US military suicide rate hits one per day

[Qwert]

I just read on BBC, that in 2012, every day one US soldier commite suicide.
I think that its time to move away from Afghanistan, its not good for soldier healt,to much stress i belive.

[BigBallinStalin]

I heard that one has better chances of surviving as a US soldier in Afghanistan compared to an average joe in "bad" neighborhoods in Seattle, New Orleans, etc.

[huamulan]

I heard that a crack dealer in a US city has more chance of surviving on death row than he does living in open society.

[TheMrAwesome]

i heard that magical unicorns will give u a BJ for less than ur average dead hoe

[Symmetry]

I just read on BBC, that in 2012, every day one US soldier commite suicide.
I think that its time to move away from Afghanistan, its not good for soldier healt,to much stress i belive.

It'd be cute of me to make a sarky comment here, but this really is a tragedy. The US has done amazing work since the Vietnam defeat and the experience of Nam veterans returning came to light.

Quite frankly, the US has become one of the best nations in the world at dealing with soldiers after service. Disagree with US policy all you want, but the US is exemplary in how it deals with its veterans. Flawed, certainly, but I'd be hard pressed to find a nation that invests as much time and effort into supporting its soldiers.

This is an odd case where the scandal reveals how deeply the gov't and people care.

[Phatscotty]

War is hell

[2dimes]

i heard that magical unicorns will give u a BJ for less than ur average dead hoe

How much less?

[TheMrAwesome]

i heard that magical unicorns will give u a BJ for less than ur average dead hoe

How much less?

I heard they pay u so u can get a BJ from them. They pay u with rainbow flags and u then become under a homosexual spell. So i am not suure if it is worth it

[Symmetry]

i heard that magical unicorns will give u a BJ for less than ur average dead hoe

How much less?

Roughly 5 years on a plea bargain.

[2dimes]

Gonna stick with ded penguins for now.

[BigBallinStalin]

[Qwert]

wow,this topic transorm to some joke topic. Well this is yours soldier so you can continue to make fun of this news.

"Quite frankly, the US has become one of the best nations in the world at dealing with soldiers after service."

Well in same article," Major General Dana Pittard, a commander in the 1st Armored Division, retracted an Army blog post made in January in which he told soldiers considering suicide to "act like an adult". "

Its look that they need to change something,because this not help to soldiers who come back from Afghanistan.

Even some Pilots who bombard Serbia in 1999, commit suicide, and they never step on foot in Serbia- strange.

[Woodruff]

I just read on BBC, that in 2012, every day one US soldier commite suicide.
I think that its time to move away from Afghanistan, its not good for soldier healt,to much stress i belive.

It'd be cute of me to make a sarky comment here, but this really is a tragedy. The US has done amazing work since the Vietnam defeat and the experience of Nam veterans returning came to light.

Quite frankly, the US has become one of the best nations in the world at dealing with soldiers after service. Disagree with US policy all you want, but the US is exemplary in how it deals with its veterans. Flawed, certainly, but I'd be hard pressed to find a nation that invests as much time and effort into supporting its soldiers.

This is an odd case where the scandal reveals how deeply the gov't and people care.

I agree. I think that unfortunately, it's a case of just how large the U.S. military is. I don't think the 1-per-day is symptomatic of the depth of the problem as much as it's symptomatic of the depth of the numbers of personnel.

[thegreekdog]

I just read on BBC, that in 2012, every day one US soldier commite suicide.
I think that its time to move away from Afghanistan, its not good for soldier healt,to much stress i belive.

It'd be cute of me to make a sarky comment here, but this really is a tragedy. The US has done amazing work since the Vietnam defeat and the experience of Nam veterans returning came to light.

Quite frankly, the US has become one of the best nations in the world at dealing with soldiers after service. Disagree with US policy all you want, but the US is exemplary in how it deals with its veterans. Flawed, certainly, but I'd be hard pressed to find a nation that invests as much time and effort into supporting its soldiers.

This is an odd case where the scandal reveals how deeply the gov't and people care.

I saw the CNN report on this. A couple of things they said were interesting (which is probably not the right word):

(1) Soldiers are encouraged to report their own problems and the problems of others, but many don't do this due to "a macho culture." I can buy this.
(2) There was a spike in Air Force suicides. I don't want to speculate too much, but this surprised me. I'm not sure if Woodruff could shed any light on this (I think he was in the air force), but are Air Force personnel subject to the same stress as Army or Marine personnel?

[Woodruff]

I just read on BBC, that in 2012, every day one US soldier commite suicide.
I think that its time to move away from Afghanistan, its not good for soldier healt,to much stress i belive.

It'd be cute of me to make a sarky comment here, but this really is a tragedy. The US has done amazing work since the Vietnam defeat and the experience of Nam veterans returning came to light.

Quite frankly, the US has become one of the best nations in the world at dealing with soldiers after service. Disagree with US policy all you want, but the US is exemplary in how it deals with its veterans. Flawed, certainly, but I'd be hard pressed to find a nation that invests as much time and effort into supporting its soldiers.

This is an odd case where the scandal reveals how deeply the gov't and people care.

I saw the CNN report on this. A couple of things they said were interesting (which is probably not the right word):

(1) Soldiers are encouraged to report their own problems and the problems of others, but many don't do this due to "a macho culture." I can buy this.
(2) There was a spike in Air Force suicides. I don't want to speculate too much, but this surprised me. I'm not sure if Woodruff could shed any light on this (I think he was in the air force), but are Air Force personnel subject to the same stress as Army or Marine personnel?

Typically, no...Air Force personnel have it much easier than Army/Navy/Marine personnel. My guess as to what might cause this (as it surprises me also, a bit) is that perhaps as the "war on terror" drags on, Air Force personnel are forced to endure conditions which are more typical of the Army/Marines (I put the Navy in a separate category, as their primary "condition to be endured" is six months on cruise out of every year), thus perhaps those Air Force personnel found these new conditions that much more unbearable (particularly in light of previously light conditions). I'm thinking particularly of "time deployed"...in the past, the Air Force has tried very hard to keep to their strict guidelines for how long troops would be deployed, which helped both the troop and their family to deal with the absence...there was solidity to it. That was never true of the Army, and not really of the Marines either. Lately, however, due to the stretching of our military so much, the Air Force has lost their grip on those windows as well, resulting in much longer than expected delays in return, and all of the difficulties that creates for the troop as well as the family.

But I'm completely guessing.

[/]

I agree. I think that unfortunately, it's a case of just how large the U.S. military is. I don't think the 1-per-day is symptomatic of the depth of the problem as much as it's symptomatic of the depth of the numbers of personnel.

With 1,456,862 active personnel, it equals out to around 25.05 per 100,000, by perspective it would be around 6th place in worldwide suicides if counted by the same standards as a country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... icide_rate

I'm not sure what to say, it doesn't seem to have much to do with the war as the OP seems to suggest, active duty personnel suicide rates are down, but guardsmen and reserves suicides are up by nearly double.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/01/a ... e-011911w/

[Army of GOD]

RAW is WAR

[Woodruff]

I'm not sure what to say, it doesn't seem to have much to do with the war as the OP seems to suggest, active duty personnel suicide rates are down, but guardsmen and reserves suicides are up by nearly double.

The Guard and Reserves are being used far more frequently and in ways they weren't used very often in the past, due to manpower constraints within the active duty forces. I am of the opinion that these days, there is little difference between active duty, Guard or Reserves as far as deployments go. The side-benefits are really the only difference. So given that, I'm not particularly surprised that their suicide rates are up quite a bit...they're doing things they really shouldn't have expected to be doing, in my opinion.

[spurgistan]

I'm not sure what to say, it doesn't seem to have much to do with the war as the OP seems to suggest, active duty personnel suicide rates are down, but guardsmen and reserves suicides are up by nearly double.

The Guard and Reserves are being used far more frequently and in ways they weren't used very often in the past, due to manpower constraints within the active duty forces. I am of the opinion that these days, there is little difference between active duty, Guard or Reserves as far as deployments go. The side-benefits are really the only difference. So given that, I'm not particularly surprised that their suicide rates are up quite a bit...they're doing things they really shouldn't have expected to be doing, in my opinion.

But... the ads make it sound so easy!

[2dimes]

I have this opinion too.

I'm not particularly surprised that their suicide rates are up quite a bit...they're doing things they really shouldn't have expected to be doing, in my opinion.

I also support our troops, those of Canuckistan and the US&A.

[BigBallinStalin]

I'm not sure what to say, it doesn't seem to have much to do with the war as the OP seems to suggest, active duty personnel suicide rates are down, but guardsmen and reserves suicides are up by nearly double.

The Guard and Reserves are being used far more frequently and in ways they weren't used very often in the past, due to manpower constraints within the active duty forces. I am of the opinion that these days, there is little difference between active duty, Guard or Reserves as far as deployments go. The side-benefits are really the only difference. So given that, I'm not particularly surprised that their suicide rates are up quite a bit...they're doing things they really shouldn't have expected to be doing, in my opinion.

Sounds fraudulent.

[2dimes]

Fraudulent how, are you sleeping better now that Gadaffi is gone BBS? Saddam, Osama? Most guys sign up for National Guard or the Reserves because they don't want to get deployed.

I suspect many who have served somewhere are proud of their role, some maybe were better prepared, or just have a certain strength. For some those actions and more so having to kill people you can't tell were bad guys until they pulled a weapon, or even being present when someone else did, weighs heavy on their minds. Going to a battle is bad enough, most of the more recent conflicts have a much higher amount of uncertainty regarding the enemy. Killing another human is a much bigger deal than watching it in a movie/TV show.

For others the worst thing is wondering why your buddy or even random other soldiers are dead and you made it home.



That was way too much serious for this place. I'm going to look for some penguin corpses.

[Woodruff]

I'm not sure what to say, it doesn't seem to have much to do with the war as the OP seems to suggest, active duty personnel suicide rates are down, but guardsmen and reserves suicides are up by nearly double.

The Guard and Reserves are being used far more frequently and in ways they weren't used very often in the past, due to manpower constraints within the active duty forces. I am of the opinion that these days, there is little difference between active duty, Guard or Reserves as far as deployments go. The side-benefits are really the only difference. So given that, I'm not particularly surprised that their suicide rates are up quite a bit...they're doing things they really shouldn't have expected to be doing, in my opinion.

But... the ads make it sound so easy!

Indeed.

Of course, it's not the actual physical work that's the problem, really. That sort of thing doesn't really lead much to suicide, outside of psychological battlefield scars. It's the separation, and all of the problems that causes (primarily marital and parental).

[Woodruff]

I'm not sure what to say, it doesn't seem to have much to do with the war as the OP seems to suggest, active duty personnel suicide rates are down, but guardsmen and reserves suicides are up by nearly double.

The Guard and Reserves are being used far more frequently and in ways they weren't used very often in the past, due to manpower constraints within the active duty forces. I am of the opinion that these days, there is little difference between active duty, Guard or Reserves as far as deployments go. The side-benefits are really the only difference. So given that, I'm not particularly surprised that their suicide rates are up quite a bit...they're doing things they really shouldn't have expected to be doing, in my opinion.

Sounds fraudulent.

I wouldn't know why you'd think that, unless you don't understand the supposed role of the Guard and Reserves as compared to how they're being used these days. Especially the Guard, which should have no deployment role.

[2dimes]

]

But... the ads make it sound so easy!

Indeed.

Of course, it's not the actual physical work that's the problem, really. That sort of thing doesn't really lead much to suicide, outside of psychological battlefield scars. It's the separation, and all of the problems that causes (primarily marital and parental).

I would think the physical work would have many benefits including making them healthier psychologically.