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Military Suicide Rate Surges To Nearly One Per Day This Year

TheDemSocialist

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Suicides are surging among America's troops, averaging nearly one a day this year – the fastest pace in the nation's decade of war.The 154 suicides for active-duty troops in the first 155 days of the year far outdistance the U.S. forces killed in action in Afghanistan – about 50 percent more – according to Pentagon statistics obtained by The Associated Press.The numbers reflect a military burdened with wartime demands from Iraq and Afghanistan that have taken a greater toll than foreseen a decade ago. The military also is struggling with increased sexual assaults, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and other misbehavior.Because suicides had leveled off in 2010 and 2011, this year's upswing has caught some officials by surprise.The reasons for the increase are not fully understood. Among explanations, studies have pointed to combat exposure, post-traumatic stress, misuse of prescription medications and personal financial problems. Army data suggest soldiers with multiple combat tours are at greater risk of committing suicide, although a substantial proportion of Army suicides are committed by soldiers who never deployed.


Read more @: Military Suicide Rate Surges To Nearly One Per Day This Year

War is truly hell. Its hell for many when they still come home. Stupid pointless wars should not happen and this is just an effect of war. Its sad. God bless them all.

Thoughts?
Comments?
Response?
 
I was for going into Iraq and Afghan but I never agreed with nation building. Go in, kill the right people, break the right things then leave as fast as you arrived. This is a huge mess, we evidently learned nothing from Nam.
 
happened to a good friend of mine when he returned home a couple years ago. it sucks.
 
Further solidifying my position that there's no such thing as winning a war.
 
First, let me say that suicide is a horrible means to an end, and we should be doing whatever we can to help prevent suicide in any situation.

That said, some numbers:

Using 2007 numbers (quickest available data), we had a population of 301,621,157 total citizens. Of that number, we had 34,598 people who died due to suicide attempts. That equates to a .0115% rate.

Using the article's numbers and extrapolating to assume we finish 2012 with 1 death per day, we'll have 365 deaths among roughly 2,915,362 active service members. That equates to a .01251% rate.

Please note: the 2.9+ million military population is active service members. It may not included retired/discharged/or recent new admissions. It was as close as I could get doing a quick search.

That said, the rates are pretty close to one another. There is a slightly higher rate within the military population than within the general population, but not much. Of course, the current general population rate may vary slightly from the numbers I've gathered. I could not find suicide data for the general population beyond 2007 doing a few quick searches.
 
Too many tours this is such a shame...I cant describe how I feel...the pentagon needs to leave no stone unturned in finding the cause of this surge...
 
Read more @: Military Suicide Rate Surges To Nearly One Per Day This Year

War is truly hell. Its hell for many when they still come home. Stupid pointless wars should not happen and this is just an effect of war. Its sad. God bless them all.

Thoughts?
Comments?
Response? [/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]

This really blew me away in the article:

"Suicide totals have exceeded U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan in earlier periods, including for the full years 2008 and 2009."

Why are we still there?
 
[h=2]US military suicide rate nearly twice national average[/h]
"Prior to 2001, the suicide rate in the US military was lower than that for the general US population; now, it is nearly double the national average."


"The US Department of Veteran Affairs calculates that over 6,000 former service personnel commit suicide every year."

US military suicide rate nearly twice national average « Wake-up Call
 
[h=2]US military suicide rate nearly twice national average[/h]
"Prior to 2001, the suicide rate in the US military was lower than that for the general US population; now, it is nearly double the national average."


"The US Department of Veteran Affairs calculates that over 6,000 former service personnel commit suicide every year."

US military suicide rate nearly twice national average « Wake-up Call

That's about right, using 2010 counts for veterns. The rate is about .02752 % using the 6,000 per year number.

So the rate among veterans is double the general population average, but the rate for active duty is relatively close to that of the general population.

Without more data I'd say our problem seems to lie in post-discharge failures in care and accessibility of mental health services.
 
Read more @: Military Suicide Rate Surges To Nearly One Per Day This Year

War is truly hell. Its hell for many when they still come home. Stupid pointless wars should not happen and this is just an effect of war. Its sad. God bless them all.

Thoughts?
Comments?
Response? [/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]

I think Bush and Cheney should be brought up on charges more for how they've treated our military servicemen than what they allowed to terrorist detainees.
 
That's about right, using 2010 counts for veterns. The rate is about .02752 % using the 6,000 per year number.

So the rate among veterans is double the general population average, but the rate for active duty is relatively close to that of the general population.

Without more data I'd say our problem seems to lie in post-discharge failures in care and accessibility of mental health services.

And having put them in harms way unnecessarily in the first place, especially over and over again through stop loss orders.
 
And having put them in harms way unnecessarily in the first place, especially over and over again through stop loss orders.

Somebody will always think the war we're fighting at any given time is unnecessary. War kills. Period. War is an unceasing constant in human history.
 
I was for going into Iraq and Afghan but I never agreed with nation building. Go in, kill the right people, break the right things then leave as fast as you arrived. This is a huge mess, we evidently learned nothing from Nam.

No, we learned a lot from Nam.

Like how profitable private defense companies can be off of government contracts during a war.
 
I was for going into Iraq and Afghan but I never agreed with nation building. Go in, kill the right people, break the right things then leave as fast as you arrived. This is a huge mess, we evidently learned nothing from Nam.

It has to be the most frustrating, mind bending, futile situation possible. Participating in a war, that has no goal other then "responding" to random IED and sniper attacks. Much like Vietnam, the "enemy" is everywhere yet nowhere, the guy you shook hands with at lunch time, may well be shooting at you after dinner, or have planted an IED that will get you after breakfast the next day. Our military, as are most others, is designed to "destroy enemy capability" and fight a "secure and hold" type of war, not to try to play "world policeman" with no court system in place at all. Watching those around you getting maimed and killed yet having done nothing, in response, to make any real difference the next day, week, month, year or now decade, is indeed enough to tax the mind of a genius, much less an enlisted man or officer that only means well, tries to do their duty, obey orders and yet, has no control over the "battle plan", or complete lack thereof. USA, USA, USA...
 
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Somebody will always think the war we're fighting at any given time is unnecessary. War kills. Period. War is an unceasing constant in human history.

There is a distinction between putting troops as risk to defend against attack from that country, and starting an optional war to change the government to one we prefer.
 
First, let me say that suicide is a horrible means to an end, and we should be doing whatever we can to help prevent suicide in any situation.

That said, some numbers:

Using 2007 numbers (quickest available data), we had a population of 301,621,157 total citizens. Of that number, we had 34,598 people who died due to suicide attempts. That equates to a .0115% rate.

Using the article's numbers and extrapolating to assume we finish 2012 with 1 death per day, we'll have 365 deaths among roughly 2,915,362 active service members. That equates to a .01251% rate.

Please note: the 2.9+ million military population is active service members. It may not included retired/discharged/or recent new admissions. It was as close as I could get doing a quick search.

That said, the rates are pretty close to one another. There is a slightly higher rate within the military population than within the general population, but not much. Of course, the current general population rate may vary slightly from the numbers I've gathered. I could not find suicide data for the general population beyond 2007 doing a few quick searches.

Nobody dies from a "suicide attempt", death indicates far more than an attempt was made. The point of the article was not about the military suicide rate relative to that of the general population, but just within the military members themselves. That suicide rate increased significantly since 2001, when we started forcing our military to play "world policeman" in Muslim lands, rather than really fight the Jihad that we were invited to. ;-)
 
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I get it. This is a thread about the legitimacy of the wars, not about suicides among military personnel. My mistake.

Commence soapboxing, by all means.
 
No, we learned a lot from Nam.

Like how profitable private defense companies can be off of government contracts during a war.

Yep. The more CRISIS billions that are floating around the easier it is to get in on some of it. Every congressional district contains some militray related pork, so that rising tide lifts all boats and you can't hear the battle going on from DC. Perhaps if we sent some congressional "fact finders" to the battle field, equipped with clown shoes and ear plugs, they could experience, first hand (or leg) what an IED is all about. ;-)
 
I get it. This is a thread about the legitimacy of the wars, not about suicides among military personnel. My mistake.

Commence soapboxing, by all means.

Do you know of another factor that may explain the rise of these military personnel suicides starting to rise a lot since 2001? What do you propose, other than the "terror war(s)" that may be driving this "odd trend"?
 
Do you know of another factor that may explain the rise of these military personnel suicides starting to rise a lot since 2001? What do you propose, other than the "terror war(s)" that may be driving this "odd trend"?

I'm not and have never denied that strains of war can be a mitigating factor in the suicide rate among military personnel. But this thread isn't about the legitimacy of the wars, nor does the legitimacy of war determine whether or not a risk of suicide increases or decreases.
 
I get it. This is a thread about the legitimacy of the wars, not about suicides among military personnel. My mistake.

Commence soapboxing, by all means.

The connection between the two is what is being discussed at this point. Why, for example, do you think military suicides increased more after 2001 then they did during WWII?
 
The connection between the two is what is being discussed at this point. Why, for example, do you think military suicides increased more after 2001 then they did during WWII?

I think it would be hard to answer that question, considering the VA admits that inaccurate and incomplete records were kept prior to 1960. Studies do indicate, however, that suicide rates for veterans post Vietnam were higher than suicide rates for veterans today.

:shrug:
 
I think it would be hard to answer that question, considering the VA admits that inaccurate and incomplete records were kept prior to 1960. Studies do indicate, however, that suicide rates for veterans post Vietnam were higher than suicide rates for veterans today.

:shrug:

Too bad we can't compare the actual numbers between a defensive war like WWII with the optional wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
 
Too bad we can't compare the actual numbers between a defensive war like WWII with the optional wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

It's unfortunate we're unable to perpetuate your agenda, I'm sure.
 
Using military deaths, especially suicides, to make a political point is about as ****ing disgusting as you can get.
 
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