Apologies Lacking On Suicide Awareness

All of US Needs to Apologize to Veterans
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 26, 2017

It seems that everyone in this country is offended by something and they demand their feelings be respected. Well, I'm jumping on that platform too! I won't take a knee in protest but I will, as I have, in prayer. I will not bow low but will hop on top of the highest soapbox I can find. (And I hate heights) I will not sit down in indifference while others take walks--do pushups--pull stunts to get attention for themselves while pretending to care about the fact that more veterans are committing suicide while they do absolutely nothing to change the outcome.

While some think that "suicide awareness" is new, it isn't and it hasn't improved the outcomes.

A 2009 U.S. Army report indicates military veterans have double the suicide rate of non-veterans, and more active-duty soldiers are dying from suicide than in combat in the Iraq War (2003–2011) and War in Afghanistan (2001–present).^[3] Colonel Carl Castro, director of military operational medical research for the Army, noted "there needs to be a cultural shift in the military to get people to focus more on mental health and fitness.

And yet again, most cases of suicides tied to military service are tied to PTSD after they survived combat!

The truth is this country has been trying to "prevent" suicides longer than I've been alive.

In 1958, the first suicide prevention center in the United States opened in Los Angeles, California, with funding from the U.S. Public Health Service. Other crisis intervention centers followed. In 1966, the Center for Studies of Suicide Prevention (later the Suicide Research Unit) was established at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This was followed by the creation of national nonprofit organizations dedicated to the cause of suicide prevention.

But just like then, people got paid to try to do something but too many thought that anything was better than nothing. They were wrong.  You can get some basic facts to get you started on this here or search this site with military suicides in the search field. For now, this will be long enough on its own.

The line of people needing to apologize to veterans is a long one.

Top of the list: Awareness Raisers

If you are running around the country asking for money to raise awareness, I think you should be included as the biggest part of the problematic outcome. What did you think you'd accomplish? Fame and fortune for yourself or getting a veteran to take the gun away from his/her head when you couldn't even be bothered to read the fucking report you stole the headline from?

The reports are out there and if you gave a shit, the way you pretend you do, then you'd actually read the reports and where the data came from, as well as what was left out! 

Then if the cause was worth any real effort, you'd actually invest some time in finding out what the hell you were up against, like managing to grasp the fact that the DOD has their numbers and the number of veterans reported does not include them. You'd also be aware of the fact that the majority of the veterans committing suicide are OVER THE AGE OF 50 AND THEY ARE THE ONES YOU IGNORE! If you didn't do anything to honestly earn the money, then give it to the families that had to bury their family member.

Congress

Oh, Congress! You need to apologize for not even bothering to figure out if the Bills you want your names on will actually do any good or not before you hold a news conference to act as veterans really matter. We've read all of them going over the last deadly decade to know that none of you really have a clue. Hell, especially when you're repeating numbers that are not real and the biggest culprits are ignoring the fact that their own state DOES NOT HAVE MILITARY SERVICE ON THE DEATH CERTIFICATES TO EVEN BE INCLUDED IN ANY OF THE NUMBERS BEING REPORTED AS "FACT."

And last on the list to save some time, since this could go on forever, is me!
For 35 years I have been unable to figure out how to make sure that we stop burying more after war than we do during it. I've been watching it all, reading more than most would even know had been printed. I have invested more hours in this work than I get paid to do on my job and this site is just one of many I've had over the years. It has been up for 10 years!

No matter how much I know, how hard I try, I cannot unshed a single tear a family member has wiped at a grave that did not need to be dug.

No matter how much I love veterans I dedicated more than half my life to, I can never give you back the lost days of anguished cries for help when no one was there to hear you.

No matter how much I know personally what it is like to see one of them decide to leave as questions become poison to hope, I cannot even pretend to know what it is like when some are truly dedicated and have far too many they tried to help, still kill themselves. I have a hard time dealing with one I lost.

No matter how hard I pray or how many times my soul cries out for a way to help you heal, to let you know that tomorrow can be so much better than today, I have not found a way to make you believe it.

No matter how hard, how much work, knowledge and facts I have, I cannot compete with social media isolating you from what you need to know. 

So yes, dear heart, I apologize for not being good enough to give you what you need and take your pain away so you can feel your soul's worth again! I do promise, I will not stop trying!