Preventing Soldier Suicide: How Data is On The Front Lines of Fighting Invisible War Wounds

Captain Austin Murga grew up wanting to serve his country in the military. After attending military school, he went on to get his Ranger pin at Fort Benning and was later deployed to Afghanistan. During his nine month tour, Captain Murga and his Company were placed with special forces, which his parents said was not the original plan. 

When he returned home, the time spent out of country had left its invisible marks on Captain Murga. His parents, who spoke about their son in a Stop Soldier Suicide video, did not know he was struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. “I’m very proud of my son, he gallantly fought those demons. But they won, the night of September seventh,” his mother, Gay said. “When that demon hits, it hits,” his father, Kevin added, “It was not our son’s intention, he was fighting it so hard. It just overtook him.” 

The Murgas are now advocates for raising awareness about PTSD, which took the life of their only child. “The statistics are glaring, that so many more soldiers die of their PTSD battle wounds than die actually on hostile ground. It is very much a part of the battle wounds,” said Gay. 

With the consent of their families, the Black Box Project temporarily takes the digital devices of those who have died by suicide. Information is then extracted using Cellebrite solutions and examined to help experts identify crisis situations. Cellebrite is proud to partner with Stop Soldier Suicide and the Black Box Project in the mission to save the lives of heroes who have already given so much. “The first success was, I think, for the families to see that they have an outlet, their son’s not forgotten. There is potentially good they could do almost like organ donating,” Devitt said. “I think it’s a way and an outlet for them to maybe potentially prevent that from happening to somebody else.” 

Ford adds that the firsthand data they are receiving through Cellebrite solutions is shedding a light on what is happening in the days, weeks and months ahead of death – and it’s information that has never been uncovered. “Our partnership with Cellebrite has been critical to Black Box Project,” he said. “The tools that have been made available to us to do these analyses and really uncover what’s going on in the digital behaviors of those who’ve died is essential for this project. It’s been a remarkable journey to focus on such an important cause and reimagine a new future for our country.” 

Stop Soldier Suicide has a hotline that is available to veterans or current service members in crisis, call (844) 317-1136.