Thread: U.S. Military - heartbreaking losses

I just finished an afternoon cigar out in the garage listening to NPR and BBC world news when a July statistic was released from the Defense Department. 26 suicides in July for active duty Army personnel. 8 Marine suicides for July. 6 Air Force suicides for July and 4 Navy suicides for July. The Defense Department revealed that there had been 154 suicides in the first 155 day of this year through June 3rd.

This news breaks my heart and I am totally clueless as to what can be done to try and help. I have always wondered during the last 10 years or so how our combat troops can possibly make it mentally through repeated + combat tours of duty. I know that our Special Ops Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen operate with a strength of psyche and resolve and love of Country to serve endlessly and God Bless everyone of them who are in terrible places accomplishing tasks that have to be completed while I am asleep or enjoying an afternoon cigar. I am thinking more about the Citizen soldier who enlists for a time certain and then faces the recurring combat tours.

A single 13 month tour in south east asia back in the 1960's has been a lasting part of my private presence and thoughts everyday since without fail.
Sorry for the downer, I just needed to get this off of my chest.

i was watching a show about fort Carson in Colorado springs and the show was about About soldiers with PTSD and they say that some of the service man can't handle the effects of what war does to them. I was In the guard and there were guys with PTSD and you can tell and you also know who they are if they didn't take there meds and man it's like a pregnant hormonal chick with a mood swing after another. And there are some guys who go into a deep depression when coming back home and they cant handle the environment and the government doesn't care. Your just a able body to them that can point and shoot which is sad but it's the truth but they. Should to come up with better program to help soldiers with PTSD instead of shoving pills down there throat and saying next... That's my 2 cents

Politicians and their promises all too often treat the military as expendable. Wave the flag, pat them on the back, smile, and load them up to send them over then let them find their own way back to life when the smoke clears.

What can you do??? you can cast your vote to get the currant war mongers out of office.
Tahts all you can do.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

What can you do??? you can cast your vote to get the currant war mongers out of office.
Tahts all you can do.

I thought we did that the last election?

I seem to recall reading that the seemingly non ending number of tours required of current military personnel over the past decade has created more stress than WWII combat vets had to take. Add to that the lack of care when returning and you have a recipe for those kinds of stats. Our military personnel have suffered in similar fashion too. Not a proud moment for any of us.

Bob

Originally Posted by jaswarb

Politicians and their promises all too often treat the military as expendable. Wave the flag, pat them on the back, smile, and load them up to send them over then let them find their own way back to life when the smoke clears.

Once the government has wiped its arse with you, you have no further value and no further need for them to make an investment. That would be wasteful and bad management.

Personally, and this is just my civilian opinion, I think a lot has to do with politics.
first, people are rotated on tougher schedules than they used to have, or so I was told by military people here.
but more importantly: I think that a significant percentage of the problems is caused by the fact that some of the conflicts are outright political.

With WW2, there was a clear understanding with every single soldier that they were fighting for their country. And either they'd win, or they'd lose. Losing meant more misery for their loved ones. Winning meant going home. And there was a massive backing by the populace. WW2 vets are still considered heroes.

With political conflict, there is no backing from the population, and the soldiers themselves start to mentally question whether the misery they see on a daily basis is serving any 'good purpose' or not. If you see death and misery on a daily basis, and you realize that you are having part of it, and it is not serving any good other than furthering some political plays, and you have no homefront backing... it will be hard to stay motivated and mentally fit.

Just my 2cts. I have no experience with the military life so I could be completely wrong here.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Personally, and this is just my civilian opinion, I think a lot has to do with politics.
first, people are rotated on tougher schedules than they used to have, or so I was told by military people here.
but more importantly: I think that a significant percentage of the problems is caused by the fact that some of the conflicts are outright political.

With WW2, there was a clear understanding with every single soldier that they were fighting for their country. And either they'd win, or they'd lose. Losing meant more misery for their loved ones. Winning meant going home. And there was a massive backing by the populace. WW2 vets are still considered heroes.

With political conflict, there is no backing from the population, and the soldiers themselves start to mentally question whether the misery they see on a daily basis is serving any 'good purpose' or not. If you see death and misery on a daily basis, and you realize that you are having part of it, and it is not serving any good other than furthering some political plays, and you have no homefront backing... it will be hard to stay motivated and mentally fit.

Just my 2cts. I have no experience with the military life so I could be completely wrong here.

Painfully very true with Vietnam vets,read a shocking Statistic last week,are over 200 thousand Homeless Nam vets in our country today

Originally Posted by Bruno

With WW2, there was a clear understanding with every single soldier that they were fighting for their country. And either they'd win, or they'd lose. Losing meant more misery for their loved ones. Winning meant going home. And there was a massive backing by the populace. WW2 vets are still considered heroes.

That must be true. At WW2 they were fighting their back against the wall. Had they given up, we had shared the faith of the eastern Europe that fell under the iron curtain.

Nowadays it's bit different with the military. We have army, navy and AF that are solely for homeland defense. Then we have international forces that are used on deployments. Everyone is a volunteer and not even politicians try to lie that they are serving the defense of their country but just a tool for international politics. Those who are fighting in Afganistan or sailing outside Somalian coast are not helping in defending our country.

Most folks are recruited from the regular forces and the rest are volunteer reservists. Tests to recruit into internationals are tight and only about 1 out of 5 will pass. That is why those who've served on deployments cannot get a veteran status and veteran services. Only those from WW2 are veterans. We are rather mercenaries who were volunteer to recruit into international service that has absolutely nuthing to do with defending our country.

I know this from personal experiences. I've been in 3 deployments, but i wouldn't want to keep big noise about it here. It would only make people look at me strangely. Even my wife told me that she wouldn't want to tell anyone that her husband has been humming around in foreign forces. I do not carry those medals i got from those years. They are not deserved but automatic, so i gave them to my kids back then and i guess they are lost somewhere. Same thing with most people i know. You carry only medals that are deserved for something you've done.

Maybe it's just a cultural thing, i do not know. My son-in-law just got back from Afganistan, quit the service and got back to his studies. He also got his place from A-soccer team. While he was doing his time out there, my daughter was mad at me. She told me that she was already pissed of for his father doing foreign service back then, and now even her dear. Probably she just had no-one else to be angry.

What it comes to 'Germany's court...' thread, it is almost impossible idea to imagine that army would go into the streets against people. Of most people i know, they would tell the generals to f*** off. Things seem to be ok and people are somewhat happy about the society. Of course there's always a lot to improve as the world and our country is not ready yet. But there seems to be a consensus that you cannot improve things by making big noise but rather working hard and behaving decently.