According to the Army Suicide Event Report (ASER), 2006 marks the highest rate of military suicides in 26 years, and more than a quarter of those troops killed themselves while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. A total of ninety-nine U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year.
Our troops are facing serious mental health problems, and they aren't getting the treatment they need.
The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs aren't ready to cope with the problem. 90% of military psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers reported no formal training or supervision in the recommended PTSD therapies, and there is a general shortage of trained mental health professionals in the military. And even VA officials have admitted that waiting lists render mental health and substance abuse care "virtually inaccessible."
And this report does not even include the unknown number of military personnel that have committed suicide after they have left the military's payrolls.
Click on the title of the article for the complete text.^^^
As I've said repeatedly-- as far as Bush is concerned, life is sacred and precious as long as it remains in the womb. Once we're out, we're on our own.
8 comments:
Hi Two Crows!
Just a quick stop-I'll read through this post later. I wanted to tell you I left something for you on my blog...check it out.
thx, m e--
I saw it over there before I saw this.
and, thx again. **blush**
two crows
I almost feel that way but not quiet. It is too late for our kids and Grandkids anywhay so we can only hold on and hope for the best.
As for military suicides being the highest in 26 years, that means since Vietnam and another forced Democracy war, hmmm go figure.
The wars and the stat will get a lot worse too. I only hope my sons stay mentally and physically fit.
AAP--
as to holding on and hoping for the best -- agreed --
though I must admit I don't hold a lot of hope. and, the more I learn about Rove, the less I have.
I do, though, hold on and hope the best for your sons.
keep us posted?
It's pathetic when the soldiers are killing themselves at a fever rate, 40% of veterans are homeless, and homeless shelters for veterans are filled to the brim and turning people away.
At the beginning of any war, there really is no knowing where it will eventually lead. Unlike this sad and seemingly unplanned crusade for what ever it is for, even the well planned ones go this way and that and surprising and unplanned takes over. One thing is sure though, the war always brutalizes those who take part in it. It is a shame, that a person, and I don't give rat's ass whom he is fighting for, is ordered to keep killing other humans. It is naive to extreme to hope that this sort of a barbarity can be done without any psychological price. This particular war is not worth the price and I am not so sure if it ever will.
oh, Larry--
shades of the Vietnam era. so sad.
at least _we_ learned something from that debacle: we're not spitting on the troops as they get home.
unfortunately, Bush, Cheney, Rove and Rice are.
hi, Pekka--
yes, so sad. and enraging.
I saw a comment on the original article, where someone was saying the statistics don't show that more males in this country commit suicide than troops over there do [tho about half as many women here, do].
just as if that makes the men's suicide rate ok.
I replied, asking him [assuming, assuming] to please enlighten the rest of us when it's ok to get angry about the troops' suicide rate -- and telling him we'll sit down and shut up till he tells us it's ok to get pissed.
what an a******.
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