Decorated Green Beret known as ‘Captain America’ commits suicide

A decorated Green Beret who served a dozen combat tours, including six in Afghanistan, committed suicide last week in front of his wife, becoming the 30th member of his elite battalion to kill himself, according to reports.

Master Sgt. Andrew Christian Marckesano, 34, was known as “Captain America” to his fellow soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division. He earned a Silver Star for bravery and had recently moved to Washington, DC, to work at the Pentagon.

But on July 6, after having dinner with his former battalion commander, Marckesano returned home and committed suicide in front of his wife. He was still on active duty and leaves behind three small children.

Enlarge ImageMaster Sgt. Andrew Christian Marckesano

Master Sgt. Andrew Christian Marckesano

It was not clear how he killed himself.

In the days before he died, he sent an upbeat message to his fellow soldiers: “Text me, I told you before my door is open . . . my phone is at hand. We did things that people make movies about and in some cases, writers and producers wouldn’t even try to write our story . . . the rucksack is heavy . . . and when it gets heavy we [&$#*] help each other, but you have to reach out . . . Don’t let the Valley win,” according to Fox News.

Friends and family said Marckesano never really got past his 2009 tour in Afghanistan’s Arghandab Valley with the 2-508 battalion, which had one of the highest mortality rates in the war.

“That deployment was like being in the ring with Mike Tyson for a year,” the battalion’s former Command Sgt. Major Bert Puckett told Fox.

Marckesano is one of an estimated 20 combat veterans who are killing themselves every day, according to military statistics. Last month, President Trump launched the PREVENTS Task Force to aid veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress.

“My administration is marshaling every resource to stop the crisis of veteran suicide and protect our nation’s most treasured heroes,” Trump said. “They’ve been through so much, and it’s such a deep-seated problem.”

https://nypost.com/2020/07/11/green-beret-known-as-captain-america-commits-suicide/

‘Bill & Ted’ Star Alex Winter’s HBO Doc ‘Showbiz Kids’ Reveals Abuse of Former Child Stars

Former child stars are opening about sexual abuse and emotional trauma resulting from being a child actor in Bill & Ted star Alex Winter’s new HBO documentary, Showbiz Kids.

“It was a fantasy come to life,” Winter told the New York Post. “All of the Broadway giants would be backstage every night. It was an amazing memory.”

Winter — best known for portrayal of Bill S. Preston, Esq. in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure — does not appear in his documentary, because he “would have overtaken the film.” Winter, now 55, revealed to The Post that he had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of an adult during a show’s run when he was only 12-years-old.

“I didn’t feel safe talking about it for 25 years,” Winter said. “You keep [the experience] compartmentalized and it either blows apart — drugs, alcohol, suicide — or you get help, process what happened and put the pieces back together.”

Former child actor Todd Bridges — best known for his portrayal of Willis Jackson on the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes — was also featured in the documentary directed by Winter. “I wanted to be like Redd Foxx. I wanted to be on ­television,” said Bridges, who reportedly had to deal with racism, money-stealing team members, and a sexually aggressive publicist.

“I had a gun pulled on my head when I was 12. An officer told me that my bike was stolen. If you are going to be in showbiz as a child, make sure you have a secondary business as an adult,” added Bridges, who is now 55. “Acting is a fictional life, and you have to discover real life. I can deal with both. But I prefer real life.”

Several of the former child stars in the documentary noted that their parents had pressured them of living up to their personal ambitions. Wil Wheaton — best known for his role in the hit 1986 film Stand By Me — revealed in the documentary that his mother had pushed him to be an actor because she had her own dreams of fame. “It was never my idea,” he said. “I don’t know a 7-year-old who says they want to go to work.”

Evan Rachel Wood — who starred in the sexually provocative film Thirteen when she “was 14, on the verge of becoming a woman” — talked about how failing to become an actress was not an option in her family. “It would be disappointing to people if I didn’t want to do this because I was talented,” said Wood, now 32. “If I didn’t want to do this, the vibe would have been ‘what a waste.’ I didn’t feel that I could stop because I was good. So I just did it.”

More: https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2020/07/12/bill-ted-star-alex-winters-hbo-doc-showbiz-kids-reveals-abuse-of-former-child-stars/