Death by Suicide & Returning Veterans
By Annemarie Matulis
With only 6 million of 22 million veterans actually reporting into the VA Health services, the conservative numbers reflected in 2012 are 18 veterans die by suicide each day...each DAY! Conservatively, and I must stress that descriptive word because accurate, up to date numbers are, at best, 3-4 years behind and skewed by the fact that such a small percentage of veterans are plugged into the VA's health system, 20% of all suicides in the U.S. are veterans. That's even more astounding when we consider that today's military consists of only 1/2 of 1% of the entire population of the country.
This is not a crisis. This is a pandemic.
This morning, as the Director of the Greater Taunton Suicide Prevention Task Force, I was a guest on a local cable access program hosted by the 57 Chapter of Disabled Veterans, Taunton MA. This crew had done its homework and that research shocked them. The biggest question is the one we all are asking - Why? I'm not sure the "why" is as important as how can we help. And there really is a great deal we can do. Most suicides are preventable. However, that requires family, friends, co-workers, fellow veterans and medical personnel to be trained, educated and aware of the signs and symptoms.
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Dear Kathie, My son, Freddy, is a soldier dead by suicide. I spoke to several Survivor Outreach units and I repeatedly hear the same things. The military knows how long debriefing and 6 months transition back from theater helps prevent suicides and homicides among our soldiers. In WWII, it took an average of 6 months to return stateside and transition back into society. Soldiers were able to vent and get used to non combat routines and so were able to withstand the pressures of non combat life. Starting in the 60's and 70's, stateside transition became a 72 hour turnaround. Today it is more like 36 hours! No debriefing; no transition times. Some special forces may be treated with longer care due to their "skills" and their possible stateside meltdowns, but general G.I. Joes have no such priorities. The sad fact is the military knows this. They also know that many more soldiers are returning instead of dying in theater. More soldiers have successive combat tours. Doctors know this repeated exposure creates a deeper PTSD and trauma based injuries. It reminds me of Uriah the Hittite, being thrown into the battle with the commander hoping he is killed. I hope someone makes a difference soon.
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ReplyDeleteThank you for your heart tugging comment.
I am so sorry for you and losing your son this way. I grieve more because, as you said, they know better. Everything you wrote is spot on but what makes this worse is the DOD sets them up for it with their "resiliency" training. Basically they tell them they can "train their brains" to prevent PTSD and they can become "mentally tough." This leaves them thinking if they end up with PTSD, it is their fault while reenforcing the notion they are mentally weak or not strong enough to take it.
The percentage is one out of three exposed to the same event will end up with some level of PTSD. When they look at the the other survivors of the event showing no signs of trouble, they don't want to talk about it. They blame themselves.
The civilian world knows that after a traumatic event, they need to talk it out, so they send in crisis teams to listen. The DOD ends up shutting them out instead with this training but they continue to push it while the suicides and attempted suicides go up.
Moms like you have to bury their veteran kids when none of it had to happen.