Army: Suicide rate among soldiers continues on record pace

Any more questions as to why the DOD has to change the way they send our men and women into combat? Any more questions on why the DOD has to change the way they train them and cut the crap about "training their brains" to prevent it? Any more questions as to why the DOD has to change the way they treat them when they come home? Can there be any more questions about any of this except what the hell it will take for them to finally WAKE UP?????

(ok you know I really, really want to say "wake the fuck up" here right) I already asked God to forgive me for that one but in this case, I think He understands! He must get really tired of waiting for us to get serious about any of this. What do you want from me? I'm still a regular person even though I'm a Chaplain and try very hard to control my temper but this is very serious folks and it has to stop. Plus He knows what's already in my head so let's just get it out there and I promise to really try to avoid it as usual. It's not that I don't think it. I just use it when I can't help it. It's been gnawing at me since I posted it earlier today.

This is simple. If the VA would get their act in gear and come up with the programs the veterans need along with support for the families, we have a chance to prevent a lot of deaths and suffering. If they came up with a way to cut the backlog of claims tomorrow, we have a chance. The real problem here is that if the DOD doesn't do what needs to be done before the become veterans, we don't stand a chance of getting up to where we need to be in treating the ones we already have. What is this? When they're dead no more problem? What will finally get thru to these people in charge?

There is a golden hour when humans, and remember they are only humans, experience traumatic events. Anything more traumatic than having a bomb blow up right in front of you or under you? How about the chance of it happening every single time you drive down a road in Iraq or Afghanistan? Anything more traumatic than having someone stand near you with a bomb strapped to their body and blowing up some of your friends? Ok, then how about having someone shooting at you all the time and not having a clue who shot at you or where they went? Why is it we can understand when a victim of a crime needs immediate help after the trauma, but we can't when a solider does? Why is it we can understand when an accident victim needs immediate help after the accident but we can't when a National Guardsman sees his friends blown up? Why can we understand when a firefighter needs to see the Chaplain after he pulled burning kids out of an apartment fire but we can't understand it when a Marine has to pull his friends out of a burning Humvee? Why can we understand a cop needing to talk to someone right after he had to go into a house after kids had been killed by a parent, but we can't understand a teenager needing help right after he walked into what was left of a house that was just bombed and finds dead kids there? We act when it's regular Americans after traumatic events but we don't demand the military do the same when they are sending in these young men and women right out of high school straight into hell!

Will any of this get thru their brains? How many more are they willing to lose before they do something right for a change?

We've already had too many dead veterans that didn't need to die. Why would we ever, ever be willing to let a soldier die by his own hands?

Army: Suicide rate among soldiers continues on record pace
Story Highlights
In May, 17 soldiers were either confirmed or suspected to have taken their own lives

Number of potential or confirmed suicides since January stands at 82

Last year the Army recorded 133 suicides, the most ever

"We've got to do better," Army vice chief of staff says in a statement



By Mike Mount
CNN Senior Pentagon Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The suicide rate among U.S. Army soldiers jumped in May -- continuing a four-month upward trend and on a record pace for a second straight year, according to Army statistics released Thursday.


During a service-wide stand-down, troops were trained on identifying signs of distress.

Last month the deaths of 17 soldiers were either confirmed or suspected to be suicides, up from 13 in April and 13 in March, the new numbers revealed.

The Army said the total number of potential or confirmed suicides since January stands at 82. Last year the Army recorded 133 suicides, the most ever.

Earlier this year, Army officials saw the suicide numbers moving up, and by February said the service was on track for a record year for suicides.

Only one of the 17 in May has been confirmed as a suicide, while the others remain under investigation and are listed as "potential suicides," according to the latest statistics
go here for more
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/11/us.army.suicides/index.html

Army sees significant rise in January suicides

Do I really need to say anything more than I've said before?

Army sees significant rise in January suicides
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 5, 2009 15:57:13 EST

Seven soldiers committed suicide in January and the cause of death in 17 other cases is still pending, Army officials announced Thursday, marking a significant increase in soldier suicides from the same time period in previous years.

Last month’s numbers are six times higher than those from January 2008 and eight times higher than in 2004. click link for more

Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'
CNN - USAStory Highlights
Two dozen soldiers believed to have killed themselves in January, official says

The number of likely suicides more than those killed in combat last month

Army psychologist says long, cold months of winter might have contributed to spike

Army takes rare step of releasing figures for month rather than waiting till end of year

From Barbara Starr and Mike Mount
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One week after the U.S. Army announced record suicide rates among its soldiers last year, the service is worried about a spike in possible suicides in the new year.

The Army said 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January alone -- six times as many as killed themselves in January 2008, according to statistics released Thursday.

The Army said it already has confirmed seven suicides, with 17 additional cases pending that it believes investigators will confirm as suicides for January.

If those prove true, more soldiers will have killed themselves than died in combat last month. According to Pentagon statistics, there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January.

"This is terrifying," an Army official said. "We do not know what is going on."

Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, said that the long, cold months of winter could be a major contributor to the January spike.

"There is more hopelessness and helplessness because everything is so dreary and cold," she said.

click link for more