Posted on 10/18/2019 6:48:08 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
The Department of Veterans Affairs released an alarming report Friday showing that at least 60,000 veterans died by suicide between 2008 and 2017, with little sign that the crisis is abating despite suicide prevention being the VA's top priority.
Although the total population of veterans declined by 18% during that span of years, more than 6,000 veterans died by suicide annually, according to the VA's 2019 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report.
"VA is working to prevent suicide among all veterans, whether they are enrolled in VA health care or not," Wilkie said. "That's why the department has adopted a comprehensive public health approach to suicide prevention, using bundled strategies that cut across various sectors -- faith communities, employers, schools and health care organizations, for example -- to reach veterans where they live and thrive."
The new approach was meant "to reach all veterans, even those who do not and may never come to us for care," Wilkie said.
In his cover letter for the report, Dr. Richard Stone, the executive in charge of the Veterans Health Administration, said of suicide prevention that "We cannot do this alone; we call on our community partners to join us in this effort."
"We will only be successful at preventing suicide if we break this work into actionable, manageable steps," Stone said.
(Excerpt) Read more at taskandpurpose.com ...
This is sad. I pray we find a solution.
We had two young Marines (no longer active, unrelated to one another) take their lives in Omaha last week alone.
I also wonder whether the very high leftist pressure to believe what liberals believe, and to act accordingly, might be at play here. Possibly the young veterans, at least, see themselves as not fitting in to what they see (through the MSM) as the current societal “norms”.
I do see that the USMC is about to undertake a longer transitioning process for those who are completing their enlistments. Hopefully, that will help some to adapt back to civilian life without the self-doubt that seems to be prevalent these days.
Just my thoughts. Disclosure: our 3 sons served in the USMC during the Iraq war.
It’s interesting that Vets are around 7% of the population and around 7% of the yearly suicide number (47K+ per year). I guess this problem is a problem for the entire US population and not just our military vets:-(
When is any government agency good at solving people’s problems? Never!
I could tell you stories about the VA you would never believe possible.
Remember when Obama changed the military rules of engagement in 2008 and the suicide rate in the military doubled insantly.
Soldiers being court martialed for returning fire committed suicide as the felt helpless.
Many veterans who are feeling helpless express their support for Trump as they feel he supports and empowers them. Imagine if veterans who risked their life for our country in war are now facing the unfair Democrat political machine, an enemy from within. It doesn’t take much persuasion for their frustration to turn to anger and all hell breaks loose. Heaven help us to find peace.
When I watched “American Sniper”, I saw how tough it can be to be away from family for so long.
Add being under constant fire, it really must mess with your head.
We are loosing the BEST of us for reasons that seem pointless.
If you look at the statistics, women vets as a percentage of total vets use far more VA services, especially mental health services, than men.
Yes, very sad.
I believe you.
Sadly, veterans are the most used and abused population on earth.
Thanks...
“Of particular concern was the suicide rate among former National Guard and Reserve members who were never federally activated and therefore, did not receive VA services. Within that population, there were 919 suicides in 2017, an average of 2.5 per day, the report said. Some 12.4% of all military suicides in 2017 were among this population, the report found.”
When they produce these eye-catching headlines, my 1st thought is what is the age breakdown and when & where did they do their service. Are the suicide numbers higher for veterans who served in Afghanistan & Iraq over the past 16 years? It seems like that’s what they’re trying to imply with this headline.
If most soldiers had the same experience my Navy Vet brother had with the VA, I don’t doubt they’d kill themselves. He blames the Navy for ruining his knees but he has to fight like hell to get the VA to accept that. He hobbles around with a cane and can’t work.
Recenty saw an article disparaging the ilitary for its high suicide rates. 25/100k. Wow, makes you think what the F? What are the services doing to reduce sucha loss of manpower and life overall?
Well, peeled the onion back a bit- turns out that the rate of 25/100k is almost exactly the same as for the US population overall. So our warriors who see all sorts of crap kill themselves at about the same rate as the rest of the population. Hmmm. I suppose the services are doing a tremendous job of reducing suicide if this stratification of population, subject to so much more trauma in general than the average US population cross section.
Like this stat. there’s more to the story than being told.
More deaths from suicide than from combat. Sad. Being in the military is really hazardous to you.
“War is a Racket”.
Thanks for your commitment vets. Condolences to families and friends.
List of grievances:
1) War (undeclared)
Beware the military, industrial, media, political complex.
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