Suicides in Iraq; It's Worse Than You Thought

[babylonsister]

Suicides in Iraq; It's Worse Than You Thought
By Gary Ater
The American Chronicle

Sunday 19 August 2007

Many of you have seen the headlines regarding the military suicides that have reached the highest level in 26 years. There were 99 confirmed Army suicides in 2006 (2 additional deaths are pending investigations), up from 88 in 2005 and the highest since 1991 during the Persian Gulf War. The rate of suicides grew in 5 years from a low of 9.1 per 100,000 soldiers in 2001 to the 2006 rate of 19.4 per 100,000. (The suicide rate for the general population is 11 per 100,000.) Preliminary figures indicate that the number of suicides for troops that have served in either Afghanistan or Iraq will also increase for 2007.

What you did not read in the headlines is the explanation for the major increases nor the numbers of those that attempted suicide but were somehow saved at the last moment. The other items that were left out of the articles from the Pentagon were how many suicides were committed after the soldiers were back from active duty in the Middle East and how many women serving in Iraq or Afghanistan committed suicide.

For the last item, the Pentagon did not give a number for the women serving in the war zones, but they did admit that twice as many women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide as did women in the service not sent to war. As to where were the male suicides committed? Per the Pentagon report: "Iraq was the most common deployment location for both suicides and attempted suicides." Twenty eight (28) of the suicides occurred to soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the remainder were committed after returning or stationed back in the US. The sad circumstance that has gotten very little notice is that the 99 confirmed suicides are a small number of the 900+ confirmed suicide attempts. This is an increase of 42% over the attempted suicides for military personnel in 2005.

Finally, just what are the explanations for these suicides and the subsequent increases?

Needless to say, the stress on anyone that is being shot at or expecting a road-side bomb to explode at any turn has to be a tough situation to deal with on a day-to-day basis. In addition, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other psychiatric disorders are very difficult to diagnose and are conditions that most soldiers won't admit to as they are not "real, physical war wounds" that you can see.

Let's look at some of the issues that have driven these soldiers to the ultimate action of taking their own lives while serving in the military:

* In past wars, the normal tour for being in a war zone was 6 months and then a month off before moving on to another assignment. In Iraq and Afghanistan, that was first increased to 12 months and is now at 15 months. Even when these tours are over, they can be sent back again and again. Some soldiers today are on their 4th tour of duty in the Middle East.

more...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082007D.shtml

[TomInTib]

1. One Big omission - They are recruiting people on the margins of society.

Borderline intelligence, flawed characters, people just trying to get out of fucked up situations and then find themselves in a vastly worse environment than they ever expected because they are too fucking ignorant to pay attention.

Also, speaking as an old vet, I don't think the video-game generation has the nerve that we had. They soon realize that there is no reset button in the real deal.

[truedelphi]

3. I live in a rural arera where people send their kids to the military

I don't find these people low in intelligence. They are brain washed into thinking that loyalty is one of the best virtues, and that questioning authority is not as important (Or worse, it may be sinful.)

The flaws are not from sub-IQ's - but from the Church-speak that predominates in the Right Wing Christian arena.

The young people are told that the war is misrepresented on TV - that things are going better than they are being shown.

Just some time ago, the MSM interviewed a young man who suffered an IED the DAY he arrived in Baghdad.
He said: "I thought that this was all made up. That sure, bad things happened, but not all that often"
Nothing like having a vehicle explode your very first day to give you a reality check.

[TomInTib]

4. I did not intend to paint everyone with the same brush.

But the fact that DoD has lowered the bar is allowing more unstable people to enlist.

I'll bet the comissioned officers don't have nearly the suicide rate that the enlisteds do.

[truedelphi]

2. My dad was a WWII vet. He stated on more than one occassion

That the headlines surrounding stories like "Heroic GI dives on grenade to save comrades"
left out a lot.

"On even the best day at war, you want a way out. Diving on a grenade and going out a "hero"
was not that big a deal. Not if you'd been under attack the day before, and would be under attack the day after. Not if you were tired, hungry, and believed you were never getting home alive anyway."