Posted on 08/12/2011 2:19:43 PM PDT by thouworm
The U.S. Army suffered a record 32 suicides in July, the most since it began releasing monthly figures in 2009.
The high number of deaths represents a setback for the Army, which has put a heavy focus on reducing suicides in recent years. The number includes 22 active duty soldiers and 10 reservists. The previous record was 31, from June 2010.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Tragic! I can’t help but wonder if suicides will decrease when Obama is defeated in 2012? Having him as CinC depresses me, and my life is not on the line right now.
From the invasion of Afghanistan until last summer, the U.S. military had lost 761 soldiers in combat there. But a higher number in the service — 817 — had taken their own lives over the same period. The surge in suicides, which have risen five years in a row...
The problem is exacerbated by the manpower challenges faced by the service, because new research suggests that repeated combat deployments seem to be driving the suicide surge.
Death is one of the tragic realities of war, but what about suicide? The US military released the suicide numbers for service members in 2010 last week, and the statistics were eye-opening: for the second year in a row, more troops were lost to suicide than to combat in Iraq or Afghanistan--at least by Congressional Quarterly's John Donnelly's count.
Wait a second! Your source is Time magazine-biased beyond belief and no friend to the military or freedom-loving Patriots. If there is a negative way to spin it, Time will find it. Ugh!
The U.S. Army will report Thursday the highest level of suicides among its soldiers since it began tracking the rate 28 years ago, CNN has learned.
Not till the very last paragraph does the article state this disclaimer:
“If the suicide rate among troops is compared to a population that is similar to the military in terms of age, race and sex, the rate in the Army and Marine Corps appears to be about the same or slightly lower than the population at large, according to the Rand Corp., a government funded think tank.”
I would never dispute the bias of the MSM, and their propaganda machine. Facts are facts, however, and I am just wondering what the facts are, and what quantifiable stress these last several years under Obama has inflicted on our military in terms of suicide rates and what this administration and the military are doing about it.
I wonder what the rates were during WWII.
PTSD is a devastating thing.
One of my favorite all-time rants from the late George Carlin:
In the first world war, that condition was called Shell Shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, Shell Shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was seventy years ago.
Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called Battle Fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn’t seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell Shock! Battle Fatigue.
Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called Operational Exhaustion. Hey, were up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It’s totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car.
Then of course, came the war in Viet Nam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it’s no surprise that the very same condition was called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Still eight syllables, but we’ve added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I’ll bet you if we’d of still been calling it Shell Shock, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I’ll betcha. I’ll betcha.”
Reasonable questions. IMHO, the military by and large can see through CinC, despite the crap he and his wife try to dish out. You know on a visceral level when you are despised and being systematically torn down. If being deployed every year and the havoc it provides to family life isn’t bad enough, knowing that CinC will favor almost anyone else in the ROE and use you as a photo op is pretty depressing. Oh don’t forget demonizing the military and vets as extremists.
As far as what is being done...some Congress members are concerned and standing up for our military. I hope much of the military brass are concerned, but they also walk a tightrope of being PC. Many of the prevention programs are pretty lame, again IMHO. The new SecDef? His history isn’t impressive...we are on track to cut, cut, cut. Of course everything that goes with combat plays a significant role too!
"Yet what this new policy does not address is the military suicides that occur outside the war zone: two-thirds of military suicides.
As Tragedy Assistance for Survivors (TAPS), a a support group for military families who have lost a loved one in the service, said, "A line is drawn between the value of the life and service of someone who dies on foreign soil and someone who dies in the exact same manner ... here at home.""
Is there any available data on how many of these suicides are sodomites?
That’s the first thing that should be looked at.
Except the reason for suicides may or may not be because of the army or the war. I know one who recently committed suicide over personal events.
A very sad state. Could it be that they feel their sacrifices have been for nothing? I know I can relate to that.
Mark Levin just had a caller who said that her good friend’s son was on his third tour in Afghanistan and that he and fellow soldiers are very discouraged about the ROE.
Bad enough having Obama as CiC, multiple tours scheduled in close time proximity, no clear mission to defeat the enemy, while having one hand tied behind your back.
The caller asked for prayers.
A guy I knew back in the day had a son who was a 2nd Lt in the Army. He came up to Camp Zama, Japan, on R&R from Vietnam. They found him in his room at the BOQ where he had hanged himself. Really tragic. Never did find out why.
Just a little math:
“In 2010, 301 active-duty, reserve, and National Guard soldiers committed suicide”
“As of 30 September 2010, 1,430,895 people were on active duty[15] in the military, with an additional 848,000 people in the seven reserve components.[3]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Armed_Forces
“National Guard: Size 467,587 end strength (FY2009) Part of National Guard Bureau”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Guard_of_the_United_States
Therefore, the Suicide Rate in the Army then is 301 Suicides for 1,430K Regular Army Active, 848K Reserve, and 467K National Guard. OR:
Suicides: 301
Personnel: 2,746,000
A suicide rate of about 0.011%, or 1 in every 9,122 troops.
Another fact: “Risk factors for suicide: As well as being male, several other risk factors for suicide have been identified. Age: suicide in men peaks in the 20s and again in the 60s and 70s.”
Given a large bias in that community of young males, let’s see what the suicide rate is among young males in the United States:
“21.9 per 100,000 people”, or a rate of 0.022% among tthe general young male population in the U.S.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_sui_rat_you_mal-health-suicide-rate-young-males
Therefore, we can conclude that the annual rate of suicide among U.S. troops (0.011%) is roughly half that of their cohort (0.022%).
Reduce American Suicides: Join the Army!
16 posted on Sunday, August 14, 2011 12:05:23 AM by Uncle Miltie (Gore Lauds Romney on Climate Position; 0bamaCare was based on RomneyCare.)
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To: RC2; E. Pluribus Unum; PGalt; CitizenUSA; Two Kids’ Dad; johngrace; thouworm; caper gal 1; ...
While any suicide is tragic, see above where within 5 minutes I proved that suicide in the Army is about half the rate in the civilian population.
Beware MSM Spin in Full Anti-American Mode!
17 posted on Sunday, August 14, 2011 12:10:18 AM by Uncle Miltie (Gore Lauds Romney on Climate Position; 0bamaCare was based on RomneyCare.)
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To: Uncle Miltie
Reduce American Suicides: Join the Army!
18 posted on Sunday, August 14, 2011 12:16:56 AM by Uncle Miltie (Gore Lauds Romney on Climate Position; 0bamaCare was based on RomneyCare.)
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To: Uncle Miltie
Lousy POS “Journalist.”
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