Five-year studies, 350-page reports, and hand wringing make little headway in understanding the current veteran suicide rate at 18 per day. In World War II, it was determined that the “trigger-pull” rate for soldiers was somewhere near 20 percent. That means that only 20 percent of soldiers actually fired their weapon while in a combat [...]
September 6, 2010
Increasing rates of suicide and risky behaviors among U.S. soldiers must be met with a comprehensive approach that mixes preventive health and disciplinary measures. The record rate of suicides among U.S. Army soldiers can be traced not only to the stress of multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, but also to high-risk behavior, lower recruitment [...]
September 5, 2010
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates urging him to enact recommendations from the Joint Suicide Prevention Task Force that would create a suicide prevention office within the Department of Defense to manage and advise suicide prevention services across all military branches. The letter [...]
September 4, 2010
The data released recently by the US government regarding the alarming rate of suicide among active members of our armed forces is cause for serious concern. For the past two years, the rate was nearly double that of age matched civilians and, in 2009, more soldiers died as result of suicide and related high risk [...]
August 30, 2010
“American Kills” by Chilean-born, New York-based artist Sebastian Errazuriz is a public installation showcasing the suicide rates of US soldiers. After searching on official war sites on the internet, he accidentally found out that 2 times more American soldiers had died in 2009 by committing suicide than those killed during that same year in the war in Iraq; an alarming [...]
August 28, 2010
One suicide every 36 hours Contradicting the U.S. Army’s suicide prevention report, an independent DoD report released this week failed to place the blame for servicemembers’ and veterans’ suicide rate on ”high risk behavior” at home, implicating the suicide victims themselves. Instead, the DoD Task Force on the Prevention of Suicide by Members of the Armed Forces’ report [see exec summary] listed 13 [...]
August 24, 2010
Watch this simple, yet compelling video from Vets Prevail, an online community offering assistance and resources to returning veterans. This video provides statistics on the outrageous veteran suicide rate, along with encouraging information on the value of a healthy veteran to his/her community.
August 21, 2010
Suicides in the Armed Forces and the National Guard and Reserves are still alarmingly on the rise. With all the due diligence and immense outreach that is ongoing in all 50 States, we cannot seem to abate the savage spirit that invades and intrudes the soul of our young veterans of war. Sixty-five members of [...]
August 20, 2010
Question: What is behind the recent spike in army suicides? Paul Rieckhoff: There are a number of factors, but here’s the bottom line: we lost 32 active duty soldiers to suicide in the month of June. That’s just the Army, that’s just active duty, that’s just in June. If we lost 32 troops in Fallujah [...]
August 16, 2010
I’ve been pondering, because I have barely a clue about what the answer might be, what is the best way to honor and support our returning veterans. Two things are bouncing around in my head. I made a stop on a recent road trip to a Cracker Barrel Restaurant & Country Store, and saw a [...]
September 13, 2010
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