An Academy Instructor of mine.
C Detachment
-------------------------------------------------
Location: Russian Mission
Case number: Unknown
Type: Suicide
Text: On Friday April 8, 2005, at approximately 8:00 pm, Alaska State
Troopers in Bethel were notified by Bethel Police dispatch that Simeon
Askoak, age 50 of Russian Mission, had been found deceased, the result
of a self inflicted gun shot wound. Two troopers responded to Russian
Mission to investigate. Initial findings indicate that sometime between
5:00 pm and 7:30 pm, Askoak took a handgun he owned, went out about 100
yards from his home and shot himself once in the chest. The
investigation establishes this shooting as a suicide. No foul play is
suspected. Simeon Askoak was a sergeant in the Village Public Safety
Officer program. Sgt. Askoak had been a VPSO in Russian Mission for the
past 13 years. He was a highly trained and respected officer.
Additional troopers and the
Association of Village Council Presidents' VPSO coordinator are
traveling to Russian Mission today to assist the Askoak family.
Author: GJW
Received and posted Saturday, April 09, 2005 11:35 AM
theSam says;
I found this posting on the State of Alaska website.
It was in the recent Daily Dispatches.
This news hit me like a slap in the face. What?!!!
no no.
They must have the name wrong. I kept reading.
..." was a sergeant in the VPSO program..."
I knew it was him then.
He was short.
Of course to me, a tall Lakota Sioux man, everyone is short!
But in VPSO experience and VILLAGE experience the man towered over us all.
He was a pleasant man with thinning black and gray hair, small build that was thick and powerful.
And just the way he taught us by words, by gestures, by body language-he was smoother than the brass of my Sam Brown duty belt buckle that I wore at the time.
Sgt Simeon was our First Aid Instructor at the Academy.
The material was simple and to the point. Too simple for me and beneath me.
Inwardly I wanted the materials to bear the fancy trademarks and logos of the American Heart Association, the Red Cross, etc.
And I wanted for the materials to be slick and glossy and worth displaying on my office shelf back in theVillage.
I wanted the materials and the company behind the training to be on par with the biggest and brightest of the most well-respected companies that taught First Aid and CPR.
But none of this happened.
We learned our materials from these small flimsy manuals that have no more weight and heft to them than those small fold-up flyers from True Value hardware or Schucks Auto in your daily newspaper.
That was my only complaint in the class Feedback forms that I wrote anonymously.
I feel like a dumbshit now for ever thinking less of the man and even more-Less of his message that he had for us new VPSO recruits that day.
I guess this is what happens when an Officer like me is too full of his own self, his own thoughts, his own shit to care about what someone else thinks or has to say about something that he thinks he already knows about.
A year later my non-Profit company boss would send me to Homer to learn to be an Instructor of CPR,First Aid & AED.
At this class in Homer, we learned from an ASHI (american science health institutes-the newest rising star in the field) Instructor.
And I held my slick new, cover protected printed materials and carried them back and forth to class each day when I was in Homer with another group of VPSO's.
I should have felt that good about the company, the Instructor and my materials at the VPSO Academy when Sgt Simeon Askoake was instructing.
But I was a young jaded officer that already had 10 months OJT in theVillage.
Had already seen much blood when helping out in theClinic or when administering First Aid onsite in theVillage.
For I had already received an initial ETT (emergency trauma technician) class courtesy of theVillage Tribal Council.
But I should have felt great about my abilities back then in the Sgt's class as I felt that day (a year later)in Homer, as I felt similarly in theVillage when I received ETT re certifications, as I felt later on when I received my most recent ETT recert from the CREMS (Copper River EMS)group in Glennallen a few months ago.
And as I feel now.
My dreams are still haunted by the memories of the Alaska State Trooper training academy grounds, the building and of the shining examples to Public Safety that were our many Instructors.
Not that "haunted" is a bad word, but I still think of such events and dream of those days again when I sleep.
I always see a wall. The Wall that bears the names of theFallen brave men that served our fine State.
We VPSO's knew every name of those Officers, even knew of the VPSO that was also part of theWall from being gunned down years ago responding to a Domstic Violence call in his village.
And in my mind,in theAcademy that still lives in me I will also add another name to theWall.
I can't imagine how it feels to be in the shoes of a suicide by firearm.
I've been around firearms for over 30 yrs. Have recently picked up 2 Glock pistols and carry them on my waist constantly 24/7.
I feel bad sometimes about life, about situations but never low enough to blame myself for everything and to consider suicide.
I take some pride in the weapons in my hands, I clean them faithfully each week and I consider them as tools to keep cleaner than my own body.
I treasure them as I treasure my ETT training & experiences. I treasure them as I do my VPSO experiences too.
But that one day at the Academy when we brushed over First aid & CPR and then moved onto something else. I don't treasure that day.
Maybe it was the whole experience of the VPSO Academy. As our VPSO Director would toss our pins and shirt buttons to us, tossed our Badges to us when they finally arrived from the manufacturer.
The VPSO Director would throw our test results back to us or toss printed materials to us haphazardly from time to time.
It was the small things that I noticed the most in how we VPSO's were treated and in how we were valued.
The incoming ALET (alaska law enforcement training) class had a room set aside for them and nametags, books stacked up neatly waiting for their arrival a week before those future AK State Troopers & Municipal Police recruits ever showed up.
It was a week at least before we VPSO recruits were all uniformed up halfway decent.
The room of uniforms and supplies wasn't stocked for us, though we did get new issue later on before we left the Academy.
Though some old Grizzled AST retiree officers and former Police came in to talk to us VPSO recruits and it was great to hear their war stories, everything was from a "white" perspective on Law Enforcement.
It wasn't until this Sgt Askoake showed up that many of us Native officers took up added interest. For the Sgt did talk with us all about some of his experiences and those things I do treasure the most. The man with Village experience, the man that someday we would become if we stayed around long enough.
I hope and pray that theState at least has the decency to treat the Sgt's body, his funeral and his family and his memory with some dignity, as I'm sure that they will, as will we all.
Even I will think more highly of theSgt from now on.
I salute you sir,
theSam
-------------------------------------------------
Location: Russian Mission
Case number: Unknown
Type: Suicide
Text: On Friday April 8, 2005, at approximately 8:00 pm, Alaska State
Troopers in Bethel were notified by Bethel Police dispatch that Simeon
Askoak, age 50 of Russian Mission, had been found deceased, the result
of a self inflicted gun shot wound. Two troopers responded to Russian
Mission to investigate. Initial findings indicate that sometime between
5:00 pm and 7:30 pm, Askoak took a handgun he owned, went out about 100
yards from his home and shot himself once in the chest. The
investigation establishes this shooting as a suicide. No foul play is
suspected. Simeon Askoak was a sergeant in the Village Public Safety
Officer program. Sgt. Askoak had been a VPSO in Russian Mission for the
past 13 years. He was a highly trained and respected officer.
Additional troopers and the
Association of Village Council Presidents' VPSO coordinator are
traveling to Russian Mission today to assist the Askoak family.
Author: GJW
Received and posted Saturday, April 09, 2005 11:35 AM
theSam says;
I found this posting on the State of Alaska website.
It was in the recent Daily Dispatches.
This news hit me like a slap in the face. What?!!!
no no.
They must have the name wrong. I kept reading.
..." was a sergeant in the VPSO program..."
I knew it was him then.
He was short.
Of course to me, a tall Lakota Sioux man, everyone is short!
But in VPSO experience and VILLAGE experience the man towered over us all.
He was a pleasant man with thinning black and gray hair, small build that was thick and powerful.
And just the way he taught us by words, by gestures, by body language-he was smoother than the brass of my Sam Brown duty belt buckle that I wore at the time.
Sgt Simeon was our First Aid Instructor at the Academy.
The material was simple and to the point. Too simple for me and beneath me.
Inwardly I wanted the materials to bear the fancy trademarks and logos of the American Heart Association, the Red Cross, etc.
And I wanted for the materials to be slick and glossy and worth displaying on my office shelf back in theVillage.
I wanted the materials and the company behind the training to be on par with the biggest and brightest of the most well-respected companies that taught First Aid and CPR.
But none of this happened.
We learned our materials from these small flimsy manuals that have no more weight and heft to them than those small fold-up flyers from True Value hardware or Schucks Auto in your daily newspaper.
That was my only complaint in the class Feedback forms that I wrote anonymously.
I feel like a dumbshit now for ever thinking less of the man and even more-Less of his message that he had for us new VPSO recruits that day.
I guess this is what happens when an Officer like me is too full of his own self, his own thoughts, his own shit to care about what someone else thinks or has to say about something that he thinks he already knows about.
A year later my non-Profit company boss would send me to Homer to learn to be an Instructor of CPR,First Aid & AED.
At this class in Homer, we learned from an ASHI (american science health institutes-the newest rising star in the field) Instructor.
And I held my slick new, cover protected printed materials and carried them back and forth to class each day when I was in Homer with another group of VPSO's.
I should have felt that good about the company, the Instructor and my materials at the VPSO Academy when Sgt Simeon Askoake was instructing.
But I was a young jaded officer that already had 10 months OJT in theVillage.
Had already seen much blood when helping out in theClinic or when administering First Aid onsite in theVillage.
For I had already received an initial ETT (emergency trauma technician) class courtesy of theVillage Tribal Council.
But I should have felt great about my abilities back then in the Sgt's class as I felt that day (a year later)in Homer, as I felt similarly in theVillage when I received ETT re certifications, as I felt later on when I received my most recent ETT recert from the CREMS (Copper River EMS)group in Glennallen a few months ago.
And as I feel now.
My dreams are still haunted by the memories of the Alaska State Trooper training academy grounds, the building and of the shining examples to Public Safety that were our many Instructors.
Not that "haunted" is a bad word, but I still think of such events and dream of those days again when I sleep.
I always see a wall. The Wall that bears the names of theFallen brave men that served our fine State.
We VPSO's knew every name of those Officers, even knew of the VPSO that was also part of theWall from being gunned down years ago responding to a Domstic Violence call in his village.
And in my mind,in theAcademy that still lives in me I will also add another name to theWall.
I can't imagine how it feels to be in the shoes of a suicide by firearm.
I've been around firearms for over 30 yrs. Have recently picked up 2 Glock pistols and carry them on my waist constantly 24/7.
I feel bad sometimes about life, about situations but never low enough to blame myself for everything and to consider suicide.
I take some pride in the weapons in my hands, I clean them faithfully each week and I consider them as tools to keep cleaner than my own body.
I treasure them as I treasure my ETT training & experiences. I treasure them as I do my VPSO experiences too.
But that one day at the Academy when we brushed over First aid & CPR and then moved onto something else. I don't treasure that day.
Maybe it was the whole experience of the VPSO Academy. As our VPSO Director would toss our pins and shirt buttons to us, tossed our Badges to us when they finally arrived from the manufacturer.
The VPSO Director would throw our test results back to us or toss printed materials to us haphazardly from time to time.
It was the small things that I noticed the most in how we VPSO's were treated and in how we were valued.
The incoming ALET (alaska law enforcement training) class had a room set aside for them and nametags, books stacked up neatly waiting for their arrival a week before those future AK State Troopers & Municipal Police recruits ever showed up.
It was a week at least before we VPSO recruits were all uniformed up halfway decent.
The room of uniforms and supplies wasn't stocked for us, though we did get new issue later on before we left the Academy.
Though some old Grizzled AST retiree officers and former Police came in to talk to us VPSO recruits and it was great to hear their war stories, everything was from a "white" perspective on Law Enforcement.
It wasn't until this Sgt Askoake showed up that many of us Native officers took up added interest. For the Sgt did talk with us all about some of his experiences and those things I do treasure the most. The man with Village experience, the man that someday we would become if we stayed around long enough.
I hope and pray that theState at least has the decency to treat the Sgt's body, his funeral and his family and his memory with some dignity, as I'm sure that they will, as will we all.
Even I will think more highly of theSgt from now on.
I salute you sir,
theSam
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