Troubled Veterans and Early Deaths After Iraq

Thank you Aaron Glantz for pointing this very important fact out.

"The V.A. database does not include veterans who never applied for benefits or who were not receiving benefits at the time of their death, according to the agency. The V.A. said it also did not keep track of the cause of death."

Most people read about suicides in the Marines, but forget about the fact the Army has their own figures. We can understand that 18 veterans a day commit suicide but still find it shocking. Our minds are just unable to put all the figures together. What we keep missing in all of this is that if they are discharge from service, they are not counted by the DOD and if they do not have a VA rating for their claim, they are not counted by them. No one seems to want to count them, that is, except their families.

Troubled Veterans and Early Deaths After Iraq

By AARON GLANTZ
Published: May 28, 2011

This month, the Department of Veterans Affairs informed the parents of William Hamilton, an Iraq war veteran, that it was not responsible for his death.

Mr. Hamilton had been admitted nine times to a V.A. psychiatric ward in Palo Alto. He saw demon women and talked to a man he had killed in Iraq. His parents allege that the V.A. illegally turned away Mr. Hamilton — three days before he stepped in front of train on May 16, 2010, at the age of 26.

The agency denied the wrongful-death claim in a one-page letter: “The VA did not breach a legal duty,” wrote Suzanne C. Will, the agency’s regional counsel in San Francisco.
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Troubled Veterans and Early Deaths After Iraq

Glantz did a great job on this as you can clearly see from just these few lines. Think about it. William Hamilton was admitted 9 times but still he ended up surviving combat but couldn't survive being back home with what came home inside of him.