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Forums - Politics Discussion - Veteran soldiers suicides why is this big issue still not solved?

Barozi on 31 May 2017
pokoko said:
People still aren't reading the article, amazingly enough.

Warfare and combat do not seem to be the definite reasons for high suicide rates, as many of those in the study "spent little or no time fighting in the most recent wars." Most were also over age 50, so it's not like they're over-sensitive young people. Suicide is as common for those who served in an office as for those who served in the field.

A lot of people just seem to be using this so now they can push their own political agenda without even taking the time to learn anything about the issue. That's lame.now

Personally, I'm not so sure there is much that can be done, as I'm not really sure that the rate of military suicides is outside of the norm when compared to the average rate for males only. Using the combined male/female numbers for civilians makes the gap seem a lot wider. This needs to be adjusted to better reflect the actual percentages. Moreover, white males are the largest group in military service, which is also the most at-risk group for suicides among civilians--especially those over 50 years of age, which is where we see most military suicides.

That just means that veterans don't immediately commit suicide when they return home, but instead a few decades later.
They did fight in wars, but obviously not in the most recent ones. Just means that soldiers currently in their 20s have a much higher chance at comitting suicide in the 2040s and so on.



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Barozi on 31 May 2017
konkari said:

Actually when you read the article, it is not about war veterans, it is mostly about older military personnel (above 50), most of whom never served in conflicts. 

My reasoning for this case is that military people retire younger than most other professions, and suddenly they face a situation where there are no routines, no community to belong to, it is probably a hard situation to adapt and find a new purpose for life.

Not taking any position on the need of military, just trying to understand why this situation prevail

 

 

That's not what the source says. Most didn't serve in the most recent conflicts, which isn't too surprising considering most are 50+ when committing suicide.



pokoko on 31 May 2017
Barozi said:
pokoko said:
People still aren't reading the article, amazingly enough.

Warfare and combat do not seem to be the definite reasons for high suicide rates, as many of those in the study "spent little or no time fighting in the most recent wars." Most were also over age 50, so it's not like they're over-sensitive young people. Suicide is as common for those who served in an office as for those who served in the field.

A lot of people just seem to be using this so now they can push their own political agenda without even taking the time to learn anything about the issue. That's lame.now

Personally, I'm not so sure there is much that can be done, as I'm not really sure that the rate of military suicides is outside of the norm when compared to the average rate for males only. Using the combined male/female numbers for civilians makes the gap seem a lot wider. This needs to be adjusted to better reflect the actual percentages. Moreover, white males are the largest group in military service, which is also the most at-risk group for suicides among civilians--especially those over 50 years of age, which is where we see most military suicides.

That just means that veterans don't immediately commit suicide when they return home, but instead a few decades later.
They did fight in wars, but obviously not in the most recent ones. Just means that soldiers currently in their 20s have a much higher chance at comitting suicide in the 2040s and so on.

No, it doesn't.  Veterans who have never seen combat are just as likely to suicide.

 

"Appearing in JAMA Psychiatry online on Wednesday, the study by researchers at the Defense Department's National Center for Telehealth and Technology, or T2, indicates that although the suicide rate among active-duty personnel has increased since 2001, the rate for those who deployed to a combat zone was roughly the same as for those who did not.

Rather, the study found that the military group at highest risk for suicide are those who served in the military for less than a full enlistment.

In fact, the suicide rate among those who served less than a year was 2.5 times the active-duty rate, according to the research."

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/benefits/health-care/2015/04/01/suicide-troops-veterans-combat-study-says-no-link-between-combat-deployment-suicides/70771276/

 

The issue seems to be the existing mental stability of the person, not what job they performed.  



konnichiwa on 31 May 2017
numberwang said:

Not just because of war... Japan is still leading the statistics (if the statistics are really comparable in cases between suicide and accidental death)

Not that I want to defend Japan but I read that the police counts unsolved murder cases as suicides.






Aeolus451 on 31 May 2017
konnichiwa said:
numberwang said:

Not just because of war... Japan is still leading the statistics (if the statistics are really comparable in cases between suicide and accidental death)

Not that I want to defend Japan but I read that the police counts unsolved murder cases as suicides.

I don't think that unsolved murder is counted into it. From what I understand, Japanese tend to overwork themselves, stay single/live a solitary lifestyle and their insurance is lax when it comes to suicide so some will do it for benefits to family. Also their population is in the decline because of not having babies. I think all of that attributes to the high suicide rate.