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Military Suicides Up

OhioArcher

OhioArcher

Where's da fishes?
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"Philanthropist"
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/17/us-usa-military-suicides-idUSBREA3G2EK20140417

The only thing that will keep our military from fighting for 12+ years is to stop fighting everyone else's wars or increase the number of military so that the same ones don't deploy time after time after time. The Ops Tempo for some units is incredibly high. When I was on active duty, if we deployed once a year or two it was a lot. Now units are gone 250+ days EACH year. And our leaders are surprised...go figure.
 
I don't know if it's something unique to the theatre of war or something to do with our society. But suicides by our vets are happening here as well. We've had a quite a number of suicides and vets charged with some pretty heinous crimes too.

Something is very wrong. Our vets obviously aren't getting what they need in the form of support or counselling or like you said, more time between deployments. This is a real shame on our governments.
 
There really is no "help" available that will allow them to return to duty and/or a normal civilian life. As has been for years, any attempt at getting help through the medical channels (mental health) results in lost promotions, assignments and/or rights. It has always been a "suck it up and deal with it" environment. Only recently have measures been taken to safeguard our military member's rights while actually trying to help them deal with the shit they have been through. And it is NOT our government that is spearheading the process but civilian benefactors who see a critical need are putting money where it needs to be.
 
...not to mention the SOP for dealing with these issues is via prescription medication and we've all seen how effective that is. That kind of "help" can be a recipe for disaster...
 
^^^^Yeah, that's an understatement LES.

How about addressing the root cause rather than the symptoms? It's sickening to see the lack of care and support to help vets re-integrate to civilian life. For the sacrifices made by the those in the services, they deserve far better treatment.

Our governments need to own PTSD and any other trauma/injury related illnesses as part of the cost of warfare and stop running away from it. We've just had numerous "Veteran's Affairs" offices close across the country here and are making vets deal with our regular federal government offices in order to speak to anyone or receive any kind of help. Makes me mad and despite the outcry from the public and the vets...they've closed 'em anyway.

I don't know, maybe there are some who think that once the conflict has ended that it's time to move on and expect all those who served to move on as well. It would be nice if that were possible but obviously it's not for all. Maybe it has something to do with facing enemies (as both of our country's troops have) that would just as easily shoot you as walk up to you and detonate themselves in front of you. This kind of threat has taken the female form as well...very deceptive and downright insidious.

I can only imagine the terrors and cold sweats in the middle of the night after going through that kind of stress, fear and uncertainty...not to mention the sight of death, the badly wounded and flagrant disregard for human life. I certainly can't reconcile in my pea-brain the kind of blind hate and rage of the world of Islam. Seeing it first hand must be absolutely mind boggling and so utterly disturbing.

Our vets have my deepest respect and sympathy too. I'm glad they were there for us and the least we can do is make sure they're well looked after when they come home.
 
LAZY EYED SNIPER said:
...not to mention the SOP for dealing with these issues is via prescription medication and we've all seen how effective that is. That kind of "help" can be a recipe for disaster...
Click to expand...

I can't speak for other services but I can for my experiences in the Army.

I've personally seen two suicide attempts and helped react to a third. The approach we are taught is to be involved with our soldiers' lives, on and off duty. We are taught about warning signs and to never leave a potentially suicidal person alone, ever. There are SO many options to get help and the stigma against help for suicide really is disappearing.

There are, however, two issues.

One, there is still a stigma against depression. It's seen as a weakness and there's really very little awareness of it. Perhaps if they put some attention on it they could see a positive difference.

Two, suicide attempts are often used by malingerers, and that takes the attention from those who need it. The fact is the figures on suicidal ideation and attempts also includes those malingering types. And that is in the minds of the coworkers who ignore legitimate issues.

Understand though, that medication is rarely used. A suicidal event is usually followed by 72 hour observation and therapy. I only know one person who was medicated, and she legitimately was bipolar, and was chartered out because of it.
 
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That's good to know.

Glad to see there are options and a support system in place. Sad to say that here in the civilian world, it's medicate and wait...
 
The military does a lot of things the stupid way. But they really are leading the charge where it counts. Medical care is definitely the tip of the spear in the service.
 
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