Veterans more likely to attempt suicide than harm anyone else

Benjamin Colton Barnes died after shooting people and killing a Park Ranger. In Ogden Utah, Matthew Stewart was arrested after six officers were shot and one of them died. 7th Fort Carson Soldier charged in child abuse death for 2011 and Navy pilot killed self in San Diego murder-suicide What makes these reports more shocking is they all happened this week.

Reading postings across the nation, there seems to be a vast majority of people wanting to defend military leaders while inadvertently blaming the servicemen and women. It is time to clear some things up.

Keep in mind that when we read about crimes committed by service members or veterans, the numbers are very low compared to the fact we have about 24 million veterans with over 2 million having served in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are not the "criminal" type of individuals. They don't suddenly go from being willing to die in combat to not being willing to let someone else live without a reason. They don't suddenly decide that doing drugs and getting drunk is how they want to spend their days.

Here are some more numbers to consider.

We are not reading reports in the hundreds every week even though the "official" number of PTSD veterans is in the hundreds of thousands. While we are probably looking at a million OEF OIF veterans with PTSD, very few are being treated for it with half unwilling to go to the VA. There is also the factor of mild PTSD preventing them from seeking help. They believe they can just "get over it" with time.

Considering the training they have received to "prevent" PTSD by making them "resilient" and "toughening" their minds, this left them with the impression they are responsible for it and just not tough enough. Some of them actually believe it is their fault for not training properly.

With mild PTSD, most of what they are going through can be reversed if they are given the proper treatment with counseling and medications when necessary. They will seek help if they understand what PTSD is, why it happened to them and if they have support. They won't seek help if they don't trust anyone or blame themselves for needing it.

While it is never too late to get help to heal, as we've seen in Vietnam veterans, the longer it goes on unaddressed, the worse it gets.

Mild PTSD veterans will seek employment and attend college classes because they still have hope of a better life and still have the ability to do the work. Veterans with a stronger rating of PTSD will not seek employment because they cannot work, yet once they are provided with what they need, they have hope again and usually end up doing volunteer work and helping their communities.

They are also more likely to attempt suicide than harm anyone else. It is not in their nature. While some do in fact commit crimes, again, the number of them involved with criminal activity is very low. All of us need to face reality and what these men and women are up against when they come home. Then we can make sure what they need is provided for them and people are held accountable for what has not been working.

World Report Untreated Casualties The Military's Suicide Epidemic