Thursday, January 28, 2016

Veteran Suicides

From Warrior Lodge:
First, this number is based on a Veteran Affairs report from 2012 using the agencies’ own data and numbers reported from only 21 states from 1999 through 2011. Those states represent only 40% of the U.S. Population.  The other states, including states with massive veteran communities, like California and Texas, don’t make their data available, and don’t report suicides to the VA. As you can deduce, we should be using the number “22” as a starting point or bare minimum. Second, the entire generation of veterans that have been implicated in “22”, that is, the Post-9/11 or Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, are NOT the group that is committing suicide. In reality, only about 1 veteran from that group takes their own life daily, (which is still 1 too many). But if the media and charitable organizations are going to focus on this number, they need to make sure that they are targeting the right generation. According to the report, the majority of veteran suicides are committed by Vietnam-Era veterans, yet the media is quiet on this point, much to their disgrace. (Read more.)
Share

No comments: