Reporters don't know the difference between the "military" and the VA

How did they go from this headline Veterans' uphill road back, struggle with suicide to the ones used afterwards?

Military suicides reach 350 in 2012, WJLA June 25, 2013

This one was really bad. It linked them to the backlog of claims at the VA

Military's Suicide Rate In 2012 Surpassed Combat Deaths
by KREX News Room
by Jacklyn Thrapp
Story Created: Jun 25, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) - More active-duty military men and women committed suicide last year than were killed in Afghanistan.

According to statistics released by the Army, some 350 people in the military killed themselves in 2012, and 295 troops were killed in Afghanistan.

The high number of suicides is partly blamed on administrative backlogs in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the stigma many soldiers still attach to getting help for mental health issues.

This is the whole article printed on the news site. That's it. It was taken from the Associated Press Report, that is clear because it contained the same error of using "military" suicides and then the VA, when both departments keep their own separate figures. But so did this one from Navy Times Growing problem of suicide in military spotlights VA

None of the "news" sites corrected the error. They didn't correct the story that started out with the suicide of Joe Miller even though his suicide happened 5 years before the number of suicides reported as "fact" from 2012. If they wanted a report on a military suicide from last year all they had to do was look at their own files for it.

SEAL commander's death in Afghanistan an apparent suicide, December 23, 2012

William Busbee who served three tours in Iraq with the Army returned home at the beginning of the year. December 13, 2012

Staff Sgt. Courtey Rush of Aledo, Illinois was a rising star in the Air Force – a crew chief who loved working on C-130s. In January, 10 months after her second deployment, Courtney was alone in her home off base in South Carolina when she shot and killed herself.

Senior Airman Jordan C. Bordelon was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his Valdosta, Ga. apartment complex, and was immediately transported by emergency responders to South Georgia Medical Center for treatment. Oct. 27, 2012

There are so many reports on Wounded Times under "military suicides" because they are all connected to military service but they are separated simply because of the way they are tracked by the government. When reporters get it wrong and others fail to figure it out, it proves how little they really pay attention.

As for Senator Joe Donnelly: Nation must do more to prevent military suicides, he pretty much just made it worse with his new bill and "unfit for duty" clause.