Editor’s note: Sun Herald photography intern Lukas Flippo has been capturing the Mississippi Coast’s biggest events of 2020 through his lens, and in between breaking news and interviews he’s worked on a project of personal importance: sharing the stories of our military’s veterans.
“My battalion has the highest rate of suicide in the Navy. We check on each other, but it’s hard.
“One night everything is okay, but then the next day we get news of the death. We all talk about it, but we can’t figure out what to do.”
Brett grew up in a small Missouri town where everyone worked hard for what they had.
”Out of high school, I was doing landscaping, which was pretty good money. I was in college to be an EMT, but I wanted something different. I was living in a one-horse town, where everyone you saw, you knew. I wanted to see different people and different places. So I joined the Navy and left 6 months after I walked in the recruiter’s office.”
Brett’s dad served in the Navy in the 60s — a time period where perspectives on the military were shifting dramatically. I asked Brett what his dad felt when he told him he had joined the Navy. Was it sadness? Pride? Shock?
”He told me, ‘ah I always figured you would.’”
