More American veterans committing suicide than dieing in Iraq (OP)
America suffers an epidemic of suicides among traumatised army veterans
More American military veterans have been committing suicide than US soldiers have been dying in Iraq, it was claimed yesterday.
At least 6,256 US veterans took their lives in 2005, at an average of 17 a day, according to figures broadcast last night. Former servicemen are more than twice as likely than the rest of the population to commit suicide.
Such statistics compare to the total of 3,863 American military deaths in Iraq since the invasion in 2003 - an average of 2.4 a day, according to the website ICasualties.org.
The rate of suicides among veterans prompted claims that the US was suffering from a “mental health epidemic” – often linked to post-traumatic stress.
CBS News claimed that the figures represented the first attempt to conduct a nationwide count of veteran suicides. The tally was reached by collating suicide data from individual states for both veterans and the general population from 1995.
The suicide rate among Americans as a whole was 8.9 per 100,000, but the level among veterans was at least 18.7. That figure rose to a minimum of 22.9 among veterans aged 20 to 24 – almost four times the nonveteran average for people of the same age.
There are 25 million veterans in the United States, 1.6 million of whom served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Not everyone comes home from the war wounded, but the bottom line is nobody comes home unchanged,” said Paul Rieckhoff, a former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America.
CBS quoted the father of a 23-year-old soldier who shot himself in 2005 as suggesting that the military was covering up the scale of the problem. “Nobody wants to tally it up in the form of a government total,” Mike Bowman said. “They don’t want the true numbers of casualties to really be known.”
Mr Bowman’s son, Tim, was an army reservist who patrolled one of the most dangerous places in Baghdad, known as Airport Road. “His eyes when he came back were just dead. The light wasn’t there anymore,” said his mother, Kim Bowman. Eight months later, on Thanksgiving Day, Tim committed suicide.
A separate study published last week shows that US military veterans make up one in four homeless people in America, even though they represent just 11 per cent of the general adult population, and younger soldiers are already trickling into shelters and soup kitchens after completing tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While it took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless, at least 1,500 ex-servicemen from the present wars have already been identified.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness, based the findings of its report on numbers from Veterans Affairs and the Census Bureau. Data from 2005 estimated that 194,254 homeless people on any given night were veterans.
Daniel Akaka, the chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said: “For too many veterans, returning home from battle does not bring an end to conflict. There is no question that action is needed.”
The plight of US veterans is a matter of acute sensitivity for the Bush Administration which has set great store by standing up for – and support from – US troops. This year General Kevin Kiley, the US Army’s Surgeon General, was among senior military officials dismissed for his role in the mistreatment of wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Newspaper revelations about conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington became a lightning rod for criticism of the war in general. The outpatient clinic was described as squalid and rat-infested; a maze of red tape left many outpatients – often with severe brain injuries – wandering the corridors without help.
what he does over there (help vs oppress) will show how he will behave when he comes home (be happy or kill his family). My job is to pray for my brothers and sisters that are being oppressed and occupied and Allah take care of those who have done injustice there. Whether your husband is one of them or not depends on him and his actions there.
Actually very good words to ponder over. Like with all people each must be seen on an individual basis and not condemned on the basis of some. There are American soldiers in Iraq with a sincere desire to help the Iraqi people and there are some with a strong desire to harm the Iraqi people.
Very few if any American soldiers want to be in Iraq, most are there because they honestly believe they are fighting the people who are suppressing the Iraqi's. It is very doubtful that any American soldiers will make any personal gains as a result of being in Iraq. For most it is a tremendous burden and very thankless. They go with the belief they are going to help the Iraqis only to learn that they are despised and unwanted. Than they return to the USA to further criticism from fellow Americans who further condemn them for having gone.
Now the question is why do they go? Believe it or not it is for the very same reason people in Iraq fight them for being there. It is because they want to remove the invaders and oppressors.
A common enemy is causing people, who should be working together, to see each other as enemies and destroyers of Iraq. Outside of probable upper level echelon people, in more than one government, nobody wants American soldiers in Iraq. Especially the soldiers themselves.
Now, like you said in the post, each soldier needs to be judged on his personal action while in Iraq and not all being lumped into the same category as the idiots in the videos shown on your earlier post.
Re: More American veterans committing suicide than dieing in Iraq
Cosgnecenti the Impact will engulf and kill more somebody's and someones than the actuall 'certain someone' it was intended for. I rather pray for peace!
Re: More American veterans committing suicide than dieing in Iraq
format_quote Originally Posted by AHMED_GUREY
Cosgnecenti the Impact will engulf and kill more somebody's and someones than the actuall 'certain someone' it was intended for. I rather pray for peace!
Re: More American veterans committing suicide than dieing in Iraq
format_quote Originally Posted by Woodrow
Actually very good words to ponder over. Like with all people each must be seen on an individual basis and not condemned on the basis of some. There are American soldiers in Iraq with a sincere desire to help the Iraqi people and there are some with a strong desire to harm the Iraqi people.
Very few if any American soldiers want to be in Iraq, most are there because they honestly believe they are fighting the people who are suppressing the Iraqi's. It is very doubtful that any American soldiers will make any personal gains as a result of being in Iraq. For most it is a tremendous burden and very thankless. They go with the belief they are going to help the Iraqis only to learn that they are despised and unwanted. Than they return to the USA to further criticism from fellow Americans who further condemn them for having gone.
Now the question is why do they go? Believe it or not it is for the very same reason people in Iraq fight them for being there. It is because they want to remove the invaders and oppressors.
A common enemy is causing people, who should be working together, to see each other as enemies and destroyers of Iraq. Outside of probable upper level echelon people, in more than one government, nobody wants American soldiers in Iraq. Especially the soldiers themselves.
Now, like you said in the post, each soldier needs to be judged on his personal action while in Iraq and not all being lumped into the same category as the idiots in the videos shown on your earlier post.
Again bro. I think there's a few good men out there and more the HS grad sex craved punks. Sad part is the majority over there are the types i showed you the video off, otherwise there wouldn't be such chaos in iraq. When they first they invaded, maybe 1/2 of the iraq was happy but since then, with the mass murders and rapes, no one in iraq sees the occupiers as friendly.
And Lastly, invasion and occupation of Muslim lands by default means Jihaad. Don't matter what reason they are there, the soldiers can stop the oppessor (bush) in their own home land first. He killed more iraqis in 5yrs then saddam did in his life time. Fighting him and his army is obligatory on every Muslim.
Allah declares in the Qur'an:
"To those against whom war is made, permission is given (to defend themselves), because they are wronged - and verily, Allah is Most Powerful to give them victory - (they are) those who have been expelled from their homes in defiance of right - (for no cause) except that they say, 'Our Lord is Allah'.... " 22:39-40
"Jihâd (fighting/struggling in Allâh's Cause) is ordained for you (Muslims) though you dislike it, and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allâh knows but you do not know." 2:216
Hadith - Al-Tirmidhi #3835, Narrated AbuHurayrah Allah's Messenger said, "If anyone meets Allah with no mark of jihad, he will meet Allah with a flaw in him." [Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah transmitted it]
Re: More American veterans committing suicide than dieing in Iraq
I have closed this thread because it appears that every side has been covered. There is no need for this to become further debate. None of the post have been deleted and I feel that there is an equal balance so that any reader will have sufficient means to form opinions on their own.
Hey there! Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.
When you create an account, we remember exactly what you've read, so you always come right back where you left off. You also get notifications, here and via email, whenever new posts are made. And you can like posts and share your thoughts. Sign Up
I rather pray for peace!
Subhanallah 
Hide
Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.
Bookmarks