that is not a full military ceremony. ”

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Dagan concluded with the message: “Asaf, I miss you and love you. We will not give up.”