Time to put suicide awareness groups out of business

Help veterans stay alive awareness 
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 30, 2018

I read an article early this morning that stuck with me especially when I saw this adorable face!

Deana Martorella Orellana, joined the Marines.

"Then, in 2010, she deployed to a particularly combat-torn part of Helmand Province in Afghanistan." 

She survived the deployment and hardships, risking her life for the sake of those she served with, but part of it came back with her according to Battling Depression And Suicide Among Female Veterans on NPR May 29, 2018

"After she returned to North Carolina in 2013, her rental home burned down, and a man she knew was charged with arson. She wasn't home, but the incident shook her."

A few months after being discharged, came this "transition" after being trained to serve, tested by Afghanistan, and above all, trained to be "resilient" according to the Department of Defense.

"But just hours after the VA appointment, Deana asked a friend to drop her at the house where she had lived with her boyfriend, who wasn't home. She went in the bedroom and retrieved a .45-caliber handgun." 

Since 2009, every member of the military had received "resilience" training to make them "mentally tough."

With all the groups out there raising awareness about veterans taking their own lives, why have they not changed the outcome? They use only the number that will get them the most attention from a report they failed to read, or even take seriously enough to want to make a difference.

Actually, it seems as if they have done more harm than good.

"The suicide rate for female veterans has soared 85 percent in recent years, leading the military, VA and advocacy groups to try new ways to improve women's mental health care during and after service."

The military trained them, then refused to change when the result was higher suicides while the number of enlisted went down.

And no one was put out of business for failing to come up with something that would actually help them survive surviving.

No one was put out of business raising awareness for something they do not understand, lying about "making a difference" and not even bothering to address the highest percentage of veterans committing suicide, at least the ones they know about, and that is veterans over the age of 50!

No news source has been put out of business for covering these people, spreading the lie of how many veterans decided to die or even attempt to ask questions. Questions like why these groups need the money, what they are doing with the money or even why they deserve any of it considering they have not proven anything to anyone.

The really puzzling thing is, if they are making their living off talking about veterans killing themselves, then if they lived, these groups would be out of business and their income would vanish.

Isn't it time we actually paid attention to these facts?

If veterans live, heal and help each other, I may actually get to retire after 36 years and have time to watch TV after working for a paycheck on my day job!

You can start by actually reading the reports they didn't bother with.

VA SUICIDE REPORT 2012 Limited data from just 21 states
VA SUICIDE REPORT 2016 Limited data because states like California and Illinois did not track military service on the death certificates until they passed legislation in 2017 to add it. 

Also all limited data because, anything less than honorable discharges, did not get counted. Veterans living in other countries were not counted.

In some states, if they were not deployed into combat, they were not counted.

In some states if they were in the National Guards and Reserves, deployed for humanitarian missions, they were not counted.

The factors go on and on, but as long as people are selling suicides, we're never, ever going to make enough of a difference to help veterans survive surviving service.

Now, if all that did not bother you enough, consider one more thing.

How is it that life mattered so much to every one of them, they were willing to die to save others, but their own life was not worth living?