Army suicides

[Luissa]

In one my pych classes I took said one of the reasons this has happened more during vietnam and now in Irag is because they just put them on a plane and they are home in a day or two. During World War II for example they had to come back on a ship and had more time to process everything before they were thrown back into regular life!

plus there was like may be an easier way to rationalize WWII v. the more recent conflicts...

maybe for us or non military people but I bet the men in WWII felt the same way about killing people and bombing other countries as the men do now or how about watching other soldiers being killed. I don't think those men worry to much about how we rationalize things, I am sure it is a small factor.
If you listen to them they usually say they feel isolated because non vets have no idea what they went through and what they saw.

 

[auditor0007]

The 2008 numbers were the highest annual level of suicides among soldiers since the Pentagon began tracking the rate 28 years ago. The Army said 128 soldiers were confirmed to have committed suicide in 2008, and an additional 15 were suspected of having killed themselves. The statistics cover active-duty soldiers and activated National Guard and reserves.

You do realize that the private citizen numbers include people that are too unstable to be accepted into the military right?

Old , infirm, too young, mental hospital patients, drug addicts, brain damaged, burned and many many more people who could never become a military prersonel.


We are talking young healthy people when they went in and now there dead.

Due to the inabilitiy to recruit enough people, many requirements for entry have been relaxed meaning we have a higher percentage of enlisted personnel who probalby shouldn't be there to begin with. Then there is the fact that war sucks and causes major stress. It would seem reasonable that these numbers are higher now that we are at war than during times at peace.

I'm not saying this should be disregarded or that we shouldn't have a concern, but I don't find these numbers all that unusual.

 

[Mr. President]

If you want to know the truth a lot of the suicides are from personal issues that happen while the soldiers are overseas. Not from the soldier experiencing the combat. Soldiers are trained to be as prepared as possilble for the realities of war. Once they return from overseas they are counseled. A lot of the suicides are from Spouses cheating, soldier is addicted and was addicted to drugs before the deployment so on and so forth. So please take all things into consideration before posting a serious topic from an ignorant point of view.

 

[AllieBaba]

The 2008 numbers were the highest annual level of suicides among soldiers since the Pentagon began tracking the rate 28 years ago. The Army said 128 soldiers were confirmed to have committed suicide in 2008, and an additional 15 were suspected of having killed themselves. The statistics cover active-duty soldiers and activated National Guard and reserves.

You do realize that the private citizen numbers include people that are too unstable to be accepted into the military right?

Old , infirm, too young, mental hospital patients, drug addicts, brain damaged, burned and many many more people who could never become a military prersonel.


We are talking young healthy people when they went in and now there dead.

Sadly, your numbers reflect the national average.

Getting rid of the military won't eliminate suicides among the at-risk groups, because it's obvious that being in the military doesn't increase the chance of committing suicide.

What a bunch of hokum.

 

[waltky]

Strict gun control laws cut down on suicides...

US troop suicides rare in some foreign outposts
February 19, 2013 - Even as the Army recorded its worst year in decades for soldiers killing themselves -- with 323 deaths in 2012 -- there were places in the service where suicides are rare.

One is South Korea, where among the nearly 20,000 GIs stationed there last year, there was one suicide: A soldier hanged himself. Leaders there say they are encouraging soldiers to seek help and to look out for one another, and that effort is paying off. In December, Army Spc. Andrew Korpash, 26, who is stationed near the Korean demilitarized zone, contacted a chaplain about desperate text messages another G.I. sent after being jilted by a woman. "The thing that got my attention was the actual list of ways he would do it (commit suicide)," says Korpash, a Korean language linguist. "That's when it seemed like it was pretty serious to me."

But there is another reason that underscores how U.S. troops die by suicide, the use of firearms. In South Korea, soldiers are effectively barred from keeping private firearms because of strict national gun control laws there. "Most soldiers in the military, the majority, commit suicide through firearms," says Maj. Gen. Edward Cardon, commander of 2nd Infantry Division and some 10,000 soldiers in South Korea. "So the restrictions on firearms is clearly a factor [in reducing the deaths]." Military research shows that guns are involved in 61 percent of servicemember suicides -- personal firearms in three out of four of those cases. Gun suicides are even more prevalent in the Army, where suicide rates have risen to 29 per 100,000 last year, above the pace of suicides in the public.

A soon-to-be published study by the Pentagon's National Center for Telehealth and Technology asserts there is a gun culture among those who volunteer to serve and acknowledges the difficulty of restricting personal firearms, despite evidence that it could reduce suicides. In Israel, which has tough restrictions on personal firearms, the Israeli Defense Force changed policy in 2006, prohibiting troops from taking their service weapons home on weekends. Suicides dropped 45 percent, according to a 2010 study. American troops anywhere in the world are heavily restricted on registration and storage of personal firearms while living on U.S. military bases. But that uniformity ends when the issue is off-base housing.

Troops overseas must abide by the restrictions of host nations, according to military policy. Accordingly, U.S. soldiers in South Korea, Germany, Italy and elsewhere are virtually without access to personal firearms. Suicides have been fewer among those troops. Last year there were three Army suicides among the 25,000 soldiers posted in Germany, one among 19,200 in South Korea and none in Italy where 3,900 soldiers are based.

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[Caroljo]

I also think they should make them go to group meetings or therapy upon returning. Even if they just sat around in a room with other vets from Irag, I am sure it help a lot.
My friend Andy was already alittle messed up from the first time he went over there and than they sent him back, I just wonder how he is going to be now????

My son said that all 3 times he came back from Iraq he went through classes and counseling. He sat around in a room with other vets from Iraq, for a few weeks.

 

[Samson]

The 2008 numbers were the highest annual level of suicides among soldiers since the Pentagon began tracking the rate 28 years ago. The Army said 128 soldiers were confirmed to have committed suicide in 2008, and an additional 15 were suspected of having killed themselves. The statistics cover active-duty soldiers and activated National Guard and reserves.

You do realize that the private citizen numbers include people that are too unstable to be accepted into the military right?

Old , infirm, too young, mental hospital patients, drug addicts, brain damaged, burned and many many more people who could never become a military prersonel.


We are talking young healthy people when they went in and now there dead.

Yeah only the mentally stable are allowed into the military.

 

[Mr. President]

Strict gun control laws cut down on suicides...

Way to politicize the death of US troops. Not being able to kill themselves with a gun means they will usually just do it a different way. I have seen soldiers abuse drugs and drink until blackout night after night. Suicide can happen in many forms and can happen over time. So clap for your gun laws while the realities of the lives of these people eats away at their liver and throats. Take your half ass article and shove it.

 

[waltky]

Too many dying too young due to suicide...

Stop the madness
March 21, 2013 - I’m tired of it. I’m so damn tired of receiving phone calls and emails from family members devastated by the suicide of their loved one. Sons. Daughters. Husbands. I’m tired of it because I was almost one of those suicides. As a wounded warrior myself and someone who used to believe everyone’s life would be better without me in it, I take this issue personally.

The most recent report from the Department of Veterans Affairs reveals that veterans are taking their own lives at a rate of 22 each day, or one suicide every 65 minutes — a 20-percent increase from 2007. Even more gruesome, last year we saw more suicides than combat deaths (349 to 295, according to the latest Pentagon figures). The suicide epidemic among active duty service members and veterans, does not stem from one area alone and there is not one simple fix, pill or type of treatment to address all the complex issues the incredible men and women that either wear or have worn the uniform now face.

Part of the blame, lies, squarely with the media and its portrayal of PTSD. It seems the only time this issue is given credence, is when the story is sensational enough to garner ratings. Yet, close to a half million returning service members struggle every day with the symptoms of combat stress, survivors guilt, or PTSD. We are not “damaged goods.” We are Wounded Warriors; human beings experiencing a natural reaction to unnatural situations. Like everyone else we have our ups and downs and strive to live our best life. Every day we see young men and women with families completing multiple combat tours with very little down time in between deployments. When they do return home, they are faced with the growing fear, often times driven by media, of how those facing the challenge of PTSD can be detrimental to the workplace and their communities. They struggle not to let their families, friends and battle buddies down when in reality those people are their greatest supporters. Most of us mistakenly believe that confusion, depression and guilt are weaknesses and personal failings.

With 34,000 more men and women getting ready to end their campaign in Afghanistan, the work on the home front to help these warriors in the reintegration process will only become tougher. Yet, we know the current landscape: a complete lack of sufficient mental health care providers in the VA, geographical challenges for warriors not near a VA facility, and an overall system ill-prepared for the number of veterans seeking effective treatment. As executive vice president for Warrior Relations at Wounded Warrior Project, it is my hope to raise awareness to the multitude of issues these incredible individuals face, in hope that real impact can take place. WWP recently presented its legislative priorities on Capitol Hill, pressing for a collaborative effort by the VA, Department of Defense, the House and Senate Committees, as well as the Executive Branch Departments to ensure Wounded Warriors successfully transition to civilian life.

We urge the closing of gaps to improved mental healthcare of Warriors and their families while helping to ensure access to optimal, long-term rehabilitative care for severely Wounded Warriors, and needed support for their caregivers. The VA cannot do this alone and must start to use the available community resources to implement meaningful and effective change. We are not simply offering solutions — we are also taking action. Over the next six months, WWP will launch five pilot programs including peer-facilitated support groups, a unique telephone helpline providing non-clinical, emotional support for Wounded Warriors and an insurance program that will provide private mental health services.

More Stop the madness - U.S. - Stripes

 

[Sunni Man]

If you want to know the truth a lot of the suicides are from personal issues that happen while the soldiers are overseas. Not from the soldier experiencing the combat. Soldiers are trained to be as prepared as possilble for the realities of war. Once they return from overseas they are counseled. A lot of the suicides are from Spouses cheating, soldier is addicted and was addicted to drugs before the deployment so on and so forth. So please take all things into consideration before posting a serious topic from an ignorant point of view.

Not all military suicides are because of combat experiences.

I remember one soldier in my unit who slit his wrists because he received a "Dear John" letter from his wife which said she was divorcing him.

 

[waltky]

Mebbe it would help if they could find good jobs...

Report: Suicide rate spikes among young veterans
January 9, 2014 WASHINGTON -- The number of young veterans committing suicide jumped dramatically from 2009 to 2011, a worrying trend that Veterans Affairs officials hope can be reversed with more treatment and intervention.

New suicide data released by the department on Thursday showed that the rate of veterans suicide remained largely unchanged over that three-year period, the latest for which statistics are available. About 22 veterans a day take their own life, according to department estimates. But while older veterans saw a slight decrease in suicides, male veterans under 30 saw a 44 percent increase in the rate of suicides. That’s roughly two young veterans a day who take their own life, most just a few years after leaving the service. “Their rates are astronomically high and climbing,” said Jan Kemp, VA’s National Mental Health Director for Suicide Prevention. “That’s concerning to us.”

Reasons for the increase are unclear, but Kemp said the pressures of leaving military careers, readjusting to civilian life and combat injuries like post-traumatic stress disorder all play a role in the problems facing young male vets. Female veterans saw an 11 percent increase in their suicide rate over the same span. Overall, suicide rates for all veterans remain significantly above their civilian counterparts.

The good news, according to the report, is that officials have seen decreases in the suicide rates of veterans who seek care within the VA health system. Of the 22 deaths a day, only about five are patients in the health system. “What we’re seeing is that getting help does matter,” Kemp said. “Treatment does work.” Now, she said, the challenge is expanding that outreach. Persuading younger veterans to seek care remains particularly problematic, because of stigma associated with mental health problems.

VA officials have boosted their mental health personnel and suicide hotline staff in recent years, but the outdated data doesn’t reflect those changes. The report also notes that national rates of suicide have remained steady or increased slightly in recent years, indicating the issue is a larger national health problem, not simply a military and veterans issues.

Report: Suicide rate spikes among young veterans - Stripes - Independent U.S. military news from Iraq, Afghanistan and bases worldwide

See also:

An 'unfair fight' for job-seeking veterans
WASHINGTON — Home Depot wants to hire more veterans. But as its human resources staff sorts through stacks of resumes each day, they often can’t find a reason why they should.

“Veterans resumes are often too wordy and don’t explain really what their skills are,” said Eric Schelling, director of talent acquisition for the company. “We see things like overseas ribbons and military certification classes and we know it’s probably impressive. But on the civilian side, we don’t really know what any of that is.” Home Depot isn’t new to hiring former military personnel. The company is one of the largest private employers of veterans in the United States, with more than 34,000 associates spread out throughout the country and 1,500 guardsmen and reservists currently mobilized worldwide. Still, they struggle.

They face the same veteran-hiring problems that plague companies parsing through job candidates in an uneasy economy: figuring out how to bring returning war heroes into a civilian world that doesn’t really understand what working in the military means. “My approach to everything (veterans) put on the resume would be, ‘How would I explain this to someone who has never been in the military?’ ” Schelling said. “Because the person reading it probably hasn’t.” America has been at war for more than 11 years, but the impact of those deployments and wartime stress hasn’t been felt by most of the country.

As the rest of the country strived for status quo at a time of war, veterans deployed. They developed a new language of FOBs and terps but missed the rise of “American Idol.” They learned basic Farsi while friends back home got marketable degrees. They saw the war, while much of the country did not. Pentagon leaders in their “support-the-troops” speeches remind listeners that less than 1 percent of the population has served during the last recent war, while the number of veterans from past conflicts has steadily dwindled.

Slowly, the divide between those who served and those who didn’t has grown from a troublesome gap to a gaping chasm. That’s particularly evident on the jobs front, where unemployment among the youngest generation has remained stubbornly above national averages for the last five years. Employers say they want to hire veterans, but rely more and more on computer systems that routinely filter out military job titles and skills in favor of familiar civilian phrases.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Too long in combat is what drove author J.D. Salinger over the edge...

Army suicides decline sharply in 2013, reversing rising trend
January 31, 2014 ~ Scientists may never know precisely what led to a steep rise in suicides that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta described as an epidemic.

There were 150 suicides among soldiers on active-duty status last year, down from a record 185 in 2012, according to Army data. The numbers include both confirmed and suspected suicides. Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg, chief of Army personnel, says he is cautiously optimistic in seeing success in Army programs to avert suicides by giving soldiers coping strategies for keeping a positive or optimistic outlook. "I'm not declaring any kind of victory here," Bromberg says. "It's looking more promising."

Within the ranks, it has meant that people such as Levertis Jackson, an Afghanistan War veteran whose despair led him several times to try to kill himself, have chosen life. "It was like before, all my doors were closed, and I'm in a dark room," says Jackson, 41, married and father of four. "(Now) I look for reasons why I need to continue to live." He left the Army last year after completing an experimental treatment plan at Fort Carson that helps soldiers cope with deadly, self-destructive impulses. Research results slated to be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association show a promising 60 percent reduction in suicide attempts by 30 soldiers who participated in the program.

Efforts such as this one conducted by the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah and the University of Memphis are part of complex effort by the Army to reduce suicides. Larger initiatives include years of expanding behavioral health counseling. "I think we've hit the turning point where people are really, really talking about behavioral health and the fact that it's OK to have problems. It's what you do with those problems that's important," Bromberg says. The Army has spent tens of millions of dollars in a long-term study of suicide, teaming with the National Institutes of Health, and has developed a comprehensive program of instilling emotional resilience in soldiers.

Suicide researchers say the decline may be the inevitable result of the nation ending involvement in one war in Iraq and winding down its role in another in Afghanistan. "I get the sense when I work with military people now, they just don't seem as burnt out as they used to be," says Craig Bryan, associate director of the National Center for Veterans Studies. "I mean there was a while there, they were just driven into the ground, even if they'd not been deployed, it was just keep going more, more, more, more."

MORE

 

[usmcstinger]

The 2008 numbers were the highest annual level of suicides among soldiers since the Pentagon began tracking the rate 28 years ago. The Army said 128 soldiers were confirmed to have committed suicide in 2008, and an additional 15 were suspected of having killed themselves. The statistics cover active-duty soldiers and activated National Guard and reserves.

You do realize that the private citizen numbers include people that are too unstable to be accepted into the military right?

Old , infirm, too young, mental hospital patients, drug addicts, brain damaged, burned and many many more people who could never become a military prersonel.


We are talking young healthy people when they went in and now there dead.

Yes, that's true.

And as long as we send young men and women into harms way, as long as people who were raised in civil societies are put into situations where they rules are kill or be killed, we will continue to see that such events are extremely tramatic, and that some people will kill themselves because of it.

The military is worried about it?

I think not.

I think the military is well aware of this phenomena.

I think they're worried about the reaction of the public though, because for some reason the civilian population seems to forget that this is one of the normal outcomes of sending people into high stress war zones.

Empires do have a price, folks.

This is but one small price that comes from maintaining one.

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.
2012 Military Suicides Hit Record High of 349 | Military.com

 

[Mushroom]

You do realize that the private citizen numbers include people that are too unstable to be accepted into the military right?

Old , infirm, too young, mental hospital patients, drug addicts, brain damaged, burned and many many more people who could never become a military prersonel.

We are talking young healthy people when they went in and now there dead.

And you are aware that the majority of those in the military are in the highest risk brackets for suicide, right?

Males, ages 16-24. This is the age bracket that has the highest number of suicides, surpassed only in percentage (but not in numbers) by the elderly.

 

[Mushroom]

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.
2012 Military Suicides Hit Record High of 349 | Military.com

But whenever people like this bring up suicide, it is not really in concern for those in uniform. It is to attempt to make some kind of political point.

To them, dead people in uniform mean nothing, unless they can make a political point about it.

 

[whitehall]

Your guy won the election lefties.

 

[Mushroom]

Your guy won the election lefties.

Which means they can't blame it all on President Bush as they had done for 10 years.

So now they need to find another scapegoat.