Posted on 05/10/2019 6:15:24 AM PDT by Kaslin
The Department of Defense has a suicide problem. Thank Presidents Clinton and Obama.
Prior to 1993, the Department of Defense (DOD) used to screen recruits, officer candidates, and service academy entrants for mental, personality, and suicide behavior disorders. Now they don’t.
The Department of Defense uses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as its source reference for psychiatric diagnoses and metal disorders. Most Americans have little knowledge of, the DSM, its
contents, and its implications. The DSM is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and “offers a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders.” It is used, or relied upon, by clinicians, researchers, psychiatric drug regulation agencies, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, the legal system, and policy makers. In the United States the DSM serves as a universal authority for psychiatric diagnoses.
The January 30, 2018 edition of the Marine Corps Times announced: The Corps’ suicide rate is at a 10-year high.
The Marines also continue to review data involving suicides that are used to address policy, guidance and suicide prevention analysis, according to Manpower and Reserve Affairs. The Corps has a slew of training initiatives and outreach programs regarding suicide and suicide prevention.
Every Service in DOD has suicide prevention programs, yet all of the Services are experiencing significantly higher-than-normal suicide rates. What really happened to these suicidal men and women who somehow escaped the torpedo net of training initiatives and outreach programs?
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Too many pervert or cucked officers?
Recruiting the modern generation of young adults has led to an influx of those whose ego's were puffed up by "participation trophies" and other forms of false self-confidence. Not saying that this is the case in all suicides but it certainly is a factor. When faced with social settings such as those that troops face while in garrison, many simply cannot find a coping mechanism as there never has been any in their upbringing. They cannot handle social adversity.
Additionally with no moral foundation, death is essentially meaningless to many as they have been told that there is no afterlife and hence, no negative consequence to suicide. Killing ones self is as viable an option as unfriending someone on Facebook.
While there may be some, the officer corps is micromanaged to the point of being ineffective in dealing with the daily lives of their troops. We are given so many conflicting rules and directives that we can only counsel someone on whether or not they turned a bolt the correct way. But even then, our superiors will tell us that we failed to train them properly.
Translation: One feels anxiety when one's subjective map of reality does not correspond to the objective territory. There are many techniques available that enable one to relieve that anxiety by changing one's subjective states and identity. There is no need to destroy one's body.
I suspect it has a lot to do with the acceptance of gays and transexuals who have always had a higher suicide rate than the rest of the population.
Is “gender dysphoria” in the DSM-V?
One thing is, look at the number of deployments that have been on going since 2001. The war has gone on and on and on. The same people have to keep going out on deployment because our forces are not as large as say during Vietnam where they kept drafting a fresh group of people to slam into the breach. Now days, all our people go over, come back and then go again and again and again and . . . and . . . and . . . The only way it stops is you get out of the service OR if you are in it for a career, you keep going until you retire. The load gets heavy. Many divorces, Vietnam proved that, family break ups, etc.
Because we send people to shitholes with little or no purpose. And we do it over and over.
Wars should be fought for our national interest. I literally cannot generate a shit over whether or not Afghan girls go to school. The Taliban will be back ten minutes after we leave.
Now we are sending troops to Africa? For what?
I wonder...is “gender dysphoria” still in there?
This occurred to me while I was in the Army. Notice how they are always careful to have wars in places where nothing of value is really lost? When they have a war on the French Riveira, send me an invitation. Wars in tropical rain forests, frozen wilderness, and burning deserts no longer interest me.
1. Gays, transgenders, and other LGBTQ have suicide rates far above others. No one has given the numbers on this that I know of. I doubt anyone is even collecting it.
2. Constant deployments cause relationship instability leading to relationship breakups.
3. Rotational war (cycling in and out of war zones for 6 mos to a year at a time, then returning home, then going back to zone...rinse, wash, repeat) negatively impacts emotional health.
My son in law got back from Africa in September ‘18. He was told he wouldn’t have to go back for 3 years.
He just found out he is on the deployment list to go back to another deployment in early 2020.
As his first baby is due in Q4 of this year, he is talking about resigning his commission. Enough is enough. It hurts his personal and professional life—and it serves no purpose other than support the oil and mining companies in the region. THAT is not the proper use of the US Military.
If those companies need security, I am sure there are “security” people available. I am sure because I know people who were doing just that in Columbia, Panama, and Iran for the past 20 years.
Iraq...not Iran.
Returning vets have always had difficulties. For suicides to become so prevalent must have a unique cause. The thing that is different is simply psychiatry itself. The drugs they hand out like candy are proven to increase not decrease suicidal thoughts. The GIs are put on drugs while still deployed. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Of course suicides are high. Duh.
I’m glad that there was no big “support network” when I came back from Nam. Those filthy pill pushers and brain butchers never got their hooks in me.
Your theory has some truth to it. I’m going to clue you in on the deep deep secret that nobody wants to mention. Guys on deployment getting served for divorce. Woman takes the kids, guy is homeless, she sells or steals anything not owned by .gov and the guy has zero outlet.
Obunghole “transformed” the military and it was mission accomplished. I loved the Army but I would NEVER have enlisted under the Kenyan in chief.
One big issue is the lack of religion. The medical officer assigned to work on this problem 10 years ago was an atheist and after many thorough studies determined that faith and strong family relationships were incredibly effective protections against suicide and PTSD.
The officer knew that this would not be politically correct but cared more about the troops than about pushing atheism and fought with other atheists about it. T The military bent over backwards to avoid using the word “God”. They couched it in terms like “meditation” in order to make it palatable to the anti-God, anti-religion atheists. They still got sued.
Not sure what the current state of this issue is. But going to church/synagogue, praying, and keeping your family relationships strong are good advice to give to any military friends and family you have. They might be able to prevent that advice as official military policy, but they can’t prevent us from giving it out ourselves.
“Now we are sending troops to Africa? For what?”
The troops should be on the southern border. Nations have armies for one of two purposes:
1) Defend the nation’s borders from invasion.
2) Engage in conquest.
If the military is involved in #2, the Constitution requires a declaration of war. There has been no declaration of war, hence no need to station troops overseas.
We currently have 100,000 or more people crossing the border per month. This is an invasion, no different from the British troops landing in the US during the War of 1812. Entire “caravans” of thousands of people are forming with the sole purpose of invading the nation and consuming its resources. The military should be on the border repelling the invaders by any means possible.
The preamble to the US Constitution states the government is formed “to provide for the common defense.” The decades long stream of invaders across the border is hard evidence government is failing in its primary mission.
The flow of illegals can be completely stopped immediately without the expense of a wall. Simply do what every nation in history before the progressive era would do. Station the military along the border. Announce that anyone crossing at other than specific checkpoints will be shot on sight effective at a specific time. At the appointed time being shooting and killing anyone who crosses the border outside of a checkpoint. Within 24 hours the caravans and the invasion will end.
Ignore the screams from the media, academia, progressive politicians, liberal judges and nations who wish us harm.
Announce all illegals currently residing inside the country must self deport within 30 days or they will be rounded up, arrested, and deported.
Continue to maintain military outposts on the border and continue to stop invaders as they cross. Problem solved.
If our nations leaders cannot, or will not, take this action, the nation is lost.
That happens in the Navy upon returning from deployment. Marines I have commanded have received Dear John letters while deployed, several upon redeployment. Most of those marriages were done within 6 months of deploying and were reactionary, others were for fiscal benefits with junior troops wanting to live out in town vice on base and did not take into account the cost of living off base.
This is an area where platoon and company commanders are forbidden from trodding. The Commandant, many years ago, attempted to stop this and Clinton’s SecDef smacked him down.
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