SOLDIER SUICIDES

[jimmoore]

ARMY SUICIDE DEATHS ARE INTOLERABLE, BUT THERE ARE ANSWERS

A recent article about soldier suicides reflects courage and a desire to keep people informed, inasmuch as it states some ugly facts, reveals a degree of reluctant exposure at the Pentagon, and hints at the naïvete of Army bigwigs.

Given that I am a WW2 vet, with 3 years overseas, I believe I have a perspective about soldier suicides that escapes the attention of younger people. First, some facts: (1) According to the Pentagon, the most common way a soldier dies, outside of combat, is suicide. WHY? (2) One in four combat deaths last year were soldiers killing themselves WHY? (3) Soldiers suicides occur on average once a day. WHY? Data shows that after the Iraq War, suicides were more common than combat deaths. WHY? (4) All services, except the Navy, saw an increase in suicides this year. WHY?

Those “whys” have answers, if only we quit guessing and do some thinking.

The pity is that the administration and the brass are busy in fairyland “studying” the situation. Army Col. Carl Castro said, “It just takes time to program the money and get the studies up and going.” (What’s to study? The facts are there.) Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Congress that we should “look at that situation and determine what’s behind it, what’s causing it and what we can do to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

If the wonderworkers in Washington are serious about discovering the reason (or reasons) for soldier suicides, I will venture to tell you what’s behind it, then you’ll be free to do your “studying” on some other subject:

The Navy shows no increase in suicides because most sailors never come face to face with the enemy, so the personal horrors of war seldom get a chance to warp the mind. Whereas, soldiers are constantly in danger from enemies they can’t identify, or even see; their thought of multiple tours of duty is a fear not easily handled; they are in wars that, to them, have no logic, make no sense, and are not the “glory” they thought it would be; and many can’t live with the knowledge of having killed other human beings.

War is war, so I’m reasonably certain that we had some soldier suicides in WW2, but nothing like today’s unimaginable number of soldiers committing self-inflicted death. The answer is, of course, simple. And it has options. Ban the concept of war, completely, which no one can do; refuse to participate in any war except in direct defense of our country; heed our Founders warning about getting involved in foreign entanglements; or start bringing all of our troops home. Today. Then watch the suicide rate go down.