Great job on raising awareness veterans are committing suicide...because more joined in

What reporters need to focus on regarding veterans killing themselves

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 21, 2019

The VA has this within the latest report about veterans committing suicide.

Average Number of Veteran Suicides per Day: 2005–2017
The average number of Veteran suicides per day increased from 2005 to 2017.

• In 2005, an average of 86.6 American adults, who included Veterans, died by suicide each day. In 2017, an average of 124.4 Americans died by suicide each day.

• In 2005, an average of 15.9 Veterans died by suicide each day. In 2017, an average of 16.8 Veterans died by suicide each day.

• The average number of Veteran suicide deaths per day has equaled or exceeded 16.0 since 2007.

• The average of 16.8 Veteran suicide deaths per day in 2017 was higher than the 16.4 average suicide deaths per day in 2016 and equal to or lower than in 2008–2011 and 2013–2015.

• 16.8 Veteran average deaths per day in 2017 is lower than the annual averages in 7 of the last 13 years.

Table 1. Total and Daily Average Numbers of Suicide Deaths, Title 38 Veterans, 2005–2017

And this is what they point to.

While this may seem as if no real changes, either way, have happened since 2005, the truth is just below that number.

As you can see, the number of veterans counting on us to actually pay attention, has dropped by almost 5 million, but the numbers remain far too high.

This is after over a decade of "raising awareness" that veterans are committing suicide and all the stunts, all the publicity, all the charities popping up all over the country, IT IS WORSE NOW FOR VETERANS NEEDING THE HELP TO HEAL!

And if you really want to know how little all those people know...consider this part.

Veteran Suicide Rates by Age Group
• Veterans ages 18–34 had the highest suicide rate in 2017 (44.5 per 100,000).
• The suicide rate for Veterans ages 18–34 increased by 76% from 2005 to 2017.
• Veterans ages 55–74 had the lowest suicide rate per 100,000 in 2017.
• The absolute number of suicides was highest among Veterans 55–74 years old. This group accounted for 38% of all Veteran deaths by suicide in 2017.

For female veterans, another group none of the new charities seem to care about, it has also gotten worse for them.

To all the charities out there doing your stunts and collecting millions a year, I have one question. 

Are you ready to start fighting for them or want to continue to pretend you are?

You got publicity for talking about them killing themselves and they joined in that group because they were never made aware of how to live longer!

UPDATE

Article on Military Times "Veteran suicides increase despite host of prevention, mental health efforts" is wrong on this.

Department officials in recent years have quoted the rate of veterans suicides across the country as “20 per day,” reflecting past figures which included active-duty military, guardsmen and reservists who served on active-duty, and National Guard and reserve members who were never federally activated.

Why? Aside from the fact the VA had to retract that, it would mean that there are a lot more suicides within the military than the DOD had been reporting.

The figure is higher than the sum of deaths reported by the individual services in January -- the result of continued death investigations -- and tragically exceeds the previous record of 321 in 2012. 

For three of the services, the numbers represent an increase over the previous year. The Army in 2017 saw 114 deaths by suicide, the Navy, 65, and the Marine Corps, 43. Only the Air Force saw a decline in suicide from the previous year. In 2017, it had 63. 

Earlier this year, Defense Department officials said the rates of suicide, which provide a more accurate understanding of the occurrence among the military population, are "devastating and unacceptable and not going in the desired direction."

Astonishing thing is, the retraction from the VA was by the same reporter for Military Times.

VA backs off suicide study that indicated thousands of unreported military deaths

WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs officials are walking back a new suicide study which appeared to show thousands of unreported military deaths in recent years, saying differences among classifications of service members led to confusion in the statistics.

The other hidden truths in all of this are;

• Discharged servicemembers without an "honorable" discharge, are not counted in any report.
• National Guard and Reservists, who were not deployed into combat zones, are not counted as veterans.
• Veterans facing off with law enforcement are not counted.

UPDATE
The University of Maine had to "postpone" a showing of movie attached to the infamous number. Question; How did they have "sparse attendance" for something that was "postponed?"

Sparse attendance?

A showing of the independent film “Project 22” in the Memorial Union’s Coe Room was postponed from Wednesday, Sept. 18 until the University of Maine’s Veteran’s Week in November, because of sparse attendance. Wednesday’s planned screening was set to coincide with National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month, which is being observed this September across Maine and throughout America.

UPDATE 

Alarming VA Report Totals Decade of Veteran Suicides
Military.com
By Richard Sisk
23 Sep 2019

The Department of Veterans Affairs released an alarming report Friday showing that at least 60,000 veterans died by suicide between 2008 and 2017, with little sign that the crisis is abating despite suicide prevention being the VA's top priority.

Although the total population of veterans declined by 18% during that span of years, more than 6,000 veterans died by suicide annually, according to the VA's 2019 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report.

The report did not take into account the possible effects of VA's programs aimed at outreach and removing the stigma of seeking help for mental health. Overall, though, the data show the suicide rate is increasing.

In 2017, more than 6,100 veterans died by suicide, an increase of 2% over 2016 and a total increase of 6% since 2008, the report found.

Firearms were the method of suicide in 70.7% of male veteran suicide deaths and 43.2% of female veteran suicide deaths in 2017, the report found.

Of particular concern was the suicide rate among former National Guard and Reserve members who were never federally activated and therefore, did not receive VA services. Within that population, there were 919 suicides in 2017, an average of 2.5 per day, the report said. Some 12.4% of all military suicides in 2017 were among this population, the report found.

Overall in 2017, the suicide rate for veterans was 1.5 times the rate for non-veteran adults, after adjusting for population differences in age and sex, the report said.
read it here