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twg
Joined: 02 Nov 2006
Location: Getting some fresh air...
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 Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:31 pm Post subject: Concern mounts over rising troop suicides |
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Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves. Before the Iraq war began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day.
art.soldier.afp.gi.jpg
A U.S. soldier patrols the streets of Baghdad in January.
The dramatic increase is revealed in new U.S. Army figures, which show 2,100 soldiers tried to commit suicide in 2007.
"Suicide attempts are rising and have risen over the last five years," said Col. Elspeth Cameron-Ritchie, an Army psychiatrist.
Concern over the rate of suicide attempts prompted Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, to introduce legislation Thursday to improve the military's suicide-prevention programs.
"Our troops and their families are under unprecedented levels of stress due to the pace and frequency of more than five years of deployments," Webb said in a written statement. Video Watch CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre on the reasons for the increase in suicides �
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, took to the Senate floor Thursday, urging more help for military members, especially for those returning from war.
"Our brave service members who face deployment after deployment without the rest, recovery and treatment they need are at the breaking point," Murray said.
She said Congress has given "hundreds of millions of dollars" to the military to improve its ability to provide mental health treatment, but said it will take more than money to resolve the problem.
"It takes leadership and it takes a change in the culture of war," she said. She said some soldiers had reported receiving nothing more than an 800 number to call for help.
"Many soldiers need a real person to talk to," she said. "And they need psychiatrists and they need psychologists."
According to Army statistics, the incidence of U.S. Army soldiers attempting suicide or inflicting injuries on themselves has skyrocketed in the nearly five years since the start of the Iraq war. |
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/01/military.suicides/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
But as long as the US doesn't leave Iraq, these are acceptable losses, right kool-aid drinkers? |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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When there is a rush to war, I wish people would stop for a minute and think about the long-term effects, this being one of them. As psychology grows in its understanding of the effects of stress, the government must calculate the medical costs for the life-time of the soldiers affected.
There was a report a week or so ago about increasing numbers of homeless vets. This needs quick attention as well. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| I wish people would stop for a minute and think... |
People know about this. People read von Clausewitz and understand war's chaos and particularly the dangers of protracted war, for example.
Still, people err and miscalculate. Not only the people in the current administration, the people everyone loves to hate and sneer at (take our friend, twiggy and his "kool-aid drinkers," for instance). But people far smarter than they throughout modern history: Napoleon in Russia and Spain; the Germans' First-World-War behavior; the list goes on. People err, miscalculate, misunderstand.
Five suicide attempts per day on average does not surprise me in the least. Protracted occupations and guerrilla wars always seem to degenerate thus. |
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pesawattahi
Joined: 30 Sep 2007
Location: it rubs the lotion on it's skin or else it gets the hose again
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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Traditionally, the suicide rate among military members has been lower than age- and gender-matched civilians. But in recent years the rate has crept up from 12 per 100,000 among the military to 17.5 per 100,000 in 2006, she said. That's still less than the civilian figure of about 20 per 100,000, she said.
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(From later in the article)
Couldn't possibly be some sort of general societal thing could it? |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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| pesawattahi wrote: |
| ...some sort of general societal thing could it? |
An explanation for suicide and suicidal behavior (in America or some other social, cultural, or geographic unit)? Good luck. Researchers still do not even understand what causes depression. |
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mistermasan
Joined: 20 Sep 2007
Location: 10+ yrs on Dave's ESL cafe
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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attempts? how can they fail?
if they die in the theater of ops do they still get their insurance benefits if they suicide? quite an alluring benny for folks who know they also have no hopes to go home to. set mom and the kids up and gop out a hero. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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| People know about this. |
While people might know in a vague and general way, someone in leadership needs to stop the rhetoric for a minute and remind people, "Here are the human costs we are going to encur: flag-draped coffins, mutilated bodies and tortured minds...And the costs will not stop with the peace treaty. There will be an additional financial burden for the next 70 years or so while these soldiers live. Do you still want to vote for war?"
It's the right thing to do. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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You seem to presuppose more rationality in the process than actually exists.
You are pretty down on the Republicans. But take a look at JFK/LBJ and Vietnam. Another classic error, miscalculation, and generally irrational process. |
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The_Conservative
Joined: 15 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
| People know about this. |
While people might know in a vague and general way, someone in leadership needs to stop the rhetoric for a minute and remind people, "Here are the human costs we are going to encur: flag-draped coffins, mutilated bodies and tortured minds...And the costs will not stop with the peace treaty. There will be an additional financial burden for the next 70 years or so while these soldiers live. Do you still want to vote for war?"
It's the right thing to do. |
Since we are talking about Iraq...what "peace treaty" would that be? Who would the U.S sign with? Who would have the authority to speak for the other side (which is composed of many different groups with different aims and goals) |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
| People know about this. |
While people might know in a vague and general way, someone in leadership needs to stop the rhetoric for a minute and remind people, "Here are the human costs we are going to encur: flag-draped coffins, mutilated bodies and tortured minds...And the costs will not stop with the peace treaty. There will be an additional financial burden for the next 70 years or so while these soldiers live. Do you still want to vote for war?"
It's the right thing to do. |
There is no one to sign a peace treaty with.
And the Bathists, the Khomeni followers and the Al Qaadea all demand the gulf and the mideast. |
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twg
Joined: 02 Nov 2006
Location: Getting some fresh air...
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
| And the Bathists, the Khomeni followers and the Al Qaadea... |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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| twg wrote: |
| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
| And the Bathists, the Khomeni followers and the Al Qaadea... |
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Al Qaeda straps retarded women with bombs, blows them up by remote
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e coordinated blasts claimed at least 91 lives marking the deadliest day in Iraq since the U.S. initiated the surge in Baghdad.
Iraqi men grieve over relatives killed in a suicide bombing in Baghdad market. Kadim/AP
Iraqi men grieve over relatives killed in a suicide bombing in Baghdad market.
In an act of stunning depravity, Iraqi insurgents Friday strapped bombs to two mentally retarded women and sent them into crowded Baghdad pet bazaars - the unknowing sent to kill the unwitting by the inhuman.
The coordinated blasts - 20 minutes apart in different parts of the city - claimed at least 91 lives in the deadliest day since the U.S. flooded Baghdad with extra troops last spring.
"I don't know how I survived," said Abu Haider, who was covered in blood as he stood among ruined stalls and carcasses of birds and other animals at the central al-Ghazl market. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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Withdraw.  |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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why not Afghanistan too>
By the way the Kurds want US forces to stay. Do the insurgents and Al Qaeda have the right to demand the US leave the Kurdish areas? |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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Gopher, Conservative and Joo...
I have no idea what any of you are on about. I'm talking about the social responsibility to take care of troops and provide psychological treatment to those who need it.
Perhaps all three of you need to get off your soap boxes and stay on the topic in this thread. |
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