US Soldier Suicides Outnumber Combat Deaths In 2012

[Peter1469]

Link

This article confirms part of what I have been saying about this issue. The majority of the suicides are not the trigger pullers.

About 53 percent of those who died by suicide in the military in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, had no history of deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department. And nearly 85 percent of military members who took their lives had no direct combat history, meaning they may have been deployed but not seen action.

Now the DoD needs to release the drugs prescribed to these people....

[Mister D]

A small minority saw action in WW2. It has zero to do with battle.

[shaarona]

Link

This article confirms part of what I have been saying about this issue. The majority of the suicides are not the trigger pullers.

About 53 percent of those who died by suicide in the military in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, had no history of deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department. And nearly 85 percent of military members who took their lives had no direct combat history, meaning they may have been deployed but not seen action.

Now the DoD needs to release the drugs prescribed to these people....

Wow. I just assumed they had seen combat........

[Peter1469]

A small minority saw action in WW2. It has zero to do with battle.

At least in the short term.

PTSD may cause more suicides years or decades later.

[Mister D]

At least in the short term.

PTSD may cause more suicides years or decades later.

It may but those who actually see combat remain a small minority. If PTSD affects so many it;s certainly not because they've been shot at.

[Deadwood]

Link

This article confirms part of what I have been saying about this issue. The majority of the suicides are not the trigger pullers.

About 53 percent of those who died by suicide in the military in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, had no history of deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department. And nearly 85 percent of military members who took their lives had no direct combat history, meaning they may have been deployed but not seen action.

Now the DoD needs to release the drugs prescribed to these people....

I would also like to see toxicology results. Liver analysis as well.

That high a rate of suicides suggests substance abuse.

And both scream "morale problem", and that is a command issue,

[Peter1469]

It may but those who actually see combat remain a small minority. If PTSD affects so many it;s certainly not because they've been shot at.

True. Traumatic stress can be caused by much more than being shot at. In Desert Storm we were certainly shot at and even our Airborne infantry battalion faced down a tank company and infantry division. But we could shoot back. During Desert Storm I had mortar rounds land very close, I disarmed bobby traps inside bunkers, cleared rooms, etc. No real stress (but I was young). During Iraqi freedom I was a JAG hardly leaving camp, but in the year had over 2100 mortar rounds hit the base with casualties, and several of those rounds within 500 meters of me. A few times I took helicopters to Baghdad at night and saw flash lights signaling from houses below (signals for rocket teams?). And in convoys, you never know when a road side bomb will go off. That sort of uncertainty, without someone to shoot at is worse than the combat I saw in Desert Storm.

But this is all really not my point; I think that the Army is handing out happy drugs like candy, and this is linked to the high suicide rate.

[Mister D]

True. Traumatic stress can be caused by much more than being shot at. In Desert Storm we were certainly shot at and even our Airborne infantry battalion faced down a tank company and infantry division. But we could shoot back. During Desert Storm I had mortar rounds land very close, I disarmed bobby traps inside bunkers, cleared rooms, etc. No real stress (but I was young). During Iraqi freedom I was a JAG hardly leaving camp, but in the year had over 2100 mortar rounds hit the base with casualties, and several of those rounds within 500 meters of me. A few times I took helicopters to Baghdad at night and saw flash lights signaling from houses below (signals for rocket teams?). And in convoys, you never know when a road side bomb will go off. That sort of uncertainty, without someone to shoot at is worse than the combat I saw in Desert Storm.

But this is all really not my point; I think that the Army is handing out happy drugs like candy, and this is linked to the high suicide rate.

Understood.

My point is that the vast majority of men and women who serve never hear a shot fired in anger. I suspect that being away from family and related issue are at the bottom of this but you may have a point with the drugs. I wouldn't know. It makes sense/

[GrassrootsConservative]

This is truly a sad issue. Does this happen in the military of other countries?

[Peter1469]

It used to not happen in the US military. Prior to a few years ago, military suicides were much lower than the US average.