It is ridiculous to talk about their suffering and committing suicide

History Has Proven You Wrong
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 27, 2016


Did you know if you are using veterans committing suicide, most veterans are making fun of you? It is ridiculous to talk about their suffering when you are doing absolutely nothing to prevent them from taking their own lives. It is like taking a video on your smart phone while you operate it dumb as dirt, filming someone dying on the side of the road, so you get to say you're raising awareness they did, instead of using that phone to call 911 and try to save their life. KNOCK IT OFF!

“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” Edmund Burke

If you're thinking you have done any good, history has proven you wrong. Aside from the simple fact all this awareness of "22 a day" or "20 a day" being quoted as if they are real numbers, or as the military puts it for current service members as "one too many" it has gotten worse. But hey, just keep talking about their suffering.

The time to raise awareness happened decades ago when it was happening to veterans but you didn't notice. I've been noticing for over three of those decades when there were more veterans in the country. Yep, much more veterans suffering while fighting for the right to live after war.

If you doubt any of this, then look at the numbers the VA released in the misquoted report of 2012 when the number was released as "22 a day" since apparently you didn't read the report. You didn't notice that the "number" came with a notice that it was taken from just 21 states, that they knew they missed many, or the other overlooked fact that most of the veterans they did know about were over the age of 50.

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 you must have missed this part as well, since none of you are even mentioning it,

Information reported on state death certificates indicates that the ages 50-59 years is also an important group for addressing risk for suicide.

And on page 18 of the report, you must have missed this too,

So when the VA did a larger study and released that report in 2016, you must have also missed this part.

The final report will be publicly released later this month. Key findings of the analysis will include:

65% of all Veterans who died from suicide in 2014 were 50 years of age or older.
Veterans accounted for 18% of all deaths from suicide among U.S. adults. This is a decrease from 22% in 2010.
Since 2001, U.S. adult civilian suicides increased 23%, while Veteran suicides increased 32% in the same time period. After controlling for age and gender, this makes the risk of suicide 21% greater for Veterans.
Since 2001, the rate of suicide among US Veterans who use VA services increased by 8.8%, while the rate of suicide among Veterans who do not use VA services increased by 38.6%.
In the same time period, the rate of suicide among male Veterans who use VA services increased 11%, while the rate of suicide increased 35% among male Veterans who do not use VA services.
In the same time period, the rate of suicide among female Veterans who use VA services increased 4.6%, while the rate of suicide increased 98% among female Veterans who do not use VA services.

As you can see, back in 1999 when no one was raising funds doing pushups, taking walks or making speeches, when we had over 5 million more veterans in this country, the number reported by the VA was 20 a day. So, what good have you done any of them? Keep making this about you wanting to raise awareness instead of raising a reason to enjoy living again, and it will keep getting worse for them as you gain more publicity for yourself.

If your guessing I got another email from yet another "awareness raiser" wanting me to publicize them, you're right and they are still way too wrong!