War Fighters lives washed away by suicide

War Fighters lives washed away by suicide
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 24, 2013

Twenty-two veterans a day committed suicide. That means there were at least 8,030 veterans taking their lives last year. It was also the deadliest year for suicides in the military. Originally reported to be 349 suicides by Associated Press the truth is AP forgot about the 96 Army National Guardsmen and 47 Army Reservists in their total.

To give you an idea of what almost 9,000 lives washed away look like, last month there was a remembrance "9,000 Fallen Soldiers Etched into the Sand on Normandy Beach to Commemorate Peace Day September 25, 2013"

The Fallen Andy Moss and myself (Jamie Wardley) from Sand In Your Eye developed the idea of the Fallen Project together to mark Peace Day. The objective was to make a visual representation of 9000 people drawn in the sand which equates the number of Civilians, Germans Forces and Allies that died during the D-day landings, 6th June during WWII as an example of what happens in the absence of peace.

The absence of peace has washed away thousands of lives every year. The tides washed away the images in the sand but time won't wash away the memories in held by family members of them. It won't wash away the years that they have heard the government is doing this and that to prevent war fighters from taking their own lives after the enemy could not. It was our job to help them make peace with what was asked of them.

How can it be that we accept the excuses from the government?

Veterans Crisis Line receives more than 22,000 calls each month from veterans of all conflicts who are struggling or contemplating suicide due to the psychological wounds of war and the challenges of returning to civilian life.

They have had 900,000 calls since 2007 and as the number of calls went up, so did the suicides sadly proving the other efforts have failed them. The DOD and the VA are using the same approach of "resilience" training yet no one tries to stop them. No one seems willing to get them to change what has failed so many.

How many more years will calls flood into the Suicide Prevention Hotline as we count more and more dead? How can we just let military leaders blame the troops and their families for them finding it possible to survive combat but not possible to survive back here when we send billions a year addressing the wounds no one can see?

These lives are washed away but no one can wash away our shame. We have allowed all of this to happen and may God forgive us all for not holding people to account for what they have done.