why do more and more USA veteran commit suicide now? because

prosperity4all said:

why do more and more USA veteran commit suicide now?

New veteran suicide numbers raise concerns among experts hoping for positive news

the veteran suicide rate is significantly higher than that of the general population. According to the most recent data, more than 6,000 veterans commit suicide on an annual basis. This comes out to an average of 17 veteran deaths by suicide per day.

As we celebrate veterans, don’t forget the residual consequences of war

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PTSD, the realization that you may have killed people for nothing, that you may have killed innocent people for nothing, seeing your best friend/brother/sister ripped apart by artillery or explosives in front of you, coming back to your nation of origin to be greeted by people who give the same one-sentence platitudes and then go back to ignoring them. Or, even seeing evidence of something nefarious that can't b shared with anyone else (since no one would believe them anyway).


The country leaves veterans on the street to succumb to their "ways of dealing" - literally. We telegraph the responsibility and blame on them, because they are easy (and on our peer level) instead of the people who deserve it.

So, after they have seen or killed people for this nation, seen their closest die for this country, and gave themselves as GI, they come back to a nation that has the luxury of forgetting they exist (except for those cliches). It is an unfortunate circumstance to be a soldier; laypersons will think you are crazy if you tell them things because a week of your life is beyond their belief, and your superiors wont care.

The veterans coming back from our more recent wars have not received worse treatment than the veterans in many past wars. However, most of our earlier wars instilled in those warriors the sense that they were fighting a noble cause and that their involvement was significant.

The deployments of recent times generally lack this element, although the effects of warfare upon the senses, the fear, the sights and sounds, and all of that remain.

A lack of meaning infects the emotional lives of most vet suicides.

We've effectively been at war since 9/11 and today's kids graduating boot camp were born either the year of, or the year after, fighting the same war we've been fighting since.

The "leadership" in the military today is ineffective. A lot of people in the Navy were kicked out around 2010-2012 timeframe, but the people kicked out were the ones who should have stayed in while the ones who stayed in are the ones who became and espoused toxic leadership. I've had the misfortune of meeting "leaders" who cared more about their own egos than a sailor having suicidal ideation trying to seek help.

People also aren't religious as much as they used to be. The Church is the hospital for the soul and if you don't take care of it you get sick and risk death. Alongside that there's a lack of community both within and outside of the military.

prosperity4all said:

why do more and more USA veteran commit suicide now?... ... ...
the veteran suicide rate is significantly higher than that of the general population.

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They were lied to.
They got to be guilty.
They weren't told how to be forgiven.
They don't get offered much real help by anyone officially.
They lose hope.

I lost a close friend several years back who was just newly married with a 3-month old son. Decorated SF vet who had a dozen tours overseas in various spec ops units. Years before I had prayed with him when he was facing personal issues, but I suspect ( tragically ) that it was years of drug abuse that became a dark tunnel that he couldnt exit. We should keep our military veterans in our prayers, and reach out when we can even just to say hello. These vets have already placed their lives on the line for the nation so we should step out of comfort zones and take time to sit back and listen to them.

+ Br. Martin

A puzzling thing is that a great proportion of these suicides are by people who were never in combat, never even in a combat zone. And while mental health care in the military isn't perfect, it's far better now than it's ever been before. And the reception of the military by civilians is more positive today than it has been since World War II.

The answers to this problem are not simple. I suspect we're dealing with issues that begun before these troops entered service, issues that have become common in today's youth, and are then triggered by military experiences that had been relatively benign for earlier generations.

My Drill Sergeant at Fort Jackson told me years ago: "they shovel the [ expletive ] from the streets and dump it here and demand we fix it." As COL Hackworth stated in his book ABOUT FACE, progressive-minded GO's demanded "reform", essentially surrendering command and control from the warfighters to the Pentagon-bound ticket punchers who would apply a civilian fix-all of "dog and pony shows" and "jumping through psychological hoops" which impressed the fifth estate but left the problem unsolved: the problem of GIs high on drugs would stay high on drugs. There was a way out, per Legion Etrangere. "We can fix em" my DS said, hands on hips, moving dirt around with his spit-shined jump boots, "but it would damn sure require use of fists on our part to do it, and we could, but command wouldn't stand for it. If they don't deal with it now [ and they didn't ] these young men wont survive it [ insecurity of civilian life ]."

Well there are many reasons. I can say from experience that I wanted to because I felt nobody cared about me and my issues even though that may have seemed small. Anxiety paired with depression is not a good combo. Not like there is a good combination anyway. I also felt like I lacked purpose. That was back before I accepted Jesus. Jesus saved me from myself. I understand that this isn't easy for others but I encourage you to continue fighting on to live. Everyone's journey is different life is precious!
Other reasons I have heard while in the service is because: A spouse took money and left them, they didn't like their job so much, and even after trying to change it their form was rejected. Those are what I heard of so far for reasons why people killed themselves.

The system also makes it worse for those in the service. When you are in the service you talk to a chaplain and then they send you right back to work. It's like they patch you up with a small bandaid for a big wound. You have to continue on your day as if nothing is wrong and the only time they may send you home is when there is a death in the family. It has to be the death of a close relative such as a grandparent, parents, aunt, uncle, etc.

I can go on and on about this subject but I'm sure you all get my point.

prosperity4all said:

why do more and more USA veteran commit suicide now?

New veteran suicide numbers raise concerns among experts hoping for positive news

the veteran suicide rate is significantly higher than that of the general population. According to the most recent data, more than 6,000 veterans commit suicide on an annual basis. This comes out to an average of 17 veteran deaths by suicide per day.

As we celebrate veterans, don’t forget the residual consequences of war

Click to expand...

Several years ago I read an article that stated that the reason that the suicide rate among post World War Two veterans is this. When WW 2 was over, the veterans that were overseas were put on US Navy ships that took about 30 days to return to the US. During that 30 days all the men had to do was eat, sleep and stay out of the way of the sailors who were on duty, so they talked to one another about problems they had about war. They discovered that the their brothers-in-arms also had the exact same feelings they had and that was therapy for them. Just knowing they were not the only one's with these feelings was comforting. The soldiers of today could be in combat on Monday, put on a airplane on Tuesday and by Wednesday be home. All those anxious feelings are still inside eating at them.

I am a disabled veteran and have trusted the VA for about 20 years with all my health care and they are doing an OUTSTANDING job at identifying PTSD in their patients and then doing something about it. If you are a vet and think you may have PTSD call 800-827-1000 and find who is your local Service Veteran Officer who will help you with signing up with the VA.

AVB 2 said:

Several years ago I read an article that stated that the reason that the suicide rate among post World War Two veterans is this. When WW 2 was over, the veterans that were overseas were put on US Navy ships that took about 30 days to return to the US. During that 30 days all the men had to do was eat, sleep and stay out of the way of the sailors who were on duty, so they talked to one another about problems they had about war. They discovered that the their brothers-in-arms also had the exact same feelings they had and that was therapy for them. Just knowing they were not the only one's with these feelings was comforting. The soldiers of today could be in combat on Monday, put on a airplane on Tuesday and by Wednesday be home. All those anxious feelings are still inside eating at them.

I am a disabled veteran and have trusted the VA for about 20 years with all my health care and they are doing an OUTSTANDING job at identifying PTSD in their patients and then doing something about it. If you are a vet and think you may have PTSD call 800-827-1000 and find who is your local Service Veteran Officer who will help you with signing up with the VA.

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That is a point that I've recognized before (having been in a multi-generational military family, and being retired military myself. That ocean transit "decompression" time was more valuable than people realize. I only realized a decade into my own career how different the psychological recovery was for the elder men in my family, who had been combat solders who stayed in service, compared to those who had returned to civilian life immediately after the combat service was over. In my life, I only knew soldiers who stayed in--around fellow combat veterans who understood and others who were as supportive as they could be. I really didn't get it for a while that the experience of those who immediately left the service was so much worse.