Repeating Facebook Non-Facts Makes You Look Stupid

Mark Twain wrote, "There are lies, damned lies and statistics." I wonder what he'd say about Facebook?

Brainy Quote

There are facts we talk about all the time and they are backed up to other sources. We know the truth but then find ourselves in a altered world where non-facts get all the attention. Then they keep wondering why nothing changes. 

We wonder when they'll get a clue so maybe they'll help find the best thing to do to actually make a difference in this world.

I gave up on them hearing us since we're "old" but there is much to be said about what comes with age. We have the wisdom to know the difference between what is truth and what is not.

Here's a start on what they are getting wrong and it spreads wide all the way up to POTUS who has been saying that we've been at war for 17 years in Afghanistan. 

FACT
NUMBER OF YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN
It has been almost 16 years of war in Afghanistan and not 17.

On September 11, 2001, we were attacked. In October of 2001, troops were sent to Afghanistan in response to it as War on Terror was declared by President Bush.

FACT
Rate of PTSD in Veterans

• Vietnam War: About 15 out of every 100 Vietnam Veterans (or 15%) were currently diagnosed with PTSD at the time of the most recent study in the late 1980s, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS). It is estimated that about 30 out of every 100 (or 30%) of Vietnam Veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.
• Gulf War (Desert Storm): About 12 out of every 100 Gulf War Veterans (or 12%) have PTSD in a given year.
• Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF): About 11-20 out of every 100 Veterans (or between 11-20%) who served in OIF or OEF have PTSD in a given year.

FACT
DEADLIEST YEAR 

Deadliest Year in Vietnam Claimed the lives of more troops than all years of Afghanistan and Iraq combined. 

1968

Bloodiest year of the war ends

The bloodiest year of the war comes to an end. At year’s end, 536,040 American servicemen were stationed in Vietnam, an increase of over 50,000 from 1967.
Estimates from Headquarters U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam indicated that 181,150 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese were killed during the year. However, Allied losses were also up: 27,915 South Vietnamese, 14,584 Americans (a 56 percent increase over 1967), and 979 South Koreans, Australians, New Zealanders, and Thais were reported killed during 1968. Since January 1961, more than 31,000 U.S. servicemen had been killed in Vietnam and over 200,000 U.S. personnel had been wounded.

According to ICasualties.org 2,403 US servicemembers lost their lives in Afghanistan, 4,523 lost their lives in Iraq since 2001.



FACT
LONGEST WAR
Afghanistan is not the longest war in US history. That would be Vietnam, however it depends on who is doing the counting. Reporters using chosen dates, or families using family members who lost their lives.

Vietnam War

1945 First American soldier killed in VietnamLt. Col. Peter Dewey, a U.S. Army officer with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Vietnam, is shot and killed in Saigon. Dewey was the head of a seven-man team sent to Vietnam to search for missing American pilots and to gather information on the situation in the country after the surrender of the Japanese.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall has,  The first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. He is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956.  

And Last,  The last American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Kelton Rena Turner, an 18-year old Marine. He was killed in action on May 15, 1975, two weeks after the evacuation of Saigon, in what became known as the Mayaguez incident.Others list Gary L. Hall, Joseph N. Hargrove and Danny G. Marshall as the last to die in Vietnam. These three US Marines Corps veterans were mistakenly left behind on Koh Tang Island during the Mayaguez incident. They were last seen together but unfortunately to date, their fate is unknown. They are located on panel 1W, lines 130 - 131.

FACT
VA Suicide Report
It is not now, nor has it been "22 a day" or "20 a day" as the definitive number of veterans across the country committing suicide.

First study of Veterans committing suicide in 2012,  reported with the number of "22 a day" was from just 21 states using limited data taken from death certificates that indicated military service.

The follow up study released in 2016 used more data from more states as well as from the CDC. The fact is, not all states have military service on their death certificates. States like California and Illinois would not have been able to supply accurate data.

FACT
Suicide
Military suicide numbers are not in the numbers of veterans committing suicide. They are separated.

For charities out there refusing to help any veteran other than OEF and OIF, majority of veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50. (see above report link)

There is continued evidence of a high burden of suicide among middle-aged and older Veterans. In 2014, about 65 percent of all Veterans who died by suicide were age 50 or older. 

If you are among the Facebook users thinking you are doing some good sharing what you think are facts, please remember to check to see if you are sharing a "non fact" because people like me are all over the country sharing the real facts.