Benefits of "suicide awareness" just went poof

Want proof suicide awareness went poof?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 26, 3018

The VA released another suicide report. Wonder how many of the "awareness folks" making a living off veterans killing themselves will actually read the report?

They may want to try to make sure their supporters doing pushups and other stunts never find out about it, because it shows all this "awareness" has not worked!

The number of Veteran suicides per year decreased from 6,281 deaths in 2015 to 6,079 deaths in 2016.
The number of Veteran suicides in 2016 remains greater than the 5,797 Veteran suicides that occurred in 2005. From 2005 to 2016, the Veteran population decreased by about 4 million people. Given that the Veteran population decreased in size, the number of Veteran suicides per year can also decrease even while the rate of Veteran suicide increases.

And yet, this is the number the VA had back in 1999.

So yes, we are down 4 million veterans since 2005, and the number of known suicides remains the same. Want more proof that this "suicide awareness" thing isn't working? Read more.

Suicide deaths among never federally activated former National Guard and Reserve members increased from 2005 to 2016.
In 2016, there were 902 suicides among never federally activated former Guard and Reserve members.

From 2005 to 2016, the number of suicides among women Veterans increased.
• From 2005 to 2016, the woman Veteran population increased.
• After adjusting for age, the rate of suicide among women Veterans was higher than the rate among non-Veteran women.

The suicide rate for Veterans ages 18–34 substantially increased from 2005 to 2016.
• When comparing Veteran suicide rates by age group, Veterans ages 18–34 had the highest suicide rate in 2016, at 45 per 100,000.
• In 2016, 58.1 percent of Veteran suicides were among Veterans age 55 and older.

From 2015 to 2016, the Veteran suicide rate decreased from 30.5 per 100,000 to 30.1 per 100,000.
Suicide rates for Veteran and non-Veteran adults increased from 2005 to 2016.
In 2016, the suicide rate was 1.5 times greater for Veterans than for non-Veteran adults, after adjusting for age and gender.

How could talking about suicides give a veteran who has lost hope any reason to get up another day?

Oh, it is so much easier to just drown out the voices trying to let them know they can heal and live better lives. After all, saving veterans is a lot of hard work, but oh, so worth it!

Stop telling them they are killing themselves! They already know that. They need to hear they can #TakeBackYourLife and kick the crap out of PTSD! And yes, I meant it the way it sounded.