Suicide Among Our Troops
Read Time:2 Minute, 3 Second
CBSNEWS.com found in their investigations that in 2005 there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who had served in our armed forces. Shockingly, that means approximately 120 troops per week throughout the year of 2005, committed suicide. On 9/11, 3000 people died, so Bush started two wars, but this information means we have been having approximately two 9/11 events taking place every year, with over 6000 suicides, and Bush and his followers did nothing significant to stop this atrocity.
This is Bush’s true shameful legacy of Shock and Awe. This article also showed findings that veterans were twice as likely to commit suicide than civilians, veterans having a suicide rate between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000 compared to civilians’ which was 8.9 per 100,000. The article also pointed to a really Shocking fact among troops aged 20 to 24 years old. Their suicide rate is a Shocking two to four times higher than civilians of the same age, civilians that age have suicide rates of about 8.3 per 100,000 thousand, while vets that age was found to commit suicide between 22.9 and 31.9 times per 100,000.
It is expected that the number of those who attempted suicide and were saved is much higher. A Bloomberg.com article reported that about 1.6 million troops have fought in the two wars since 2001 and an estimated 20% or 320,000 suffer from PTSD or Depression. This echoes a Rand Corporation study that was published in April 2008. I am truly Shocked and in Awe that Bush and his people did nothing significant then….they don’t support the troops….so don’t trust or follow them or their radio and TV mouthpieces, who still say they do. They are not patriotic.
This post is a short piece from my book “Shock and Awe on America”
2. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=a2_71Klo2vig&pid=20601124
This article was written by the Author of the newly released book titled “Shock and Awe on America” which can be bought in print or for Kindle at Amazon.com
Or can be read in part or downloaded in different E-book formats at Smashwords.com
Please feel free to join the Shock and Awe FaceBook page, and the Drinking Liberally New York City Facebook page.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0
These suicides come at a time when municipalities all over have to cut back on thing like hotlines ( http://www.newser.com/story/94855/jobless-flood-suicide-hotlines.html ) and aid to the veterans returning. Many have served multiple tours. With so many youth unfit to serve in any respect, the ones already enlisted are encouraged to stay in longer.
Sending our boys to an unjust war is bad enough (I mean Iraq, not Afghanistan here), but not supporting them when they return mentally and physically broken is reprehensible.
This is an often overlooked cost to war. We tend to measure it in dollars spent and lives lost. Lives ruined seem never to be factored into the equation.
I applaud my president for moving the war back to the battlefield. I wish he would remove it altogether. I know the whole issue is complicated and the ordinary citizen probably does not know enough to have a legitimate opinion. I certainly do not want the former Afghan government to regain control.
I also know collateral costs such as these are ignored, so the ROI is probably never accurately measured when deciding to continue investing in this enterprise.