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Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Nation Has Obligation To Correctly Address Military Suicides

When I read something like this I wonder if they think they know what is going on or don't even care.
Nation has obligation to address military suicides
Montgomery Advertiser
June 1, 2015

A near doubling in the suicide rate for military veterans over the last decade has been called an epidemic. Data on the rising military-suicide rate remains incomplete. Some studies contradict the often-cited number of 22 suicides a day.

One thing, however, is clear.

Too many service men and women are taking their own lives and too little has been done to recognize or aid those at risk.

As the Advertiser's Rebecca Burylo reported last week, the most recent data shows 449 military members killed themselves in 2013, 229 on active duty and 220 in the reserve and National Guard.

The Army's suicide rate started to rise in 2004, peaked in 2012 at 185 deaths among active-duty soldiers, but fell to 135 in 2014, according to USA Today.

There are no simple answers to halting the epidemic, especially given the Department of Veterans Affairs' deplorable record on caring for those with mental health issues.
read more here



One thing is clear? Seriously? Not even close. How about they correctly address military suicides before they return to sender?

The numbers didn't go down in 2014 but actually went up considering there were less in the Army do to sequestration. Less serving means higher percentage of suicides.
Department of Defense’s (DoD) new report on military suicides in 2014. The Pentagon reported Tuesday that 434 servicemembers took their own lives last year, including 268 active component servicemembers, 79 reserve servicemembers, and 87 National Guard members.
From Donnelly: New Pentagon Report on 2014 Military Suicide Numbers ‘A Reminder We Still Have Lot of Work To Do’ To End Scourge
434 Servicemembers took their own lives in 2014
The Pentagon report on military suicide in 2014 shows that active duty suicide rose slightly from 254 in 2013 to 268 in 2014. The number of suicides decreased in the National Guard from a record high of 134 in 2013 to 87 in 2014 and fell from 86 in 2013 to 79 in the Reserve. In 2013, a record number of servicemembers in the National Guard took their own lives, and we lost 474 servicemembers overall, more than three times the number killed in combat (132). In 2012, according to new adjusted numbers from the Pentagon, 512 servicemembers took their own lives.

Suicides in the military went up after the DOD started to "address" prevention. Suicides went up after the Congress expanded spending on "research" and funding programs. (Over 900 of them) Doing more "somethings" ended up doing more harm than good. PTSD and suicides tied to military service have been studied for over 4 decades. No one was held accountable for anything they did or failed to do. How about changing the conversation to how these veterans can life and heal and make them aware of what does work? They don't even know the basics and that is the saddest part of all.

They are doing more and more of everything even though it doesn't work.  How about they stop doing what failed and start doing what was learned over the last 40 years that did?

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