Lesson one on military suicides, CYA and let them die

Lesson one on military suicides, CYA and let them die
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 28, 2013

Suicide Awareness is all fine and good because a lot of people feel empowered to speak out about what is going on. The stories from the troops, veterans and families are heartbreaking. Unfortunately, far too many believe it is also time to claim they have all the answers. These unfortunate souls actually believe what they have been doing has worked because they cannot face the facts they have failed.

I know a lot about failure because I am sitting here still reading these reports after over 30 years of trying to stop them from happening. Sure, I've saved lives, helped families and covered the news reports on suicides for Wounded Times since 2007 but since I'm still reading all the bad news, I haven't accomplished much at all. How do they still get away with the bullshit? Why haven't any reporters managed to actually learn something from Wounded Times so they at least know what questions have to be answered? It isn't as if they are not reading it. I get enough phone calls asking questions when a reporter without a clue has to write something for their publication. None of it matters because as bad as you think it is by reading these reports, it is worse in their real world.

There are things you read giving you a basic idea of what is going on but you have to remember that if there are ten reports on suicides in a given month there are hundreds not talking publicly about what is happening to them. Those are the phone calls that get to me the most because too few are healed and many, too many are lost.

The Huffington Post has a great article up by Madison West The Problem is War and he writes "I was taught in the military that asking for help is a weakness." The truth is that is the message they have been getting. All the bullshit about the DOD false advertising has been about covering their asses because every program they have come up with have been about telling them they are mentally weak and didn't train right.

"After seeing what we have seen, more importantly, doing what we have done in the name of this country, who are you to tell us that we can't kill ourselves? We, the American Soldier, supposedly fighting for freedom over there, shouldn't have the freedom of choice to end our suffering? -Iraq Veteran"

"While veterans are at best, "tolerated" in this society, the occupied people of Iraq and Afghanistan are completely ignored. They have no VA health system, no matter how backlogged, to go home to. The mental trauma they experience is replicated by walking the same streets in which that trauma was borne. Their tour of duty is their lives. Colin Powell, answering questions about the invasion of Iraq in 2003 said, "If you break it you own it." Well we broke it. Really badly. We have an obligation to these people. Above and beyond the obligation we have to our veterans. We must repair the damages of these wars and prevent the next one if we have any hope of stopping this problem."

The last good report we have to go by came out in 2012 with the numbers from 2011. They still have not released the report for 2012 even though this is the end of September.

The AFMES indicates that 301 Service Members died by suicide in 2011
Air Force = 50
Army = 167
Marine Corps = 32
Navy = 52
This number includes deaths strongly suspected to be suicides that are pending final determination.

A total of 915 Service Members attempted suicide in 2011
Air Force = 241
Army = 432
Marine Corps = 156
Navy = 86

DoDSERs were submitted for 935 suicide attempts (Air Force = 251, Army = 440, Marine Corps = 157, Navy = 87).

Of the 915 Service Members who attempted suicide, 896 had one attempt, 18 had two attempts, and 1 had three attempts.

This is what caused the military to "address" suicides. It came out in August of 2007.

"The report, obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its scheduled release Thursday, found there were 99 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers during 2006, up from 88 the previous year and the highest since the 102 suicides in 1991 at the time of the Persian Gulf War."

"The 99 suicides included 28 soldiers deployed to the two wars and 71 who weren't. About twice as many women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide as did women not sent to war, the report said."

They already knew they had a huge problem and so did the VA. They had separate totals with both groups committing more suicides. The VA was dealing with a rise in suicides as well as attempted suicides.

Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense was on top of all of this before the press started to really pay attention. In December of 2007 there was an account of what was discovered in an article about Sullivan being interviewed by 20/20 News. What he managed to uncover was a massive coverup by the VA regarding the fact there were 1,000 veterans attempting suicide every month.

The VA was not ready for them. In 2004 there were calls for reduction in staff. "Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, acting under secretary of veterans affairs, said the medical staff of the department would be reduced by 3,700 employees under the president's budget. About 194,000 employees now provide medical care."

Jim Nicholson, the Secretary of the VA said "We have to make tough decisions. We have to set priorities."

According to John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA is calling for a reduction of 540 full-time jobs in the Veterans Benefits Administration, which handles disability, pension and other claims by veterans.

I left this comment on the article on Huffington Post.

The trauma of war has been documented throughout history. If you read the Old Testament, especially Psalms, you'll see accounts of what war does spiritually but most people skip over that. Wars have always been started by people in charge but at least back then, they had to go and risk their lives as if the war was that important. Those days are long gone. The end results are still the same. Someone will always decide to start wars so that should never really be about those sent. The reality is, the men and women risking their lives are not doing it for the people deciding but they do it for each other. That is the part that everyone has to remember. It requires courage. That is obvious. It also requires a level of love few others have within them. Because they care so much, they hurt so deeply. Leave out taking care of their spiritual health, they do not heal. They die because of combat and the fact that the deciders don't care enough.

The facts are simple. The DOD pushed a program that was still in research stages designed for school aged children onto troops heading into combat and expected a different result. When they didn't see the suicides go down, they pushed the program harder. The result was that the troops thought they didn't train right and they were weak minded so PTSD was their fault.

This week, their impression of what the DOD had been telling them was supported by Army General Ray Odierno.

Some of it is just personal make-up. Intestinal fortitude. Mental toughness that ensures that people are able to deal with stressful situations.

But these thoughts were not the worst he had to say. He ended up basically blaming the families for what the DOD failed to do.

But it also has to do with where you come from. I came from a loving family, one who gave lots of positive reinforcement, who built up psychologically who I was, who I am, what I might want to do. It built confidence in myself, and I believe that enables you to better deal with stress. It enables you to cope more easily than maybe some other people.

UPDATED

The number of troops in Iraq in 2011 were 45,000 in September. In June of 2011 there was this "United States will draw down the number of troops in Afghanistan by 10,000 this year and by a total of 33,000 by the end of summer 2012, President Barack Obama"

Equals less deployed into combat but more suicides after years of "programming" the troops to be "resilient" and have "Mental toughness that ensures that people are able to deal with stressful situations."
go here for first part of CYA