Suicide in Military is up

[cluznar]

In 2012 there were 347 suicides by active duty military personnel. Up from 310 last year. They say the long involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is the reason, plus the shrinking of troops in the military.
This is not good when America's military people are committing suicide. It means there is a big problem.

:triniti:

 

[gunnerbob]

There is truth to the Afghanistan and Iraq war contributions... I see and hear it daily. What does the country think is going to happen when you have some men and women serving multiple 9, 12 or 15 month tours of duty? I've met and known Servicemen that enlisted for four years and served three of that overseas in a combat zone... and thats not the worst of it. The guys that flip out and shoot civilians, the guys on their 3rd or 4th tour of combat... yeah, they're going to be mentally f*cked! Their time in combat is only half the story... what do you think they're doing while their home? Sitting on the beach drinking jack?! No, they're training and preparing for the next rotation! For some guys, there is no such thing as family life... many marriges end in divorce in the military of today. Too many Dads miss the birth of their kids... I was almost one of them.

I've got a few friends that have been AD for 7-8 years and deployed every year they've been in. We're the lucky ones, we're USAF and we only go for 6 months. Still, think about that... you're gone 6 months, home for 6 months. Bye-bye marriage, bye-bye mental health and bye-bye reality. There is an ever increasing role of normally non-combat AFSCs or MOSs being called into combat duty of some type. I did 7 months attached to an ISAF unit in North Eastern Afghanistan driving back and forth to FOBs and COPs... and my AFSC is 2S071(Supply). Even if you're not directly attached to a combat unit, the larger bases like Bagram, Kandahar or Balad take incoming daily... usually rockets or mortars, but on occassion small arms. I was on Bagram AB in May 2010 when it got ground attacked, the crazy SOBs used rockets, small arms and grenades to charge the gate! You'd never think they'd ground attack a large installation like that... we had rounds snagging a couple hundred yards inside the wire. You don't think regular after things like that.

An oft over looked part is the work load at home... most MX units work 12hr days, 7 days a week depending on the aircraft and mission. That's a lot to handle day in and day out... if MX is working, Supply is working... and so are another two or three units that support the operations. It beats down on everybody... you combine a sh!tty home life with a sh!tty deployed life for a few years and you might start thinking about ending it too.

Anyway... it's time to wind down our military adventurism around the world.

 

[cluznar]

I agree combat is not fun, but it is part of the job. People in certain jobs know they may well have to go to combat more than once. It happened in Vietnam also, and in Vietnam A Lot more Americans were killed and wounded. We have a smaller military now which means more troops have to go to combat more times. All they can do is seek a psychiatrist when they get back to the states.

:help:

 

[nosreme]

It's not just the combat tours. It's the unrelenting pace of remote combat operations relying on ever-smaller force structure thanks to the mindless budget-cutting mentality that relies on across-the-board rather than target cuts. It's the refusal of both Bush II and Obama (with prime culpability on the former) to recognize that military personnel are not infinitely inelastic--that they, like rubber bands, will snap at some point. It's Bush II preventing badly-injured and wounded military members from collecting both retirement pay and various kinds of disability pay, especially for combat-related injuries. (It took awhile but the troops saw some, but not enough relief here). It's the constant uncertainty and hardship with politicians paying lip service to "our troops" before they cut key benefits, impose onerous and unwarranted restrictions on and intrusions into personal lives, only to be thrown out of the military when it's cost-cutting time. It's being under the command/control/supervision of incompetent "leaders" whose only capabilities are of the careerism variety. It's too many playing grown-up by getting married too early and having kids too early only to have the marriage fall apart. It's competent and conscientious troops playing second fiddle at promotion and recognition time to slackers whose only talent is sucking up and looking sharp. It's the schizophrenia of being trained for combat or important support duties but having to endure countless hours as part of any of a variety of social engineering programs. It's social engineering destroying the fabric of the profession of arms that historically made sacrifices worthwhile and units perform as teams. It's second-guessing by media, politicians, and even distant military higher-ups of decisions made at operational unit level. It's the atmosphere of leadership through punishment. It's integration of the unqualified via double standards. It's the very realistic awareness that seeking treatment carries formidable downside risks to personal and professional reputation and job/career progression. It's commanders whose main interest in suicides is the adverse publicity that falls on them and their implicit lack of leadership. Things like this, and many more, combine to instill in too many such a sense of despair and hopelessness that suicide seems to them to be the only way out.

The suicide problem will not be fixed through suicide-prevention briefings or quick and simple fixes that lend themselves to media soundbytes.

 

[usmeu25]

Nothing upset me more than knowing our Veterans are treated so badly by the Government. They preach how important you the ( Veteran) are only when they need you. After that you don't mean **** to them.

These returning young men, and women from our current Conflicts are programmed on a daily basis that the enemy is all around you. You don't know who it is the women on the corner, the baby doll laying on the street etc.etc.

Everyday they are living in fear.Then all of a sudden they are on a plane home. Expected to resume their life like nothing ever happen.

Well, it doesn't work that way there needs to be a system set in place to teach these returning veterans how to Re-adjust to civilian life.learning To trust the women on the corner, the kids playing in the street, the stranger passing you.

Until the Government fully understand how to deal with these issues the suicide rate will continue to rise.I'm sicken by this I only wish there was more I could do to help life is hard enough, then you add in the mix a returning veteran from combat.

That's expected to fit right in to society as if nothing ever happen.

 

[tricolordad]

Well, if you read into some of the stories...homosexuals being allowed to enlist may have something to do with a rise in suicide. Instead of letting them sit at home, BO basically encouraged them to join and now there's that one "dude" that's loud about how gay he is and all the COs will be afraid to punish him for running his mouth. Being labeled as a homophobe can be worse than being labeled as a racist. It will kill careers. But, even if butterbars don't do nothing... the other 23 men will. Didn't that happen to a marine a few years ago? He went up to the watch tower and put his mouth around the barrel.

It's not PC to say it, I know, but you'll be seeing it more often. Hate it all you want, it's the truth.

For some reason they wanted to join, now contract signed, secret's out and still 6 years to go on the contract.

 

[cluznar]

I guess Congress would simply say that the military is a necessary evil. :big_boss:

 

[Itstjs]

Sadly 3 guys in my Company committed Suicide, one of them was in my platoon, even sadder thing is, noone would think he was suicidal, he seemed like the happiest guy on earth.

 

[nosreme]

Well, if you read into some of the stories...homosexuals being allowed to enlist may have something to do with a rise in suicide..

Until now, I have never read or heard of such a story and I'm pretty darned tuned into what's going on. I suppose the virulent anti-gay websites are full of fictional ones, though.

 

[tricolordad]

Until now, I have never read or heard of such a story and I'm pretty darned tuned into what's going on. I suppose the virulent anti-gay websites are full of fictional ones, though.

Good for you. I've been watching a lot of independent videos. Just watched one, it was filmed by a kid in the 3ID, gay as hell, hid it, served 3 tours, came home, blew his brains out in the basement because of what was done to him when his platoon found out. His dad edited the footage and produced it. If you actually look, you'll find a lot the MSM won't report on. Kinda like when they don't report on homegrown white supremacist terrorists firebombing houses and businesses because only "Arab" terrorists are popular.

 

[mappow]

Soooo.... what’s anyone’s conclusion? It isn’t the Military, it's the pervasive attitude of Liberals that has seeped into DOD over the years. Lowering the bar, allowing ALL to join and participate. Lack of discipline and a total breakdown of values INSTILLED by senior NCO's. UCMJ really hasn't changed, NAV/ARMY/AForce Regs has changed to adopt a value system that is not only charged with political ideology but fueled by touchy, feely, kinder killing machine. Really, this work years ago, it must work now. NOT! God why do I even bother? The enemies are inside the wire..................................

 

[dcselby1]

In 2012 there were 347 suicides by active duty military personnel. Up from 310 last year. They say the long involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is the reason, plus the shrinking of troops in the military.
This is not good when America's military people are committing suicide. It means there is a big problem.

:triniti:

Since our military members are drawn from the civilian "pool," I wasn't surprised to learn that civilian suicides in the same age groups are even higher in civilian society. I've lost hope in our country to a great extent and it looks as though young people have lost hope as well. In what, I don't know. They probably don't either, sad to say.

 

[nosreme]

Good for you. I've been watching a lot of independent videos. Just watched one, it was filmed by a kid in the 3ID, gay as hell, hid it, served 3 tours, came home, blew his brains out in the basement because of what was done to him when his platoon found out. His dad edited the footage and produced it. If you actually look, you'll find a lot the MSM won't report on. Kinda like when they don't report on homegrown white supremacist terrorists firebombing houses and businesses because only "Arab" terrorists are popular.

Yes, there have been a few gays who committed suicide because of the relentless maltreatment by substandard troops obsesses with continuing their juvenile and criminal gaybashing. Tragic. But certainly none who committed suicide because of the presence of gays in their units.

 

[tricolordad]

Yes, there have been a few gays who committed suicide because of the relentless maltreatment by substandard troops obsesses with continuing their juvenile and criminal gaybashing. Tragic. But certainly none who committed suicide because of the presence of gays in their units.

We ridicule them for doing unnatural things. Doesn't mean it's criminal. The only ones who take offense are liberals. Remember the rainbow obama stickers?

 

[mappow]

Yes, there have been a few gays who committed suicide because of the relentless maltreatment by substandard troops obsesses with continuing their juvenile and criminal gaybashing. Tragic. But certainly none who committed suicide because of the presence of gays in their units.

Sorry but if you can't take the heat ya shouldn't be in the Kitchen. Especially if you're a lean, mean fighting machine. IT JUST AIN'T FOR EVERYBODY!!! Why allow those to enlist if they don't or won't conform to "NORMAL STANDARDS". It isn’t gay bashing its gays shouldn't be in the military. Plain, simple and no matter how you spew your moral indignation of my post, it just shouldn't have ever happened. NOT when discipline is the ONLY cohesive bond in the Armed Forces. Ya break the discipline, you’re lost. Plain and simple.
"criminal gaybashing" REALLY????? How about the effect it puts on the troops having to deal with such non-conforming individuals? ****I say again, The enemy is inside the wire**** How do you do a SITREP when who you send it to is part of the problem.