Iraq vet: We're losing 'more soldiers to suicide than to al Qaeda' »
Posted By tehranchik 9 months, 1 week ago in Political NewsThe Army's suicide rate is the highest it has been in three decades, and a week-long series of articles at Salon.com has been highlighting what it calls "habitual mistreatment behind the preventable deaths."
Paul Rieckhoff, the founder and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Thursday, "In January, we lost approximately 24 soldiers in the Army to suicide. That's more folks than we lost in combat. ... We lost more soldiers to suicide than to al Qaeda."
"If we lost that many soldiers to an enemy weapon system, the entire country would be outraged," Rieckhoff continued. "The Pentagon would be scrambling to do something about it. We need the same level of urgency around these suicides."
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tehranchik
Well, I'm from and live in the Pacific Northwest. I did live in the middle east during the late 70's and early 80 ...
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TheNewsseeker9 months, 1 week ago
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Suicide among soldiers is still a tabu. The media very seldom talk about this problem, which often starts with traumatization.
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I think, there should be free psychological consultation for every veteran, so that suicidal moods could be prevented or at least overcome without going to extremes. Perhaps, it´s also the military image that has to change, because as long as we think of soldiers as hard, tough, untouchable if not mercyless, we won´t have open eyes for the mental suffering caused by the "daily business" in war. -
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fsev419 months, 1 week ago
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Another interesting article recently spoke of the mental health problems of the Army recruiters. Once thought to be a cushy job there is now so much pressure being put on the recruiters to bring in their quota of volunteers that they are experiencing a huge increase in the number of recruiters seeking mental health help (ie-anti-depressants, tranquilizers etc) and even suicide. The many side effects of our current two war situation never get counted in the losses attributed to them but obviously are a mounting concern that should be included in statistics on the wars and improved efforts made to address them.
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