3% of our troop deaths in Iraq are suicides

[donsu]

as to how many kill themselves after they get back home - nobody knows


http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003625107


Why Isn't the Press on a Suicide Watch?
You'd never know that at least 3% of all American deaths in Iraq are due to self-inflicted wounds. And that doesn't include the many vets who have killed themselves after returning home.

-snip-

While troops who have died in "hostile action" -- and those gravely injured and rehabbing at Walter Reed and other hospitals -- have gained much wider media attention in recent years, the suicides (about 3% of our overall Iraq death toll) remain in the shadows.

For whatever reason, I have always found soldiers who take their own lives especially tragic, though some might argue the opposite. Since the beginning of the war, I have written numerous columns on self-inflicted deaths, from average grunts to Col. Ted Westhusing (angry about contractor abuses), Alyssa Peterson (appalled by interrogation techniques) and Linda Michel (denied medication after returning home). But generally, the suicides get very little local or national attention.

-snip-

This past January, Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman noted in The Hartford Courant that veterans advocates found the increase of suicides in 2006 "troubling." Steve Robinson, director of government relations for Veterans for America, told them he was particularly disturbed by suicides in the war zone because combat troops are supposed to be screened for mental health issues before they join the military, and throughout their careers. "These people aren't the kind of people that you would think would take this step," he said.

Chekedel told me in an email recently," we haven't looked at 2007 suicides -- and it's a tough subject to get timely statistics on. The Defense Manpower Data Center reports, which come out periodically and are broken down by 'casualty category,' do keep a running count of
self-inflicted deaths -- but because some cases are listed as 'pending,' and can be moved into the 'confirmed' category months later, it's tricky to get an accurate tally by calendar year."

-snip-
--------------------------------

the snipped parts get personal and are very sad

[bunkerbuster1]

1. Need to fix title

3% of our troop deaths are being reported as "self inflicted," and you're right, this is very sad (and under-reported.)

But it's not 3% of our troops.

[donsu]

4. thank you for pointing out the mistake

nt

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

2. Please Edit Your Header. It Is Glaringly False.

[jojo54]

3. Is anybody surprised by this?

[bunkerbuster1]

5. I'd like to see comparison to previous rates of self-inflicted deaths.

I wonder how it compares to Vietnam, for example.

[jojo54]

7. My hub is a 'Nam vet and every time he sees the movie

The Deer Hunter, he says that a LOT of guys came back like the character Nick Chevotarevich, played by Christopher Walken. Totally out of it.

[Shine]

6. My father was a civilian therapist for soldiers returning home

He retired about a year and a half ago, but he said these poor soldiers are coming back seriously messed up, emotionally.

Divorce, suicide, depression, PTSD....the list goes on and on.

:cry: It's so tragic.

[ComerPerro]

8. anyone seen stats on friendly-fire deaths?

The Pat Tillman issue has made me wonder if the military is systematically silencing outspoken soldiers.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. That's also a good point -- how many of these suicides are

actually 'suicided'?