More troops are dying from sucide than combat?

[ugonow]

Could this be true? I never would have thought it. ----www.good.is/post/more-us-soldiers-killed-themselves-than-died-in-combat-in-2010/

[ugonow]

I had no idea. It has opened my eyes.What a shame.

[Tennesseer]

My sympathy to all the troops and their families. I hope the military can get a handle on this soon. It is a tragedy. All good people.

[SweetVirginia]

Jan 29, 2011 12:20:00 GMT -5 Ratchets said:

Jan 29, 2011 11:34:38 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

My sympathy to all the troops and their families. I hope the military can get a handle on this soon. It is a tragedy. All good people.

I hate to say it Tennesseer but that's a tough issue to tackle, and honestly I don't think it is "fixable." We do an annual training deal - an online slideshow or whatever - about suicide prevention which I always felt was pretty much a waste of time. The speed at which you click "next" on your browser is the speed that you do the training...so you can finish it in say for instance 2:47 (2 minutes 47 seconds) if you have a good internet connection.

What we also do though - and I think does help - is about once a year a headshrinker does a talk at one of our commander's calls about signs to look for and such. That's the better way to tackle the problem in my opinion, round everyone up and while you have a captive audience you get the training. The web-based stuff is pretty much a waste of time, just putting a check mark in a box saying "I did it" but not really learning anything from it.

But yeah, there really is no cure-all unless somebody invents a "happy pill" or something that we can force everybody to take. Maybe we should give military members a 40% raise or something, that would make me pretty ecstatic lol. Or start sending peacekeeping forces to some cool places for a change, like Majorca or Ibiza instead of Assholeoftheworld-Ghanistan, that would be pretty cool too lol. I'm sure you'd see the rates drop then.

I think it is "fixable." If our war vets were able to get the proper mental health care and veteran support after returning from war and/or after being discharged, I think the suicide rate would go down dramatically. There is some help available, but I do not think it is enough. These people deserve all of the help, care and support they need.

[marjar]

Wondering if you correct the numbers for those suffering from PTSD, and compared that stat to the regular - non military serving population, would the rate be comparable to suicides among the general population?

[marjar]

Jan 29, 2011 11:34:38 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

My sympathy to all the troops and their families. I hope the military can get a handle on this soon. It is a tragedy. All good people.

Also mine. High prices being paid all around.

Thinking of the woman who killed her kids. The help needs to be available for the families of those who serve. In their own way, they also serve.

[marjar]

Delete

[Tennesseer]

Jan 29, 2011 12:20:00 GMT -5 Ratchets said:

Jan 29, 2011 11:34:38 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

My sympathy to all the troops and their families. I hope the military can get a handle on this soon. It is a tragedy. All good people.

I hate to say it Tennesseer but that's a tough issue to tackle, and honestly I don't think it is "fixable." We do an annual training deal - an online slideshow or whatever - about suicide prevention which I always felt was pretty much a waste of time. The speed at which you click "next" on your browser is the speed that you do the training...so you can finish it in say for instance 2:47 (2 minutes 47 seconds) if you have a good internet connection.

What we also do though - and I think does help - is about once a year a headshrinker does a talk at one of our commander's calls about signs to look for and such. That's the better way to tackle the problem in my opinion, round everyone up and while you have a captive audience you get the training. The web-based stuff is pretty much a waste of time, just putting a check mark in a box saying "I did it" but not really learning anything from it.

But yeah, there really is no cure-all unless somebody invents a "happy pill" or something that we can force everybody to take. Maybe we should give military members a 40% raise or something, that would make me pretty ecstatic lol. Or start sending peacekeeping forces to some cool places for a change, like Majorca or Ibiza instead of Assholeoftheworld-Ghanistan, that would be pretty cool too lol. I'm sure you'd see the rates drop then.

Ratchets-I would also suggest (if it is not already done) training the military chaplains signs to look for especially if they are speaking one-on-one will military members.

[deziloooooo]

Jan 29, 2011 12:20:00 GMT -5 Ratchets said:

Jan 29, 2011 11:34:38 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

My sympathy to all the troops and their families. I hope the military can get a handle on this soon. It is a tragedy. All good people.

I hate to say it Tennesseer but that's a tough issue to tackle, and honestly I don't think it is "fixable." We do an annual training deal - an online slideshow or whatever - about suicide prevention which I always felt was pretty much a waste of time. The speed at which you click "next" on your browser is the speed that you do the training...so you can finish it in say for instance 2:47 (2 minutes 47 seconds) if you have a good internet connection.

What we also do though - and I think does help - is about once a year a headshrinker does a talk at one of our commander's calls about signs to look for and such. That's the better way to tackle the problem in my opinion, round everyone up and while you have a captive audience you get the training. The web-based stuff is pretty much a waste of time, just putting a check mark in a box saying "I did it" but not really learning anything from it.

But yeah, there really is no cure-all unless somebody invents a "happy pill" or something that we can force everybody to take. Maybe we should give military members a 40% raise or something, that would make me pretty ecstatic lol. Or start sending peacekeeping forces to some cool places for a change, like Majorca or Ibiza instead of Assholeoftheworld-Ghanistan, that would be pretty cool too lol. I'm sure you'd see the rates drop then.

Ratch as I posted before , I volunteer at the VA and the mental is a problem on many of the troop coming back. Lots of group sessions and many of us who are from older wars who also had problems are asked if we could participate..and yes we tell " War stories " to show they are not alone , which ever war one was in the facts are the same, it is brutal and there are memories , and they can be submerged in the subconscious for years.

We had a man in his 80's join us, he was in the battle of the Bulge, , was over run and the only one of his unit left alive , was able to get back to his lines by playing dead, and it was all coming back to him all the years later..his story , the young troops were mesmerized by it, because they understood, it will always be with them, their experiences , but they were not alone and they will learn to cope with the memories

[SweetVirginia]

I would love to hear your plan or ideas then on how to fix this problem, because it sounds like you can come up with something good. I'm not saying that to be a smartass or put you on the spot so to speak, but folks who have good ideas should put them out there you know what I mean? The web-based training that you finish in like 2 minutes doesn't really cut the mustard in my opinion.

Not sure if this statement was directed at me, but I'll answer it anyhow. I think that even before the troops leave for war, they should receive mental health care to prepare them for what they are about to experience and to help them with the stress of separation from their families. Once they arrive to the war front, they should have ample amounts of mental health care available on a consistent basis. I think they should all be monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure that their mental state is healthy. And finally, once they arrive home, they should be evaluated and provided with intensive mental health care. If they are discharged, they should have easy access to health care (mental and physical) and they should get a lot of help in obtaining employment so that they will feel and be productive.

[Tennesseer]

Ratchets-like mental illness in civilian life, no one wants to be the one to contact the authorities that someone needs help. Perfectly understandable.

At least in the military, there has to be some way or procedure for anyone to bring it to the attention of someone without the person who needs the help feeling like they are unfairly being singled out.

Suicide destroys families-I know as it happened in mine.

[marjar]

My thinking is that if the suicide rate of those not suffering from PTSD, is comparable to that of the general population, it might give a different view for discerning what the reasons are for some suicides. The cause may not be directly related to being in the military. Does that make sense? Those suffering from PTSD are at higher risk, but what of those who have not served in combat? Hence, the question of correcting and looking for a correlation. Trying to isolate a cause is a first step in finding a solution.

[deziloooooo]

Jan 29, 2011 13:42:02 GMT -5 Ratchets said:

Jan 29, 2011 12:45:48 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Ratchets-I would also suggest (if it is not already done) training the military chaplains signs to look for especially if they are speaking one-on-one will military members.

That's a good idea - I think the Chaplains probably deal with this quite a bit and know what to look for. I'm not a Chaplain so I can't say for certainty what kind of training they have or their procedures, but I do know that's one of the things we are told (is to take your troop to the Chaplain when they have a problem you can't solve). From what I have seen they will talk to people who aren't of their faith too, or of any faith. Those guys are awesome, they just want to help people out to be honest regardless of their religious beliefs. The hard part is the point where the supervisor or friend actually makes the call to take someone to them...there is a lot of gray area there about getting into someone's business or personal life, etc. I don't think the problem is with the Chaplains though, it's with getting folks to the Chaplains.

One of the problems too is that many feel , as told in the group sssions more then once I have sat in on, that there seems to be a stigma if the mental is brought up. many of these folks are thinking career..they are volunteers and it seems it is not something that is wanted to be known , that one is having such thoughts or problems.
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" Those suffering from PTSD are at higher risk, but what of those who have not served in combat? "

Just about all who seem to suffer with these anxieies , that I have been in contact with, have seen combat or been where action has taken place whether in convoys where casualties with the IUD's were prevelant , or in actual combat .
Not saying the stress of just serving isn't also a factor.

[ed1066]

This is a side effect of having an anti-military, anti-American administration running two wars. When Obama travels around the world telling his audiences how shitty America is, and when John Kerry and his fellow Dems refer to our troops as terrorists, and when our president has friends who make a point to piss on the flag every chance they get, it's easy to see how soldiers can get very depressed about the job they do...

[SweetVirginia]

Jan 29, 2011 17:06:21 GMT -5 @ed1066 said:

This is a side effect of having an anti-military, anti-American administration running two wars. When Obama travels around the world telling his audiences how shitty America is, and when John Kerry and his fellow Dems refer to our troops as terrorists, and when our president has friends who make a point to piss on the flag every chance they get, it's easy to see how soldiers can get very depressed about the job they do...

Is it me, or is eddie sounding loonier by the day?

[deziloooooo]

Jan 29, 2011 20:21:52 GMT -5 SweetVirginia said:

Jan 29, 2011 17:06:21 GMT -5 @ed1066 said:

This is a side effect of having an anti-military, anti-American administration running two wars. When Obama travels around the world telling his audiences how shitty America is, and when John Kerry and his fellow Dems refer to our troops as terrorists, and when our president has friends who make a point to piss on the flag every chance they get, it's easy to see how soldiers can get very depressed about the job they do...

Is it me, or is eddie sounding loonier by the day?