Paul Simon
2008-11-15 14:29:14 UTC
U.S. Still Losing a Brigade's Worth of Vets Every Year to Suicide
By Penny Coleman, Posted November 11, 2008.
Obviously, the most immediate and reliable way to prevent soldier
suicides is to get troops out of harms way -- bring them home.
Its Veterans Day and exactly a week since Obamas exhilarating
victory. I know that I, like so many others, am filled with soaring
hope and feeling expansive. In truth, so many Americans have been hurt
so badly these past eight years, and so many of us are invested in the
idea of change, that there will have to be disappointments, and
compromise and patience.
For some, however, Patience = Death.
Every year we lose about a rifle platoon worth of Marines to
suicide, Navy chaplain Lt. Wayne Tomasek recently told a gathering of
recruits.
There is no tomorrow. Tomorrow will be too late, Tomasek said.
Intervene now. Dont waste time. Are you up for that challenge?
Throughout the campaign, Barak Obama repeatedly referred to the
sacred trust he plans to establish with American veterans. "There is
a U.S. military principle that we all admire: leave no one behind," he
said. This is a moral obligation. When I am President, we will not
leave any of our veterans behind."
It will be a daunting undertaking. Suicides in the military have been
climbing steadily since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Veteran suicides,
at last count (2005), were occurring at more than 6,200 a year, and
suicide attempts at about 1000 a month. For all the much-touted
attempts of military officials to intervene, those appalling numbers
have not been checked.
Last week, announcing a new five-year, $50 million partnership with
the National Institute of Mental Health to study the problem, Dr. S.
Ward Cassells, Assistant Secretary of Defense for health affairs,
admitted that in half the cases the Army cant figure out why the
suicide occurred.
He then trotted out all the same old demons: marital or relationship
problems, financial problems, drug or alcohol abuse all those things
which suggest the responsibility of individual soldiers but then he
had to admit, Weve reached a point where we need some outside help.
Weve learned a lot. Weve also learned we dont understand it all.
Dr. Thomas R. Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental
Health, injected an optimistic note of sanity into the stale
conversation, announcing that the study will focus on the role that
combat and multiple deployments play in suicide. It is so way past
time!
In 2003, the Bush administration decided to save money by limiting
access to the VA health care system. That exclusionary policy left
almost six million veterans and their families without insurance.
Among his campaign promises, Obama said that one of his first acts as
president will be to allow all veterans back into the VA. That alone
might help prevent suicides.
He has also promised to establish a zero tolerance policy for
veterans falling into homelessness, and, to that end, he sponsored
legislation earlier this year in the Senate (that Bush has threatened
to veto) which would provide support services like mental health
counseling, financial planning, and job training to prevent veterans
and their families from sliding into homelessness. Perhaps that will
help prevent suicides as well.
He has also promised to reduce the benefit claim backlogs at the VA,
to install oversight of the claims process to insure fairness and
consistency, to help veterans, especially guardsmen and reservists,
fight job discrimination, and in general, to make sure that the VA
provides an example of single-payer quality health care delivery that
will serve as an inspiration not only for veterans, but for all
Americans.
Obama has made some very pretty promises to a population that cant
afford to be spun. What is happening to veterans now is a public
health issue of immense proportion. There is no time to waste.
Obviously, the most immediate and reliable way to prevent soldier
suicides is to get troops out of harms way -- bring them home.
On the first Veterans Day after the Obama election, I am hoping, in
the words of the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, for a rebirth of
wonder, hoping that maybe now, finally, the American Eagle (will)
really spread its wings and straighten up and fly right.
Penny Coleman is the widow of a Vietnam veteran who took his own life
after coming home. Her latest book, Flashback: Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder, Suicide and the Lessons of War, was released on Memorial
Day, 2006. Her Web site is Flashback.
By Penny Coleman, Posted November 11, 2008.
Obviously, the most immediate and reliable way to prevent soldier
suicides is to get troops out of harms way -- bring them home.
Its Veterans Day and exactly a week since Obamas exhilarating
victory. I know that I, like so many others, am filled with soaring
hope and feeling expansive. In truth, so many Americans have been hurt
so badly these past eight years, and so many of us are invested in the
idea of change, that there will have to be disappointments, and
compromise and patience.
For some, however, Patience = Death.
Every year we lose about a rifle platoon worth of Marines to
suicide, Navy chaplain Lt. Wayne Tomasek recently told a gathering of
recruits.
There is no tomorrow. Tomorrow will be too late, Tomasek said.
Intervene now. Dont waste time. Are you up for that challenge?
Throughout the campaign, Barak Obama repeatedly referred to the
sacred trust he plans to establish with American veterans. "There is
a U.S. military principle that we all admire: leave no one behind," he
said. This is a moral obligation. When I am President, we will not
leave any of our veterans behind."
It will be a daunting undertaking. Suicides in the military have been
climbing steadily since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Veteran suicides,
at last count (2005), were occurring at more than 6,200 a year, and
suicide attempts at about 1000 a month. For all the much-touted
attempts of military officials to intervene, those appalling numbers
have not been checked.
Last week, announcing a new five-year, $50 million partnership with
the National Institute of Mental Health to study the problem, Dr. S.
Ward Cassells, Assistant Secretary of Defense for health affairs,
admitted that in half the cases the Army cant figure out why the
suicide occurred.
He then trotted out all the same old demons: marital or relationship
problems, financial problems, drug or alcohol abuse all those things
which suggest the responsibility of individual soldiers but then he
had to admit, Weve reached a point where we need some outside help.
Weve learned a lot. Weve also learned we dont understand it all.
Dr. Thomas R. Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental
Health, injected an optimistic note of sanity into the stale
conversation, announcing that the study will focus on the role that
combat and multiple deployments play in suicide. It is so way past
time!
In 2003, the Bush administration decided to save money by limiting
access to the VA health care system. That exclusionary policy left
almost six million veterans and their families without insurance.
Among his campaign promises, Obama said that one of his first acts as
president will be to allow all veterans back into the VA. That alone
might help prevent suicides.
He has also promised to establish a zero tolerance policy for
veterans falling into homelessness, and, to that end, he sponsored
legislation earlier this year in the Senate (that Bush has threatened
to veto) which would provide support services like mental health
counseling, financial planning, and job training to prevent veterans
and their families from sliding into homelessness. Perhaps that will
help prevent suicides as well.
He has also promised to reduce the benefit claim backlogs at the VA,
to install oversight of the claims process to insure fairness and
consistency, to help veterans, especially guardsmen and reservists,
fight job discrimination, and in general, to make sure that the VA
provides an example of single-payer quality health care delivery that
will serve as an inspiration not only for veterans, but for all
Americans.
Obama has made some very pretty promises to a population that cant
afford to be spun. What is happening to veterans now is a public
health issue of immense proportion. There is no time to waste.
Obviously, the most immediate and reliable way to prevent soldier
suicides is to get troops out of harms way -- bring them home.
On the first Veterans Day after the Obama election, I am hoping, in
the words of the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, for a rebirth of
wonder, hoping that maybe now, finally, the American Eagle (will)
really spread its wings and straighten up and fly right.
Penny Coleman is the widow of a Vietnam veteran who took his own life
after coming home. Her latest book, Flashback: Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder, Suicide and the Lessons of War, was released on Memorial
Day, 2006. Her Web site is Flashback.