I agree - I think they should be listed as "died of wounds."
Lamh Foistenach Abu!
Posted on 04/28/2010 4:05:35 AM PDT by ResistorSister
An average of 18 US military veterans are taking their lives every day as the Obama administration and the Pentagon grow increasingly defensive about the epidemic of suicides driven by Washington’s wars of aggression.
The stunning figure was reported last week by the Army Times, citing officials in the US Veterans Affairs Department.
The department estimates that there are 950 suicide attempts every month by veterans who are receiving treatment from the department. Of these, 7 percent succeed in taking their own lives, while 11 percent try to kill themselves again within nine months.
The greatest growth in suicides has taken place among veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, who accounted for 1,868 suicide attempts in fiscal 2009, which ended on September 30. Of these, nearly 100 succeeded in killing themselves.
The connection between the “surge” in military suicides and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is undeniable. The suicide rate within the military doubled between 2001 and 2006, even as it remained flat among the comparable (adjusted for age and gender) civilian population. And the numbers continue to rise steadily. In 2009, 160 active-duty military personnel killed themselves, compared to 140 in 2008 and 77 in 2003.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsws.org ...
Lamh Foistenach Abu!
Then you say, "Keep thinking. That's what you're good at."
My guess is there is no such real report because no one in any real veterans support organization would release something this silly.
How would a work a day scribe at the Army Times know about some person they never met who committed suicide? Dig them up? E-mail to the after life? What special insight would that paper have?
18 daily is 6570 per year.
Veterans are not in a duty status. The Army counts warriors still on the duty rolls. 98 uniformed Army troopers killed themselves.
Vets are a lost demograph-few are tracked by the VA or other agencies.
This story is fishy in many ways, not just the lack of an appropriate comparison group.
According to the article, 7% of 950 attempters succeed each month (a far far lower rate of success than is found among males). That makes 2.3 suicides per day. Where does the number “18” come from?
Those number don’t add up. None of the numbers in the article matches up. It’s terrible reporting.
If you take 7.82 and multiply by 2.3, you get 18. That’s where they got 18. They pulled it out of their posterior.
Among all of the reasons that other Freepers have pointed out to show that this study is meaningless, there is the added aspect of the suicide rate of war veterans vs. peacetime military personnel, because, guess what, military personnel who never go to war also kill themselves on occasion, as do civilians. So, even if we were to accept that there was a particular rate of suicide among veterans, it would not necessarily have a bearing on the wars, or conduct of wars. For example, the military has always had a relatively high rate of suicide attempts during holidays even in peacetime - young kids in a somewhat stressful job away from home, often for the first time.
I first encountered this phenomena in 1981. It was on a mimeographed piece of paper taped to the back of a lounge chair in my dorm’s break room. Only then the subject was Vietnam vets and the cause was Selective Service enrollment.
Whatever the math, even one of these heroes is one too many...
excellent response-
Their math is awful.
950 attempts per month
7% actually kill them selves
This means 66.5 suicides per month, or 2 per day.
I am really not sure how they got 18 per day.
My comment was not a personal attack on you; there are some kids who read FR, but the majority of readers are adults.
Second major mistake just as wrong. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. They are there to fight and win a war. No second guessing.
Third is the idiotic idea that troops are also Peace Corp Workers. Any Commanding Officer ordering or allowing his troops to rebuild, paint, or help a country in a war zone should face immediate Court Martial and removal from service. Any Civilian official elected or appointing ordering such should be fired, impeached, and/or removed by appropriate means.
A United States Serviceman to do the job in war must maintain a healthy dosage of detachment from their task in the same Paramedics, Firemen, and policemen, must do so they can do their job. Having to shell or raid a home one night due to it being a suspected or confirmed next for snipers then having them help rebuild the next day is wrong.
Vets in every war this nation has been in have had to do things we do not see here in the United States. A soldiers raid on a suspected hideout and killing all inside is as right as a carpet bombing of an entire area. Each is done so to achieve a military objective.
When all vets up through WW2 came home they were welcomed hero's. As Marxism became more prevalent after WW2 the returning Vets found themselves being attacked and scorned for doing a job which the description and requirements are written in The Holy Bible.
Much of the cause and affect of returning servicemen come from nothing more than very bad policy on the part of our Presidents and Congress in both parties.
I hear the term or popular catch phrase SUPPORT THE TROOPS. That includes most of all not second guessing them, Not Judging Them, Not Over extending them, and not Over Deploying them into levels of combat way beyond that of even WW2. It also means giving them all the necessary manpower and equipment needed so we are seen as a military power not to be messed with. meaning Reagan Doctrine is needed for our National Defense.
Our returning troops need at least the rest of their enlistment for their minds to heal from one such deployment. This has not been done since Post Vietnam and it is creating major issues. A serviceman should not feel guilty for leaving the service or going home after being wounded as if he let his fellow troops down, Congress needs to get off it's A Double S's and do it's job getting our troops proper rotations.
There are 100's of stories about this 'study;' starting back in 2008 when ... 18 veterans/day were commiting suicide. See the link below:
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=18+veterans+per+day+suicide&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=2edb0d09f429b650
Back in 2008 a story reports that the VA Hid Suicide Risk and there are about 18 suicides per day
SOURCE: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/21/cbsnews_investigates/main4032921.shtml
18 veterans commit suicide/day in 2008 and still ... 18 veterans commit suicide/day in 2010 - something strange about the number of suicides/day never changing.
I love it when I read something that has been written from the heart, and is full of compassion and understanding.
I've lived through PTSD before but mine was not war related. It came several years after my peace time service. It took almost 5 years to get rid of it. Still you can't keep flipping that switch and not expect something to break. It's dealing with the strongest portion of the brain geared for survival and deals with controlling some very strong impulses and brain chemistry.
If you don't respond in the way that part of the brain thinks is appropriate another complication enters the equation called Panic Attacks and more stress. The combined problems in combat vets used to be called Shell Shock added with that complications from such things as sensory damage which also complicates the entire issue and adds to the stress as well.
A one year Tour in combat is enough per enlistment. Fifteen months should be a set maximum goal. Bringing troops home from Iraq and in about a year sending them to Afghanistan for another year just isn't right.
18 veterans commit suicide/day in 2008 and still ... 18 veterans commit suicide/day in 2010 - something strange about the number of suicides/day never changing.
Ok, so you did my research, I still conclude because there is precisely "something strange about 18 suicides per day," this article is FOS! However, when I first read the story I thought they were only referring to the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. But the term "VETERAN" throws this into a whole different realm. There is also disparaging data between actual suicides and "suicide attempts." Look at your google links and see the trash liberal Anti-American sites that are spewing this study.
Then we get CBS claiming there's "25 million veterans" @ 6759 suicide attempts per year that's less then 2/10ths of 1%. 18 per day compared to the overall average number of citizens in the country who attempt suicide is actually consistent with suicide attempt rate in the whole US among all citizens. And finally this:
In an e-mail late Monday to CBS News, Katz wrote that the reason the numbers were not released was due to questions about the consistency and reliability of the findings - and that there was no public cover up involved.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.