What is the suicide rate of deaths of our soldiers?
Does it exceed the civilian rate and why?
What are some of the reasons? What should we do about it and what should our government do?
This Blog is for students who are taking Death and Dying at PCCC with Professor Caffie J. Risher.
The current surge of soldier suicides is indisputable, and can be attibuted to the wars in Iraq and Afganistan.
ReplyDelete20.2 per 100,000 soldiers are commiting suicide, compared to 19.5 per 100,000 civilians. The extreme circumstances which our young men and women live under each day is the root of overwhelming stress. Also, PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a psychological condition, afflicts many of our veterans and soldiers and they aren't receiving the treatment they need.
It is urgent for families to learn more about this disorder, so they can help their loved ones through depression and other psychosis that plague our veterans. Unfortunately, the government will not do enough.
I believe the term soldiers is too narrow which only reflects the Army. It needs to be expanded to include service members which would give a better view of the "big picture".
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with Taji's main cause to suicide. Contrary to popular belief, most active-duty suicides aren’t among deployed troops or those just back from combat. Of 102 suicides during 2006, 72 of the soldiers were not deployed or had been back from a deployment for more than a year. Another common misconception is that suicides are directly linked to combat or multiple deployments. Studies show the root cause of most suicides boils down to relationship problems. Legal, financial or occupational problems are the No. 2 motive. It could also be possible to hypothesize that it could be also be contributed to the recession.
Also Taji's suicide rates are inaccurate. According to the Department of Defense website as of Nov 2010, the national average is 11.1 suicides per 100,000 people. The military averaged 12.5 suicides per 100,000 people however, it is still higher than the civilian population.
Lastly the government has done a 180 degree turn on it's policy on taking care of veterans and and it's wounded warriors since the Walter Reed incident. For example, to get a handle on the problem, the Army has awarded a $17 million grant to Florida State University and the Denver VA Medical Center to create the Military Suicide Research Consortium. The research is the first of its kind to integrate Department of Defense and civilian efforts to combat suicide. In addition the VA is reaching out to veterans who may need mental health care through multiple outlets, including offering five years of free health care from the date of discharge for any condition related to their service in Iraq or Afghanistan. The VA takes suicide prevention and awareness seriously so they setup a free suicide hotline, where soldiers seeking help can be connected with trained counselors. A study says that so far the hotline has been credited with 11,000 direct rescues of someone on the line considering suicide. These are impressive numbers to say the least. If voice-to-voice is not private enough for a soldier, they can chat with a trained responder who will meet them within an hour wherever they are. To say "the government will not do enough" is an imprecise assumption considering the measures they have gone through to protect and conserve it's fighting force.
The suicide rate of our U.S. soldiers, according cnn everyday five soldiers try to commit suicide. However this all occur before the war in Iraq. There was an increase in this figures. In 2007 2,100 soldiers tried to commit suicide.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the civilian rate exceeds the soldiers. For instance, We can compared the case of the jump man Terry Clementi the Rutgers University freshman who jumped from the George Washigton Bridge after a video of him having sex was posted on the internet. What, I am trying to say by this is that there about 4,000 in young people alone around the ages of 15-24.
Finally, the goverment should find more ways to help us a whole to bring down the suicide rates. Wheather it be through more goverment fund programs. But, as Taji said the goverment will not do enough.
The army does refer to its members as soldiers. However, the term 'soldier" is a a generally accepted term when referring to a person with military experience. I am not interested in a game of semantics.
ReplyDeleteDavid, I appreciate your passion for the military, and I respect your service to our country. I do not appreciate your attempt to insult me publicly. If your goal was to enlighten me/us with facts; it could have been accomplished without singling me out. I am not in the habit of starting arguments, but I do end them.
FYI; the information I stated in my blog was taken from a dot-gov website. I did not pull this information from the clear sky. Also, I am a civilian, and I may not be privileged to facts which you as a service member would have access to.
I find it refreshing to know the government has done a 180 degree turn in regards to its policy change for veterans. The Walter Reed incident was in 2007, and The Military Consortium fund was recently established. We have been at war since 2001. It isn't an "imprecise assumption" that the government tends to have a delayed response to major issues. I maintain the thought that families need to educate themselves on the signs of depression, and be vigilant with our veterans to insure they are mentally sound. After all, David, didn't you mention the efforts of the Department of Defense AND civilians will combat suicide?
Ultimately, we are on the same team, but experience has shown me the government isn't reliable, but I hope your experience continues to be positive.