Suicide In The Military

Stressed by war and long overseas tours, U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year at the highest rate on record, the toll rising for a fourth straight year and even surpassing the suicide rate among comparable civilians. Army leaders said they were doing everything they could think of to curb the deaths and appealed for more mental health professionals to join and help out. Clearly, the military is going above and beyond to try and prevent further lives from being taken.

There are an alarming number of veterans who suffer from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression. The suicide rate on returning veterans is on the rise. In California, service members were killing themselves and family members at an alarming rate. After an investigation, it was apparent that they do not have enough properly trained individuals to over see

(Zilvin 2007). A study was conducted to identified higher risks of suicidal in veterans, and the conclusion stated that veterans that are depressed have higher risk for suicide. This results can assist to focus on a certain group continuously and monitor closely to detect suicidal behavior and prevent it. Another cause of suicide is PTSD leads to depression and if not treated could lead to suicide but more study is to be done. ?For example, use and frequency of psychotherapy visits and adherence to psychiatric medications could influence the relationship between depression, PTSD, and completed suicide? (Zilvin 2007).

As a consequence of the stresses of war and inadequate job training, when they get out of the service many have fallen behind their contemporaries. If they are fortunate enough to become employed, many of them are unable to hold a job due to untreated PTSD and acquired addictions without services and counseling designed for them. These factors may place our returning veterans at a higher risk of suicide. In 2007, the US Army reported that there were 115 suicides among OIF/OEF veterans. This was the highest number of suicides reported since the Army started keeping track about 30 years ago. In general, the risk for suicide among these veterans was not higher than that found in the U.S. population (Tull). However, there are several programs and 24 hour suicide hotlines available for those that may contemplate committing suicide as an option.

The estimated cost for the war in the middle east totaled around four trillion dollars however not much of that is used in helping soldiers receive the mental health care that they need ( Moore). An Iraq war veteran, Tom Tarantino, brings up the sad truth on where the government's priorities lie when the issues of money arise, “If twenty two people were dying on the battlefield a day, like 22 veterans are dying by suicide a day, no one would be asking how much it costs; they would be shipping weapons and military enforcements there by tomorrow” ( Alarcon). Another upsetting but true fact is that some of the veterans that are willing to seek help, but can’t afford it get told by the army that they had the mental illness before the war thus getting out of paying for treatment. This has saved the United States army over 12.5 billion dollars ( Moore). The government needs to look at the big picture and see that the issue has become serious and money is needed to reverse the

(2012) suggest that suicide prevention strategies must be implemented by professionals who understand military culture and the unique pressures of social cohesion and mental health stigma. Braswell and Kushner (2012, p. 535) agree that efforts must be implemented in a way that “account for the lived experience of soldiers.” Although these recommendations are in line with a growing body of academic scholarship on the topic of military suicide, it will be difficult to implement successful policy without a better understanding of what is behind the difference and change in suicide rate. With incomplete information or a lack of causality, policymakers will be unprepared to determine if the outcomes of their actions are an improvement compared to maintenance of current

OEF/OIF. Between 2001 and 2006, U.S. military suicide rates doubled. During this time, more deaths were attributed to suicide than to actual deaths due to combat in Afghanistan (Frueh & Smith, 2012). New data regarding the rate of suicide among U.S. military veterans, in January of 2010, reported that this rate had increased 26% (Bruce, 2010). In 2005, the VA had estimated that the suicide rate per 100,000 veterans ages 18 to 29 was 44.99, but this rate increased to 56.77 in 2007 (Bruce,

Suicide is usually perceived as an individualistic act, enacted by an individual who has experienced immense trauma to their psyche. A recent report on the suicide rate within a specific Marine battalion challenges this notion. The veterans in this battalion are an outlier in regards to veteran suicide; however psychology is at work in attempting to explain the reasoning behind these suicides. The devastation the Marines face from the deaths of comrades, as well as the trauma they face in their day to day lives after their tour of Afghanistan, are forces that work against them. The assumption that the suicides is a result of psychological trauma is valid, however the impact

A study was conducted about the correlation of depression and demographic among veterans with a high risk for suicide. The study is to recognize signs of depressed veterans at high risk for suicide. The study was done nationally with the suicidal rate between the years of 1999 to 2004 to conclude that suicide rates among veterans, twenty-one percent are mostly common on young white male. More study should be done to evaluate the correlation between depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Department of Veteran Affair, and suicidal veterans.

Active Duty Service Members. Traditionally, the U.S. military has faced lower suicide rates compared to their civilian counterparts. However, the suicide rate among active duty military personnel has increased in the last decade, almost doubling in the Army and Marine Corps. Unlike the low active duty suicide rates of Vietnam, OEF/OIF active duty suicide rates are at near record highs (McCarl, 2013). Once again, it is believed that multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan is one of the culprits of this staggering statistic. Since operations has begun in the Middle East in 2001 through 2011, there have been 2,810 military personnel who have committed suicide while on active duty (McCarl, 2013).

This writing supplies statistical data in regard to veterans suicide, but also goes on to question not only why this is happening, but what is causing it. I found it very helpful for the purpose of my writing to draw on the information provided such as, “Army infantrymen and combat engineers killed themselves at substantially higher rates before and after deployment than while stationed overseas. A sensation-seeking personality or other background characteristics may serve these soldiers well in war zones, but boost the odds that they’ll become suicidal before and after their tours of duty, suggests Harvard psychologist and study coauthor Matthew Nock.” I located this article using the EBSCO Host web site academic search under “Veteran

This essay will show that social fields and the habitus of an individual in a military field are constrained due to an inability to reflect on his position. Durkheim establishes altruistic suicide, to be mentioned in relation to military service, as one of the three typologies for the social rate of social suicide. Altruistic suicide is defined by the individual having too much social integration, or connectedness, to or feeling of acceptance by a group or society. The individual has no attachment to him or herself, but a greater attachment to a group or thing outside of him or herself. This leaves the individual, “aspiring to cast off his personal being in order to be swallowed up by this other thing that he considers his true essence” (Durkheim,

Many of our country's soldiers come home from the field broken. They are like a plate, if you drop a plate and it breaks, you can glue it back together but it will never be the same. This tells how many people who are in the army feel, and because of this a lot of them commit suicide.

Sociologist Emile Durkheim believes that “the bond between one’s self and his or her country are crucial factors in suicide.” Others sociologist believe people commit suicide to escape from intolerable pain, feelings of hopelessness or depression and other mental disorders. After studies were completed, it was concluded that most people who think about committing suicide never actually try to kill themselves. Studies show that for every one person who attempts suicide, three consider it, but never act upon it. Soldiers kill themselves because military training following by combat, makes them sensitive to pain and finality. From 2009-2012, military suicides have increased from 18.5 to 22.7 out 100,000 active-duty service members. But, in 2013,

Dave Philipps article, In unit stalked by suicide, Veterans try to save one another focuses on veteran members of the Marine Corps, self-named the forgotten battalion. It details the lives of different members after they have served, as they deal with the suicides that continue to plague members of their battalion. One of those members Manny Bojorquez details his own struggle with suicide, and