DeaconCav06
Dickie Hemric
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2011
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That is a terrible statistic. 295 combat deaths.
It's the 800-pound gorilla in the room no one wants to talk about or even acknowledge. The lack of health and mental care for our military isn't just shameful, sad, and pathetic. It's criminal. We can bail out goddamned banks and car companies but can't do a damn thing for our soldiers.
It's the 800-pound gorilla in the room no one wants to talk about or even acknowledge. The lack of health and mental care for everybody isn't just shameful, sad, and pathetic. It's criminal. We can bail out goddamned banks and car companies but can't do a damn thing for our soldiers.
I'd be interested to see 1) the total population of US military members considered and 2) the number of suicides relative to the average rate of civilian suicides.
I bet suicides for enlisted and ex armed services are substantially higher than civilian rates. like wayyyyy higher.
It's next to impossible to track suicide rates once a service member leaves active service - and obviously, that's when most people have the most trouble. Even if the veteran in question is enrolled in the VA and it's definitively determined to be a suicide, the VA doesn't release cause of death.
The root of this issue (and others) is that it's not mandatory for departing service members to enroll in the VA. (It's something like 50% of current-era vets do, even less for previous generations.) We simply don't have the money for it and the VA healthcare system is already overwhelmed, which is why we shouldn't start bullshit wars with unclear paths to how they end, but that's a mistake humanity's been repeating for thousands of years.
So long story short, these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. It's much, much worse, and I fear it'll continue to get worse as Iraq and A'Stan vets get older and farther away from the built-in support systems of active military service.
Some real quick unchecked stats I pulled off line show 1.3MM active military personnel, so if you have 359 suicides that's like 27/100000. Other real quick, unchecked stats show the suicide rate in the US is right around 12/100000
FIFY. Mental health care in this country is abysmal, and we keep shutting down mental health facilities.
It's the 800-pound gorilla in the room no one wants to talk about or even acknowledge. The lack of health and mental care for our military isn't just shameful, sad, and pathetic. It's criminal. We can bail out goddamned banks and car companies but can't do a damn thing for our soldiers.
It's next to impossible to track suicide rates once a service member leaves active service - and obviously, that's when most people have the most trouble. Even if the veteran in question is enrolled in the VA and it's definitively determined to be a suicide, the VA doesn't release cause of death.
The root of this issue (and others) is that it's not mandatory for departing service members to enroll in the VA. (It's something like 50% of current-era vets do, even less for previous generations.) We simply don't have the money for it and the VA healthcare system is already overwhelmed, which is why we shouldn't start bullshit wars with unclear paths to how they end, but that's a mistake humanity's been repeating for thousands of years.
So long story short, these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. It's much, much worse, and I fear it'll continue to get worse as Iraq and A'Stan vets get older and farther away from the built-in support systems of active military service.