This is the lead to a commentary I posted at pipenozzle.com on the blog there. It received a strong response, so I thought I'd post the lead here. To read the full entry, go to pipenozzle.com.

"It’s tempting to mention the irony of Philadelphia firefighter John Slivinski, Jr. killing himself just after I wrote about PTSD, but it would be foolish to do so, because we don’t have the complete story on his death yet, and I hope we do get the complete story one of these days.

"All we have now from press reports is a stack of facts that don’t add up to an explanation. All we know is that the young man, 31, was a member of Rescue 1 in the Philadelphia Fire Department. We know he was the son of a Philadelphia firefighter who also served at Rescue 1. We know the family has no statement about the death right now. We know the Philly Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers was shocked and surprised and reduced to the usual cliches in vain attempt to react to someone so young who seems on top of the world putting a gun to his own head. And we know one of John Slivinski’s fellow firefighters at Rescue 1 offered vague comment to the press that John had been dealing with personal problems lately. Maybe an allusion to his marriage falling apart, which begs the question of why the marriage fell apart...."