With 13 years in the service, Tech. Sgt. Richmond, 30th Space Wing self-assessment program manager, has seen it all, but what matters most is his family. Richmond has experienced loss from suicide, but throughout all of his heartache, he has been resilient.
Transcript
So in my lifetime, I have known four individuals to take their own lives. I lost my brother in 2013. He had tried multiple times to commit suicide, and, ultimately finally succeeded. He was in Kurdistan at the time on deployment, and I remember standing in the shop and then all of a sudden, it just got quiet. And I was working on a vehicle, so my back was turned to the large bay. A bunch of leadership starting walking towards me, and they, you know, asked me, “Hey, can we talk to you really quick”? And honestly, I locked up. I said, “No, you can tell me right now”. Because I felt safe, I felt safe around the vehicles. I felt safe in the shop. I felt safe around my people.
Then in 2014, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. And in 2016, she ended up suffering too much that she didn’t want to go on anymore, and she took her own life. And it was kinda hard, ’cause, you know, her son did the same thing years before. So just to imagine what was going through her head, and that she was alone, there’s no, no goodbye. No “I’m sorry”. No, no nothing. She had fought and struggled long enough, and she just couldn’t do it anymore. I still think I could have, maybe done more. But I think we have to realize that we, we do a lot. And that we can’t take the burden on ourselves, we have to be able to trust in others to help us whenever. For me, it’s, it’s been having those anchors. Having my step-dad has been a huge anchor in my life. My wife, having her. She has been literally everything to keep me going for the last 17 years. Then having an amazing son. At the end of the day, the Air Force has so many resources out there for people. And I think a lot of people, are just afraid of how going to mental health or going to the doctor or how talking to a counselor will affect their careers, their life, their livelihood. I can say firsthand that I’ve used all of those resources to keep me where I am today. And it’s not affected my career in any way. If anything, it’s only made it better because it’s made me more resilient and more focused. It’s got me back to attacking the mission like we’re supposed to be doing.