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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Why would a good reporter get lazy on military suicides?

For Tacoma military base, a grim milestone in soldier suicides
Joint Base Lewis-McChord passed an unwelcome milestone in 2011, recording more soldier suicides than in any previous year. Twelve soldiers took their own lives in 2011, up from nine in 2010 and nine in 2009, Army I Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield said. The total could grow as the Army completes investigations ahead of its annual suicide report next month.
Notice the reporter? ADAM ASHTON; TACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE
Notice the date? Published: Nov. 27, 2012


So why at the end of this year, after all these reports, was it necessary to release a report that was already known last year?

JBLM suicides hit grim milestone in 2011 ADAM ASHTON; STAFF WRITER Published: Dec. 30, 2011


One service member commits suicide every two days, attempts every two hours September, 2011.

While this report was bad, the fact that almost half of the military suicides happened after they went for help to heal.

By November the news came out about Every 80 minutes another veteran commits suicide and attempted Marine Corps suicides. "11 Marines attempted suicide in October, raising that year-to-date figure to 163 for 2011."

By December "Army has identified 260 potential soldier suicides for 2011"

It turned out that Army Suicides Up 80 Percent Since Iraq War Start

Where are the questions that need to be asked? Where are the stories on families trying to keep their veterans alive or the parents trying to stop blaming themselves after they couldn't? Where are the questions asking about who the hell is being held accountable for any of this? Where are the reports on the failures of the "resiliency training" and suicide prevention the military has been doing for the last 10 years?

There are so many things that could have actually been helpful but this was re-released? What's going on here?

2 comments:

  1. A lie is a lie Kathie. They go about their merry way reporting statistics as if reporting the gains and losses of the stock market rather than human lives.

    Unfortunately this is fast becoming the Army or Marine Corp or the Navy or the Air Force problem, no longer even the VA problem.

    Out of sight and out of mind have always been the go to for those not wanting to know the sad truth of the matter. The country and the White House have always been better at being reactive rather than proactive.

    The hardest part of all of this for me at least is seeing these young people being lied to, time and time again, handed pills and given a cup of coffee to sit and mill around with.

    No real solutions equals no real results. Look at those who have taken real steps to help those hurting and hunting for answers, they are out there, but good news gets merely a mention these days...

    Sorry guess I had that bottled up inside me and needed to let it out some. God Bless those who stand on the edge, the cusp of the unknown, may you see the lights of the beacons shining on the horizons, trust in our Lord and Savior, his cure lasts forever and unlike the new crops of social workers being assigned caseloads we dispense the truth.

    Keeping the promise to leave no one behind...blessings to you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't blame you at all. I just did a post on the new book I'm working on covering military suicides and putting a human face to the numbers.
    The Warrior SAW, Suicides After War and plan on getting it on Amazon in January of 2013

    ReplyDelete

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