Every 65 minutes, a vet commits suicide

[Luddly Neddite]

Suicide Rate Among Vets and Active Duty Military Jumps - Now 22 A Day - Forbes

Almost once an hour – every 65 minutes to be precise – a military veteran commits suicide, says a new investigation by the Department of Veterans Affairs. By far the most extensive study of veteran suicides ever conducted, the report, issued Friday, examined suicide data from 1999 to 2010.

The data was then compared with a previous investigation – primarily an estimation – that had been conducted over the same time period, and had found a suicide rate of 18 per day.

Many of these suicides involve older veterans; 69 percent of the suicides recorded were by veterans age 50 and older. But another way to look at this is that 31 percent of these suicides were by veterans 49 and younger. In other words,by men in the prime of life.

This is obscene. We owe them so much but we give them less than nothing. Our First and Second Ladies have helped by opening job and housing opportunities for vets and their families but its not enough. The VA has been a huge bureaucratic mess for many many years. I can remember Vietnam vets getting the same years-long run around and its only gotten worse.

Write you congress person and demand that vets get the benefits they've earned. And, none of that shit about taking food stamps away from children and the elderly to pay for it. We're supposedly the richest nation in the world and we can afford to help the least and most wounded among us.

Just please do it.

 

[Caroljo]

I agree....

and it would help if we stopped giving money to countries that hate us and burn our flag....that money could be well spent here for our Vets!! We don't need to take away from children and the elderly, we have all that money going to other countries that don't deserve it.......

 

[SFC Ollie]

Coast Guard: Average of four per year.

Navy: 11.6 per 100,000 members in 2009.

Air Force: 12.3 per 100,000 members in 2009.

Marine Corps: 19 per 100,000 members in 2009.

Army: 20.2 per 100,000 members in 2009.

General US population: 11.1 per 100,000 over the last five years.


No doubt there is a problem. But I'm yet to hear a solution or to see if this held true during/after nam, Korea, WW2. etc......

 

[usmcstinger]

Suicide Rate Among Vets and Active Duty Military Jumps - Now 22 A Day - Forbes

Almost once an hour – every 65 minutes to be precise – a military veteran commits suicide, says a new investigation by the Department of Veterans Affairs. By far the most extensive study of veteran suicides ever conducted, the report, issued Friday, examined suicide data from 1999 to 2010.

The data was then compared with a previous investigation – primarily an estimation – that had been conducted over the same time period, and had found a suicide rate of 18 per day.

Many of these suicides involve older veterans; 69 percent of the suicides recorded were by veterans age 50 and older. But another way to look at this is that 31 percent of these suicides were by veterans 49 and younger. In other words,by men in the prime of life.

This is obscene. We owe them so much but we give them less than nothing. Our First and Second Ladies have helped by opening job and housing opportunities for vets and their families but its not enough. The VA has been a huge bureaucratic mess for many many years. I can remember Vietnam vets getting the same years-long run around and its only gotten worse.

Write you congress person and demand that vets get the benefits they've earned. And, none of that shit about taking food stamps away from children and the elderly to pay for it. We're supposedly the richest nation in the world and we can afford to help the least and most wounded among us.

Just please do it.

What is very peculiar is the high number of suicides among the Air Force and Navy.

The Pentagon says that although the military suicide rate has been rising, it remains below that of the civilian population. It says the civilian suicide rate for males aged 17-60 was 25 per 100,000 in 2010, the latest year for which such statistics are available. That compares with the military's rate in 2012 of 17.5 per 100,000.
[/B]
2012 Military Suicides Hit Record High of 349 | Military.com

 

[jan]

Almost once an hour – every 65 minutes to be precise – a military veteran commits suicide

That's because the military screws perfectly normal people up! They take the young and naïve and fuck them up for the rest of their life. Distorted values and missions.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Don't send them to meaningless Wars for Profit only.

Don't give them Psychotropic Drugs.

 

[tjvh]

Almost once an hour – every 65 minutes to be precise – a military veteran commits suicide

That's because the military screws perfectly normal people up! They take the young and naïve and fuck them up for the rest of their life. Distorted values and missions.

Being a Military veteran I find your baseless claim complete Bullshit.

 

[Mr. H.]

Don't send them to meaningless Wars for Profit only.

Don't give them Psychotropic Drugs.

The OP isn't a treatise nor a commentary on war.
Please don't drag that into this thread.

 

[Zona]

If that fucking Iraq war had not started, the Afghanistan war would have been over years ago. I winder what the stats would be now.

 

[Zona]

Almost once an hour – every 65 minutes to be precise – a military veteran commits suicide

That's because the military screws perfectly normal people up! They take the young and naïve and fuck them up for the rest of their life. Distorted values and missions.

I disagree. Then again, I am a tad biased since I did twenty years. You? If you did serve, you sticking with such a sweeping statement? Seriously. ??

 

[jan]

The military teaches men to kill when they probably were brought up to value life. The entire regime sets the stage for incongruencies throughout the rest of a person's life.

 

[usmcstinger]

Almost once an hour – every 65 minutes to be precise – a military veteran commits suicide

That's because the military screws perfectly normal people up! They take the young and naïve and fuck them up for the rest of their life. Distorted values and missions.

Did you serve in combat with our Armed Forces?

 

[noose4]

The V.A. has great services (at least in big cities) for those in need of mental healthcare but a big part of the problem is getting through the red tape to get the treatment and even finding out what they have available for help, which is why any vet who seeks aid from the V.A. should go through a service organization like the American Legion or VFW in help in knowing how to go about applying for help.

 

[Trajan]

Suicide Rate Among Vets and Active Duty Military Jumps - Now 22 A Day - Forbes

Almost once an hour – every 65 minutes to be precise – a military veteran commits suicide, says a new investigation by the Department of Veterans Affairs. By far the most extensive study of veteran suicides ever conducted, the report, issued Friday, examined suicide data from 1999 to 2010.

The data was then compared with a previous investigation – primarily an estimation – that had been conducted over the same time period, and had found a suicide rate of 18 per day.

Many of these suicides involve older veterans; 69 percent of the suicides recorded were by veterans age 50 and older. But another way to look at this is that 31 percent of these suicides were by veterans 49 and younger. In other words,by men in the prime of life.

This is obscene. We owe them so much but we give them less than nothing. Our First and Second Ladies have helped by opening job and housing opportunities for vets and their families but its not enough. The VA has been a huge bureaucratic mess for many many years. I can remember Vietnam vets getting the same years-long run around and its only gotten worse.

Write you congress person and demand that vets get the benefits they've earned. And, none of that shit about taking food stamps away from children and the elderly to pay for it. We're supposedly the richest nation in the world and we can afford to help the least and most wounded among us.

Just please do it.

What is very peculiar is the high number of suicides among the Air Force and Navy.

The Pentagon says that although the military suicide rate has been rising, it remains below that of the civilian population. It says the civilian suicide rate for males aged 17-60 was 25 per 100,000 in 2010, the latest year for which such statistics are available. That compares with the military's rate in 2012 of 17.5 per 100,000.
[/B]
2012 Military Suicides Hit Record High of 349 | Military.com

thx for adding context, the military is after all just us, in uniform....a reflection of society, its norms etc.

just like the latest craze over the supposed out of control "sexual assaults" taking place...you gotta dig past the BS.

 

[usmcstinger]

The V.A. has great services (at least in big cities) for those in need of mental healthcare but a big part of the problem is getting through the red tape to get the treatment and even finding out what they have available for help, which is why any vet who seeks aid from the V.A. should go through a service organization like the American Legion or VFW in help in knowing how to go about applying for help.

Most VA Hospitals have a PTSD Ward, as well as out patient services. The Veterans Out Reach Centers are another source of help as well as Community Based Clinics. The following link will be helpful in finding out what serves are available , where they are located and how to obtain them. Veterans Health Administration Home

 

[whitehall]

Suicide Rate Among Vets and Active Duty Military Jumps - Now 22 A Day - Forbes

Almost once an hour – every 65 minutes to be precise – a military veteran commits suicide, says a new investigation by the Department of Veterans Affairs. By far the most extensive study of veteran suicides ever conducted, the report, issued Friday, examined suicide data from 1999 to 2010.

The data was then compared with a previous investigation – primarily an estimation – that had been conducted over the same time period, and had found a suicide rate of 18 per day.

Many of these suicides involve older veterans; 69 percent of the suicides recorded were by veterans age 50 and older. But another way to look at this is that 31 percent of these suicides were by veterans 49 and younger. In other words,by men in the prime of life.

This is obscene. We owe them so much but we give them less than nothing. Our First and Second Ladies have helped by opening job and housing opportunities for vets and their families but its not enough. The VA has been a huge bureaucratic mess for many many years. I can remember Vietnam vets getting the same years-long run around and its only gotten worse.

Write you congress person and demand that vets get the benefits they've earned. And, none of that shit about taking food stamps away from children and the elderly to pay for it. We're supposedly the richest nation in the world and we can afford to help the least and most wounded among us.

Just please do it.

What benefits did Veterans earn that they aren't getting? Years ago the radical left would be writing to the president but damn it wouldn't you know Obama is on vacation again and when he is home he is too busy supporting electric car industries. Last I looked democrats controlled 2/3 of the government. What has Harry Reid done lately besides making fun of the US commander in Iraq and telling Americans "the war is lost"?

 

[Moonglow]

The V.A. has great services (at least in big cities) for those in need of mental healthcare but a big part of the problem is getting through the red tape to get the treatment and even finding out what they have available for help, which is why any vet who seeks aid from the V.A. should go through a service organization like the American Legion or VFW in help in knowing how to go about applying for help.

I go to the VA in Fayetteville, Ark. It just added a mental ward, they have many counselors and psychiatrists to help, but many, many vets will not go to these people, and just because you get help does not mean that a cure is at hand. At least there are people that care. Project Wounded Warrior I support also. My cousin just retired from 20 years in the Marines, she is involved with many programs also for vets and mental disorders.
I can't tell you why theses people take their lives when there is so much to live for, I wish I had a cure for all, but the mind is a complicated organ and if we could understand the mind then we would be to simple to understand it.
Bless our vets and the hell some must go through to keep us free and living happily.

 

[whitehall]

Way more suicides among active service than combat deaths? What has changed in the Military in recent years? Obama elected? Harry Reid trying to impact the morale of the Troops by telling them "the war is lost"? Women in combat? Women aboard ship? Homosexuals in the barracks? The issue is complicated but clearly there is something terribly wrong. Don't expect democrats to address the issue, they were too busy dragging a poor combat Marine across the ocean for Court Martial for pissing on dead enemy corpses.

 

[Moonglow]

thanx for your cynicism

 

[Mushroom]

Actually, the statistics for things like this are always distorted for various reasons.

For one, the statistics on suicide of those on active duty. They rarely take into account that the vast majority of those suicides are also in the prime range for suicide in the first place. And the largest percentage of those in the military are men from 18-26. Coincidentally this is also the largest range for suicide. So when the demographic is already stacked, even a similar percentage is given increased weight when converted to a percentile.

I have known several who have killed themselves in uniform, or attempted it. And I can honestly say almost none were directly work related. Most were for the main reasons other do the same thing, relationship issues, financial issues, alcohol issues, and problems back home that have nothing to do with the family. The 3 I know that were related to work were no different then those in any other career. And in all 3 of these cases, the individuals were being kicked out for drugs and/or misconduct. One in particular was the son of a retired Sergeant Major, and he could not face going home after being kicked out of the Army after 2 years for getting multiple Article 15s.

And then you have the problem in this survey of tying to throw everybody that ever served in uniform into a single group. Anybody that knows statistics can tell you that this is nonsense. How about giving an equal report of everybody who had never served in the military, or maybe left handed people vs. right handed people, or those who live on mountains as opposed to those who live in valleys.

If some guy spends 2 years as a supply clerk in Fort Dix in 1960-1962, then offs himself 50 years later because his wife has passed away and his own health is failing, I bet that his serving 50+ years earlier had not a single thing with his decision.