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| Home Front: Politix |
| Military Suicide (News) Up Again |
| 2010-01-18 |
| The news about suicides in the U.S. military just gets bleaker. I heard something like this on the radio this morning, but not at the radio station (WTOP) news links. Google is my friend. The Defense Department is expected to report today that the Army last year recorded a record number of suicides by active-duty troops. At the end of November, the number stood at 147. Earlier in the week, the Veterans Affairs Department reported that the suicide rate among 17- to 29-year-old male veterans jumped 26 percent from 2005 to 2007. On average, 18 veterans per day take their own lives, officials said. And although there are no statistics, Deborah Mullen, the wife of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen, said there is anecdotal evidence of a disturbing trend of rising suicide rates among family members of military personnel and veterans. All this bad news comes despite stepped-up efforts to encourage military members and their families to seek help if they feel overwhelmed, depressed or unsure of whether they want to keep on living. "Who's vulnerable? Everyone," said Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki at a military suicide prevention conference. "Young and old, outgoing and reserved, male, female, officer, enlisted, me included. Warriors suffer emotional wounds just as they suffer physical ones." If there's any good news, he said, it's that those who seek treatment have fewer suicidal incidents. My former next-door neighbor is an Army Reserve Colonel, whose son took his own life after returning from Afghanistan. They left the area to go back home, and their place here (DC) is in foreclosure. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #1 Active duty corpsman, co-worker of Mrs. USN, jumped off Deception Pass Bridge last month. No warnings evident to anybody. Checked out to go to lunch, and then jumped. Witnesses described the impact with the water like a rifle shot. Just back from SE Asia. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2010-01-18 21:04 |