VA Suicide Quoted By Those Who Didn't Bother To Read It!

Veteran Suicides Are Not Just Number to Use!
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 14, 2016
Another veteran is walking to "raise awareness" about veterans committing suicide. Seems like a nice story but it is pure bullshit! I called the reporter and asked him how he could do a story without doing basic research first. He was pretty stunned with the question. Seems that is the biggest problem of all.  

Reporters are not doing their jobs so folks can keep repeating a number as serious as the number of veterans committing suicide that is totally false. Ok, it is a flat out lie!

Whenever anyone uses "22 a day" please remember what the VA had to say about their own report.

Limitations of Existing Data
Currently available data include information on suicide mortality among the population of residents in 21 states. Veteran status in each of these areas is determined by a single question asking about history of U.S. military service. Information about history of military service is routinely obtained from family members and collected by funeral home staff and has not been validated using information from the DoD or VA. Further, Veteran status was not collected by each state during each year of the project period.

And then there was this.

However, misclassification was considerably higher among validated Veterans with 11% of true Veterans classified as non-Veterans on the death certificate. Only 2% of true non-Veterans were misclassified as Veterans on the death certificate. The ability of death certificates to fully capture female Veterans was particularly low; only 67% of true female Veterans were identified. Younger or unmarried Veterans and those with lower levels of education were also more likely to be missed on the death certificate. This decreased sensitivity in specific subgroups can affect both suicide surveillance and research efforts that utilize Veteran status on the death certificate. From a surveillance standpoint, the rate of Veteran suicides will be underestimated in these groups.

But why read that report when all they have to do is say they care and get some press coverage?

Most want to just mention Iraq and Afghanistan veterans but the truth is most of them are actually over the age of 50.

"The majority of Veteran suicides are among those age 50 years and older.

Male Veterans who die by suicide are older than non-Veteran males who die by suicide.

The age distribution of Veteran and non-Veterans women who have died from suicide are similar.

While I am not giving the veteran even more exposure on his mission, or any of the others out there I'm not sorry for hurting someone's feelings over any of this. I am more sorry when I have to talk to a parent, wife, husband of the forgotten about and those who have not just survived combat, but several attempts, before they actually had some help to heal.

I am sorry and sickened when some of these awareness raisers use terms like "it's just a number" or "it's and easy number to remember" when I ask then to explain why they keep using it.  I am really sorry when I discover them getting all the attention when they have not even cared enough to do the basic research to find out what the truth is.

THESE ARE LIVES THAT ARE NOT HEALING AND DEATHS THAT SHOULD NOT HAPPEN! SEEMS LIKE IT SHOULD BE IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY LEARN ABOUT IT AT LEAST AS MUCH AS HOW TO FILL OUT AN IRS FORM FOR A TAX EXEMPT!!!!  

The question isn't if they care or not. I bet they really do. The question is, "How much do they really care if they didn't even bother to take the time to discover what the truth really is or even read the damn report they keep quoting because it is an easy number for them to remember?"

The reporter said "well he's a 501 c 3" and I said so was I and all the groups I belong to.  Anyone can fill out paper work but doing the work is a totally different thing.

As I was laying out some facts for the reporter, he wanted me to email him the links. I told him to to his job and find them since they are all available online.