Military suicide rates at all time high, one every 65 minutes. 2012 was a record

[powderman]

    US military veteran suicides rise, one dies every 65 minutes  Published February 04, 2013
Reuters    The most extensive study yet by the U.S. government on suicide among military veterans shows more veterans are killing themselves than previously thought, with 22 deaths a day - or one every 65 minutes, on average.
The study released on Friday by the Department of Veterans Affairs covered suicides from 1999 to 2010 and compared with a previous, less precise VA estimate that there were roughly 18 veteran deaths a day in the United States.
More than 69 percent of veteran suicides were among individuals aged 50 years or older, the VA reported.
 
"This data provides a fuller, more accurate, and sadly, an even more alarming picture of veteran suicide rates," said Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington state, who has championed legislation to strengthen mental health care for veterans.
The news came two weeks after the U.S. military acknowledged that suicides hit a record in 2012, outpacing combat deaths, with 349 active-duty suicides - almost one a day.
That was despite sharper focus at the leadership level at the Pentagon and VA on the suicide problem, and came during an overall rise in suicides in the United States. The number of suicides in the United States rose 11 percent from 2007 to 2010, the VA said.
 
The VA did not provide raw data and acknowledged its national figures were still estimates. The new study was based on data collected from 21 states in which military status is reported on the death certificate. It said more data from more states were being processed.
Reuters last year obtained less-detailed data for the 2005-to-2010 period from 32 states, also showing a significant rise in the number of suicides among the country's 23 million veterans.
 
The VA said that while the number of veteran suicides had risen, the percentage of all suicides in America identified as "veteran" declined from 1999 to 2003 and had remained relatively constant in recent years.
The VA said the data would help it better identify where at-risk veterans may be located and improve targeting of specific suicide intervention and outreach activities.
"We have more work to do and we will use this data to continue to strengthen our suicide prevention efforts," Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/02/04/us-military-veteran-suicides-rise-one-dies-every-65-minutes/#ixzz2JwcpK6j1

[Mike in Virginia]

I think it's a combination of factors.  A vet as done the most important thing he'll ever do.  Now he doesn't have that.  Nothing he can accomplish will be as much.  Secondly, he knows what he did, but no one else seems to care.  Most folks don't have a clue.  He questions his own worth.  Why did he bother? Who was it he was serving? 
All vets know that feeling. 
I'm certain we were better off as a nation when we had the draft.  Young people were forced into understanding.  Now, the young people who don't enlist will never comprehend what it means to serve.  They are immature self-centered money mongers.  They don't know what maturity is. 

[BBF]

10-4 on why did he bother. I don't know, it could be a variety of reasons.
 
Who was he serving? NOW that is the important question. IMO It wasn't in defense of the homeland, that is for sure.

[Gary G]

10-4 on why did he bother. I don't know, it could be a variety of reasons.
 
Who was he serving? NOW that is the important question. IMO It wasn't in defense of the homeland, that is for sure.

He was serving the political corporatocracy no doubt.  The rest is lies.

[magooch]

I have to wonder how many of those veterans were lifers.  It was rather common for 30 year guys to go sideways when they reached the end of their time in the military. The reasons didn't seem to make any sense to me, but then I was so happy to get out that nothing was going to depress me.  By the time some of those folks had 25, or 30 years in, the thought of leaving must have been like being tossed out of their home and in some cases it literally was.  I witnessed one chief master sergeant go screwy and got broke down to a master about a month before being mustered out.  A tech sergeant nearly committed suicide right in front of us at our duty section when he had about a week to go.  These guys were not battle troops by any stretch of the word.  So I don't know what their problem was.  I do know they were very fond of the sauce and that got very evident right near the end of their time.

[Swampman]

Boys are raised up to be soft and sissy like.  They have never experience any hardship in their life.  They can't handle it.

[powderman]

Just guessing, but I'd guess that many, if not most of these folks didn't have God in their lives, possibly a bad homelife. A combat vet told me that morale was at an all time low from seeing their buds killed and not being allowed to fight a real war to win, thanks to new regs for being PC since imam obama took office. We pray for our military every day, and always lift them up Sun morning. POWDERMAN. 

[BBF]

Rules of Engagement= Path to loosing a war.

[351 power]

curious swampman, what hardship prepares young people for service to country and ultimately war?

[Swampman]

curious swampman, what hardship prepares young people for service to country and ultimately war?

Tough parents, chores, not having everything on a silver platter fed to them with a silver spoon, strict teachers, tough schooling, time spent in the outdoors learning the needed skills.  Above all having a real mother and father....

[powderman]

curious swampman, what hardship prepares young people for service to country and ultimately war?

Tough parents, chores, not having everything on a silver platter fed to them with a silver spoon, strict teachers, tough schooling, time spent in the outdoors learning the needed skills.  Above all having a real mother and father....

 
Agreed Sir. POWDERMAN. 

[351 power]

i would think that the military training they receive changes alot of what you are talking about. remember you are talking about men and women who have served their nation.

[BBF]

Perhaps they come to the realization that serving their country has a different meaning for the Govt. than what they believed it meant.

[Swampman]

i would think that the military training they receive changes alot of what you are talking about. remember you are talking about men and women who have served their nation.

I've served my nation......suicide is the act of a coward.  Boys now days are taught to avoid violence their entire lives by their liberal moms.  Most of them have been throughly effeminized.  Most men too for that matter.

[buffermop]

What woudn't be depressing if you just done your tour of duty in a war that is almost hopeless to win and no future of good jobs to look forward to when coming home.Korea,vietnam and now Afghanistan.All useless military actions that were a waste of expense and military lives.

[351 power]

swampman i find your flippant answers to a complicated issue to be disrespectful to the loss of human life. no matter what the true reasons. and according to your reasoning all the young people, whether they have served or not, are at risk

[Swampman]

Well I'm not much concerned with how you feel.  We have rasied a nation of weak and foolish cannon fodder and they are all at risk.  I work with them everyday and they are useless.

[dakotashooter2]

I'm going to agree with swampman........ modern technology, non discipline in schools, ideals like not keeping score in youth sports and pandering to our youth have given them a false sense of self value and achievement.. I'm not sure they are as psychologically strong as earlier generations. When they do have to deal with adverse situations many are not as prepared to handle them.. They can't google themselves out of postwar stress syndrome........................

[Win37]

Did you guys read the post . 69% were 50 or older.

[Swampman]

And they are weak for the reasons mentioned too.

[Win37]

That may be , I don't know them, but they are not all spoiled kids that had everything handed to them . Most seem to be older men . You don't know what they were thinking or what was in their heart .

[D Fischer]

I'm sitting here thinking, when was the last time America fought a war to defend our country. I would maybe say Irac but that just turned into a police action. Before that? How about the war for independence, had to bust the English chops! Might be able to say WWII. As I understand it, the US was drug into that war when the Germans sunk an American civilian cruise ship.

Stop and think about it and vet's need to wonder just why it is they get shot up and killed, not protecting their country.

[Win37]

Very true ,Fischer.
 
The War or 1812  I think , we were invaded .

[BBF]

Fisher, that was WWI not 2 and the circumstances are somewhat murky how and why it happened.

[Gary G]

Every war since 1812 has been a setup by the government. The people, (who used to know that they were the ones paying for the wars), were usually "mind your own business" types opposed to war. Thus, they were baited to sway opinions. People do not start wars, governments do. If we did not have governments, we would not have wars. People are the ones that get hurt, not the governments. War is the health of governments. People lose liberty, wealth and life. The government grows in it's power over the people.


Every country is made up of two parts diametrically opposed:


The first is people who work and produce to make their lives better. They exchange what has been produced which increases wealth and this naturally causes them to get along with their peers. When more is produced than is consumed, the nations wealth increases, especially in an atmosphere of freedom.


The second part of a country produces nothing and can only survive by extracting part of what the first part produced. It lives a parasitical life and only consumes and regulates. This is government. It is it's nature to grow in power and scope. When overall consumption exceeds production of a nation, living standards will fall and the end is visible. This has been the cause of the end of all empires.

[ultramag44]

Did you guys read the post . 69% were 50 or older.

I  enlisted in 1976, retired in 1996, 20 years and 1 month of service. I finished up a 1st Sgt.  We deployed and we took chances.  We had to toughen up mamma-boys and teach many of them values.  Some thought "automatic hot water" was something only rich people had!  None of my guys or gals tried to off themselves.  They KNEW we as leaders, had their backs.  I used to tell them, "Make me do my job, becasue I WILL make you do yours.
"
Here's the thing that kept me focused and going during those times we were hating life and knowing we were getting royally boned: This is just 20 years out of my life.  It's NOT my whole life.  I do not eat, breathe or live OD Green.   Those guys who loose that focus, the ones that let the uniform become first and the man or woman under it become second, they loose their way. They don't know how to re-tune to civilian life.
 
I'll wager most of those guys, age 50+ were all white.  I won't expound on that here.  PM me for the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say.
PS  Both SUV's are paid for.  The mortage was paid off last month.  Thanks to all of you! Please keep working though!  Mrs. Ultra want to replace the back wood fence w/ a concrete-black wall, it requires your hard-earned tax dollars in my retirement account.      Of course you got the service up-front.  I collect on the back end.  Un-like the welfare riding, foodstamp collecting in-breds who give the US NOTHING...except more in-breds