More US military personnel have taken their OWN lives than have died in action

By GottaLaff



According to wsws.org, in the last year more than 330 US armed forces members committed suicide. More than have been killed by the enemy. We don't hear much about this, do we? It isn't pleasant. It makes us remember another side of war, the personal one. The one that takes lives when bullets and IEDs don't.

Suicide is not painless. Not to family members, not to fellow troops, not to friends, and not to the person who succumbs to it, who are in more pain than they might let on:

What these figures should tell us is that there is something fundamentally deranged about Washington's "war on terror" - which is probably why western news media prefer to ignore the issue. How damning is it about such military campaigns that the number of US soldiers who take their own lives outnumber those killed by enemy combatants.

What is even more disturbing is that the official figures only count victims of suicide among serving personnel. Not included are the many more veterans - officially classed a civilians - who take their own lives.

This needs to be covered more. That it hasn't been is an example of egregious negligence by the media.

And thank you to all our service members and their friends and families. I can't begin to imagine the horrors they've witnessed or the pain they've had to endure.

Army suicides up fifth straight year

Just awful. I'm surprised so many that haven't deployed commit suicide.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army is reporting the fifth straight year of increased suicides among active duty and reserve components of the service branch.

The Defense Department report published Friday, said the 147 suicides through November exceeds last year's number of 127 and is the most since 1980 when the Army began keeping count.

Walter Morales, Army suicide prevention program manager, said suicides do not occur only among soldiers who have served multiple deployments. More than a third who have taken their own lives were never deployed, he said in a statement released Thursday.

"We conduct an exhaustive review of every suicide within the Army," said Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director of the Army's Suicide Prevention Task Force. "What we have learned is that there is no single or simple answer to preventing suicide. This tells us that we must continue to take a holistic approach to identifying and helping soldiers and families with issues such as behavioral health problems, substance abuse, and relationship failures."

A Teen's Reaction to the Fort Hood Memorial Service

By GottaLaff

Image via Fort Hood Sentinel

I've previously posted the observations of a remarkable high school student regarding the Ft. Hood shootings. Her insights were unique and poignant. Please read them here and here.

She just IMed me the link to her own blog post on the same subject, and I strongly recommend going over here to read it. Just to tantalize you, here is an excerpt or three:

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan since the fall of my second grade year, and in Iraq for half of the years I have been in school. [...]

My brother wears the same uniform as the grieving soldiers, and he has served at Fort Hood. I lived with him at Fort Hood during one of his trainings for his career as an army truck mechanic. The buildings in the background of the live shots were familiar to me, and I imagined that afternoon what it would be like to attend a memorial for my own brother. [...]

We have not seen military funerals for any of the 5000 military service members killed in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan since I learned to write my name in cursive. Our morning announcements don’t indicate the number of those forever wounded in body or soul in that time. And we have certainly seen no mention of Afghan or Iraqi civilians killed by our military since my adult teeth started coming in.

Remember, the author just turned 18. The "professional" punditiots could take lessons.

Fellow Soldiers, family and guests take a moment of silence during a memorial service for 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Soldiers: Spcs. Jake Velloza, Jeremiah McCleery, and Shawn Sykes, June 18, at Fort Hood’s 1st Cavalry Division Memorial Chapel. Sgt. Karl Williams, 3rd BCT, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs

"Why didn’t my school show ... memorials for... the 100+ Ft. Hood soldiers that ... committed suicide this year?"

By GottaLaff

Yesterday I posted something I hope you already read, or will read. It was about a Texas school district that thought President Obama's education speech should be off limits, but didn't blink when kids watched him talk about mass murder. I described the point of view of one of the students.

That teen and her brother recently called Fort Hood home, and now the 25-year-old brother is in the Army, stationed in Afghanistan.

I have now been given permission to link you to the 18-year-old's blog site. She goes by the name freckles cassie and, she shows up here too.

Here's a comment she left on one of the blog posts that was well worth quoting:

Why didn’t my school show us the memorials for all if the 100+ Fort Hood soldiers that have committed suicide this year? Or all of the homeless vets who die from lack of VA health care? Or even all of the memorials for all of the soldiers & marines killed in Iraq & Afghanistan?

From the Department of Sad Irony: Freckles Cassie, a teenager who writes blog entries and comments, is already heads and shoulders better at analysis and is more astute than anyone on ClusterFox and most punditiots in general.

Go get 'em, Freckles Cassie.

Army: Suicide rate among soldiers continues on record pace

Greg Mitchell has been covering this in depth for an unfortunately long time.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The suicide rate among U.S. Army soldiers jumped in May -- continuing a four-month upward trend and on a record pace for a second straight year, according to Army statistics released Thursday.

Last month the deaths of 17 soldiers were either confirmed or suspected to be suicides, up from 13 in April and 13 in March, the new numbers revealed.

The Army said the total number of potential or confirmed suicides since January stands at 82. Last year the Army recorded 133 suicides, the most ever.

Earlier this year, Army officials saw the suicide numbers moving up, and by February said the service was on track for a record year for suicides.

Joint Chiefs chairman: Army suicides to hit record

By GottaLaff

I don't like posting things like this:

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, on Tuesday predicted that the Army will see a record number of suicides this year. [...]

"The suicide rate is exceptionally high," Mullen said, adding that the rate is up in all the military services, not just the Army. While he said that there is no "analytic data" yet showing that there is an "overwhelming correlation" between the stress of the military forces with multiple deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he "just can't believe that it is not very much related."

Gee, which president pushed that whole practice to the limit? Oh yeah:

Mullen said the military faced a "severe" shortage in mental health professionals and that Pentagon leaders are pressing to fill those gaps.

Heavy sigh.

VIDEO: Vets group founder Paul Rieckhoff talks soldier suicide rates; I talk Vet daughter's trauma

By GottaLaff

Last week we talked with Paul Rieckhoff, executive director and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. In part two of the interview, we talked to Paul about Vet head injuries, rising suicide rates among returning soldiers, and how the economic crisis is effecting military families.

Paul is an amazing guy. You may have seen him on the Rachel Maddow Show or Countdown, where he makes numerous appearances and for good reason. I've Tweeted with him on Twitter, and he's one of the few well-knowns who actually Tweeted back.

His web site is here.

Slightly off topic, but some of you may remember my student whose father was in Iraq. I've posted several e-mails from her (unfortunately, only one is available, the others were from our old site and are gone) about the anguish and angst she felt while he was there.

He's back now, has been for several months, but sadly, has lapsed into PTSD, alcoholism, and domestic violence. This is a guy who I've met, who is a sweet, caring man, but who suffers needlessly because of Bush's immoral, illegal invasion. My student came to school with a prominent bruise on her face, at a total loss about how to proceed.

They've tried getting him into a Veteran's program, but that's not easy. They only provide so many meetings and only so much treatment. His depression prevents him from taking any initiative whatsoever, and so he isn't making progress. In fact, he's sinking more deeply into his post-Iraq abyss.

And because he has changed drastically, his family is living in their own private hell.

Thanks for nothing, George Bush.

Conversely, a sincere thank you to Paul Rieckhoff for doing what he does.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue- Muckraker of the Day - Salon's Mark Benjamin

Shuster did good.