"Forever War" is Getting the Press to Tell The Whole Story

Lesson to learn about trusting a news report.

"Forever war" as was used in the title is actually what veterans fight when they come home. The battle against PTSD does not end.

The 1.7 million former service members who live in Texas make up the country’s second-largest veterans population after California and 6 percent of the state’s population. The 554 veterans who took their own lives in 2014 accounted for 18 percent of the 3,127 suicides statewide. 

Veterans age 18 to 34 in Texas died by suicide at a rate one-third higher than those age 35 to 54 and twice that of former service members age 55 to 74. The total of 112 suicides in the youngest age category compared to 81 in California, where the veterans population approaches 2 million.

California doesn't know how many veterans committed suicide and just past legislation to put military service on death certificates. 

“The rates of PTSD and other conditions go up every time you deploy,” said Ely, a former Marine. “And when you come back home, all the things that you relied on to keep you alive — hypervigilance, intensity, adrenaline, not sleeping — are all the things that make readjusting harder.”

That is right and it was known back in 2006 when the Army released their report but every branch did it anyway.

The other thing is that veterans are double the civilian rate of suicide. They seem to leave out a couple of facts on that one too. 

Most civilians are not "trained" in "prevention" but veterans were. 

Most civilians do not take jobs that could cost them their lives, but veterans did.

Most civilians do not value life so much they are willing to die to save someone else, but veterans were.