Every day, 22 vets commit suicide

Thanks, Obama.

Edit: Nice read.

 

It may sound callous, but I'm just annoyed that any useful information that there might have been in that article was drowned out by a tidal wave of anecdotes. 22 may be large - but maybe when you compare it to the civilian population, it isn't. I know it isn't with actual military members, for example.

There are many professions at the end of the day which have an elevated suicide risk. The medical professions as a whole have that problem.

 

From personal expereince, a larger portion of those committing suicide than one would think never deployed.

Unfortunately, the reason for this is quite depressing. This especially occurs in infantry units. Usually the weak links in a platoon are singled out. If they are not physically or mentally able to cut the daily physical training that comes along with being in infantry they usually get "cut" from the platoon and are assigned desk jobs or clerical jobs. They probably do not also deploy with the unit and feel betrayed. These individuals usually get singled out and scrutinized even by former platoon members who they considered friends at one point. They become isolated as all their former peers have abandoned them and eventually some will off themselves. Infantry units have a high alpha male fraternity social structure and unfortunately it can result in unintended casualties.

 

This is awful and also why we shouldn't go into war with Russia. Russia has such a declining population, the standard of living there is awful, the men there are macho pigs who don't take care of themselves. They eat crap food, drink daily and smoke. I think life expectancy for a man in Russia is around 50. Let them destroy themselves... I feel so badly for Ukraine but we cannot get involved in that militarily.

 

WHOA! What you mean medical professions?

 

This in general. I don't remember where, but I also recall reading at one point that as many as 300 doctors commit suicide a day - far cry from 22.

It's pretty well accepted that doctors are very high suicide risk compared to the general population - especially dentists and anesthesiologists, for some reason( though I guess the latter has better access to equipment that could kill oneself quickly and painlessly than most people). And that New York Times article actually had useful data in it - as opposed to that CNN article which just ran a bunch of anecdotes in some format which was incredibly frustrating to navigate, and that's not discussing that I hate news sites which automatically play videos.

 

I'd be real interested to see where you may have gotten that "300 per day stat". Not saying it is impossible, it just seems in-sustainably high to me.

Maybe it was the health care industry as a whole (i.e. nurses, doctors, dentists, etc), in which case, considering how many people are in that industry, then perhaps it is possible. Still seems high though.

 

In the US? Over 100,000 doctors commit suicide a year?

I'm gonna go ahead and call bullsh!t on that one.

With regards to veterans, what's maybe more troubling (and indicative of a lack of support) is the disproportionately high rate of homelessness, particularly among males.

 

I wonder if this stat carried meaningful info such as relevant factors leading to suicide (homeless, unemployed, just divorced, a long medical history, length of deployment), you know stuff that would clear up root causes and help the public be aware of any remedies that can reduce this statistic.

 

The truth is, when it comes to vets, it is all lip service. Everyone likes saying they support vets... but neither party really cares, nor does the general public.

 

The problem is that some view vets as the holy defenders of Democracy. Unfortunately, there is a good share who joined the military as a means for a paycheck because they had nothing else for them. Once they returned, they used PTSD and many of the other excuses as a crutch to better themselves. Instead of fighting the good fight and reintegrating into society, they are expecting handouts from the government.

Again, this isn't a blanket statement for all vets nor is it discounting those who are truly messed up. I have met a few who have no desire to better themselves and not messed up as bad as they claim.

 

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Very sad report. This is a song written and performed by a band whose lead singer is a veteran.

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LOL, I guess he doesn't have a "support our troops!" bumper sticker.

Probably more of a "support our troops other than the lazy good-for-nothing parasite bums which are a lot of them!"

 

Extremely unpopular yet accurate depiction.

Seconded.

 

But this doesn't explain why they are committing suicide at a higher rate.

To me that says the PTSD is real.

 

So does the DSM-IV - but I'm prepared to go with Space Ghost, he's rarely wrong about these types of things.

 

How can you tell they are not messed up as bad? Lots of people can act pretty normal yet have serious issues.

 

I don't want to imply that PTSD is an excuse and that it doesn't exist. I have had people tell me that it wasn't real and I find the comment quite offensive.

The point I was trying to make is many people joined the military because they had no direction in life. They had no focus, no ambition, and no skill sets. Many of these people already had issues long before they joined the military. These issues were never resolved while serving, so they come back more screwed up than ever before.

Everyone I know who has served a tour in the middle east has come back with their demons. None of them transitioned right back as if they never left. None of them want to talk about it. Not to friends. Not to family. Not to spouses.

However, the differences between them are those who were driven to move on with life. I have seen those who have gone through hell after coming back and 3-4 years later are doing very well for themselves. I have seen those who still struggle but are doing what it takes to stay afloat. And then there are those who are just completely useless who use their conditions as an excuse to not better themselves.