Veteran Suicide Rate Skyrockets

by Michael Jones · 2010-01-11 14:33:00 UTC
Topics:

U.S. ArmyPresident John F. Kennedy said that we don't measure a nation by how many veterans it has, or how many days we take to honor them. We measure it by how those veterans are treated day-in and day-out. "We must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them," Kennedy said.

Given today's news that suicide rates among veterans are skyrocketing, it might be time to refocus on President Kennedy's words.

The statistics, released by the Veterans Affairs Department, show that among men 18- to 29-years old who've recently left the military, suicide rates are high. Alarmingly high. As in up 26 percent from the last time statistics were released in 2005.

In real numbers, it looks like this. Each year, there are about 30,000 suicides in the entire United States. Of those, 20 percent are committed by veterans. And that has lots of people, including Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, scratching his head.

"Why do we know so much about suicides but still know so little about how to prevent them?" Shinseki said, according to the AP. "Simple question but we continue to be challenged."

It might be a simple question that we know the answer to, at least in part. According to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, we know the specific factors that increase the risk of veteran suicide. They include frequent deployments (something we've seen for the past eight years), deployments to hostile environments (ditto), exposure to extreme stress (ditto again), and lengthy deployments (another ditto). Is it any wonder that veteran suicide is approaching what some are calling an epidemic?

Over two years ago, Sen. Daniel Akaka, responding to rising rates of suicide among younger veterans, said that the numbers better start waking people up to this problem.

"For too many veterans, returning home from battle does not bring an end to conflict. There is no question that action is needed," Sen. Akaka said.

And that cuts right to President Kennedy's original point. What's that old cliche? Oh yeah -- actions speak louder than words. How relevant to the way we honor and take care of (or fail to take care of) our veterans.

Michael Jones
PREVIOUS STORY:
Happy Birthday, Guantánamo! Eight Years Old, and Still Growing
NEXT STORY:
A letter from Bettina Siegel, "Pink Slime" petition creator

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.