The military’s epidemic of suicide
One of the most effective measures of suicide prevention is to ask those perceived to be under duress: “Do you have a gun in your home?” If the answer is yes, we might then suggest that the individual put locks on the weapon or store it in a safe place during periods of high stress — things that any responsible gun owner should do.
Unfortunately, that potentially lifesaving action is no longer available to the military. A little-noticed provision in the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has had the unintended consequence of tying the hands of commanders and noncommissioned officers by preventing them from being able to talk to service members about their private weapons, even in cases where a leader believes that a service member may be suicidal.
We both strongly believe that this prohibition interferes with every military leader’s obligation to ensure the health, welfare, morale and well-being of the troops under his or her command and care.
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This is the product of 50 years of liberals using the military as a population for social experimentation.
tom daschle concerned on December 9, 2012 at 6:03 PM
Suicide is not limited to military personnel or vets. Yes there are alarming stats. But all stats about guns tend to feel alarming. But what I find equally alarming is the need to frame this with such a damning bent.
The idea that we should limit or even impinge upon the 2nd amendment right of those we hand arms to is stretching. By default what is being damned is the entire military structure from training on down.
Do over.
Capitalist Hog on December 9, 2012 at 6:06 PM
According to the last decade of conservative rhetoric, even mentioning this gives aid and comfort the enemy. So I’m a little surprised to see a story here.
libfreeordie on December 9, 2012 at 6:06 PM
You’re a truly disgusting individual.
libfreeordie on December 9, 2012 at 6:07 PM
The fact that they don’t quote the language of the provision, makes me suspicious.
Blake on December 9, 2012 at 6:10 PM
Here’s an idea. Let’s provide a more robust support network for those we put in harm’s way.
I fully support gay serving. However, I find it hypocritical to limit what we may ask about personal lives when there are strict rules in place for personal conduct but it’s OK to ask leading and potentially incriminating questions about one’s personal possessions.
runonsentenceofdeath
Capitalist Hog on December 9, 2012 at 6:11 PM
He only brought out a disgusting truth.
The people who are disgusting are those who work fervently to FORCE social change. Particularly those who use the military as the focal point of the changes.
astonerii on December 9, 2012 at 6:12 PM
Capitalist Hog on December 9, 2012 at 6:13 PM
Against my better judgment, I clicked the Read The Article link expecting a total lack of statistical support for the assertion that the military is facing a “suicide epidemic.” I wasn’t disappointed.
I wouldn’t call myself “suicidal,” but I am banging my head against the desk in reaction to the mathematical ignorance, or what would be ignorance were it not in fact willful manipulation.
The military is withdrawing from its conflicts, which themselves are running cold. Just what the —- would you expect the leading cause of death for healthy young men living in a disciplined fraternity with little motive for murder and no time to do stupid —-? Prostate cancer?
If the military is facing a suicide crisis, there would only be one way to measure it: the rate of suicide vs. the rate of suicide in the general population mapped against the past rates of suicide vs. the general population.
Is that on the rise? Who knows? The WaPo doesn’t say. Though they could simply have contempt for the ability of their readership to understand math, which is understandable.
HitNRun on December 9, 2012 at 6:15 PM
Blake on December 9, 2012 at 6:16 PM
Hmmmmmmm…dunno, but as a Nixon to Carter warrior is was uncommon. As a dad of a four-tours-in-the-sand-son in 8 years it concerns me.
Limerick on December 9, 2012 at 6:19 PM
Did it strike you that the tone of the article was more about advancing an argument for disarming veterans than the subject of the title?
tom daschle concerned on December 9, 2012 at 6:19 PM
No..liberalism is a disgusting mental disorder. 40 years of PC caponization of the military demanding warriors sacrifice themselves by acting in ways that they know will lead to defeat and the disrespect of country demanded by ones in power, is most likely the cause for the depression.
Mimzey on December 9, 2012 at 6:20 PM
Not as much as you Proud Obama Supporters re-electing your dear liar for another 4 Liberty destroying years – good job!
Galt2009 on December 9, 2012 at 6:21 PM
Yes. Though to be sure, even if the WaPo is genuinely concerned, that might be the only way they can bring themselves to express it. Journalism has been thrown to the movement liberals and such people have a one-track mind.
HitNRun on December 9, 2012 at 6:23 PM
How about “The Camptown Ladies?“
tom daschle concerned on December 9, 2012 at 6:23 PM
That doesn’t surprise me in the least – in other instances the BSM doesn’t give a rip about veterans.
Pushing this issue as part of a larger agenda of disarming the people would be right in line with the oppressive-socialists.
Galt2009 on December 9, 2012 at 6:25 PM
Thats true..but it needs to be filtered for age and gender.
Suicide rates in the general population will still give skewed results.
Mimzey on December 9, 2012 at 6:27 PM
We have too few troops serving too many combat tours. Some of these people are on their third or fourth deployment. They have seen things in modern warfare that are absolutely scary and much different from previous wars. We just have too few people serving too long in these combat areas with a policy that doesn’t allow them, in many cases, to take care of business.
Five guys can shoot at your patrol, enter a building, put down their weapons, walk out unarmed and you can’t do a damned thing to them. What kind of crap is that? In the occupation of Germany, if a guy took a shot at our troops and we caught him, he’d be shot by firing squad within 48 hours. None of this catch and release or going to jail only to be broken out by his pals, the guards.
crosspatch on December 9, 2012 at 6:30 PM
You might have missed the comment you wrote.
Liberals … hate … their military. I’m surprised you even come to a thread like this. Oh, that’s right. Rather that voice a concern about these great men and women, you used it to take a swing at Conservatives.
Disgusting.
hawkdriver on December 9, 2012 at 6:31 PM
Last time this came up a few years back, someone analyzed the numbers, correcting them for the mix of sexes in the military and the age brackets, and found that the rate of suicide in the military did not differ significantly from that of the general population.
Has anyone trustworthy done this analysis this time? I definitely don’t trust WaPo, and these two could be as nutty as Weasely Clark for all I know.
slickwillie2001 on December 9, 2012 at 6:36 PM
IMO you would have been one of the p*ssants that spit on veterans returning from Vietnam.
chemman on December 9, 2012 at 6:39 PM
The mistake is in letting them walk out.
OldEnglish on December 9, 2012 at 6:47 PM
Ok here’s the deal… The provision in the 2011 reauthorization bill is as the article reports, and was added at the request of the NRA. It generally prohibits military commanders from cataloguing personally owned firearms by servicemembers. The idea was to prevent Obama from creating a gun-grabbing programs in the military after the Ft. Hood shootings.
It probably makes sense to amend the law to allow appropriate military officials to ask about guns if they have good reason to do so.
But, this stuff about an epidemic of suicides in the military is ridiculous. War is hell and it causes a lot of psychological damage to servicemembers. That unfortunately does lead to suicides, homelessness, drug addictions, etc., notwithstanding the military’s commitment to identifying and mitigating psychiatric problems our servicemembers face upon returning from the war. But an “epidemic” it is not, and the MSM’s attempts to spin it as an “epidemic” should be interpreted as agitprop for an odious left-wing agenda. Shameful.
Outlander on December 9, 2012 at 6:48 PM
The left has been talking about the bodily and psychological costs of Dubya’s wars for years, you all called us traitors for talking about disabling injury and the inadequacy of veterans services. You got mad when Walter Reed hospital was exposed. So no, I don’t have to prove my veterans advocacy credentials, I’ve been to many Iraq Veterans Against the War rallies, with people suffering from a range of psychological ailments that your President Bush thought were irrelevant.
libfreeordie on December 9, 2012 at 6:53 PM
Tears
tom daschle concerned on December 9, 2012 at 7:05 PM
As a veteran, allow me to salute you with my middle finger raised. And allow me to further enunciate a position you’ll likely never understand:
Regardless of who is president and what war we’re sent into, war sucks. Dubya’s war, Obama’s war – it matters little. War sucks. It’s horrifying stuff. But hey – that’s what volunteers sign up for. We opt in for the duty.
While in the war, you’re not helping by protesting. Instead, if you want us home, rally for our swift and decisive victory. That’s the fastest way home with the lowest American body count. But what you do does nothing because encourage the enemy and demoralize troops fighting for their lives.
So again, asshole, allow me to raise middle finger to you. Get off your high horse and come down here so we can talk face to face. Oh – that’s right – you’re anonymous.
You REMF putz.
beatcanvas on December 9, 2012 at 7:08 PM
Maybe they could surrender to the Int. Court at The Hague.
tom daschle concerned on December 9, 2012 at 7:10 PM
Who Hates Americans?
tom daschle concerned on December 9, 2012 at 7:11 PM
You can’t get any LAMER than to be still blaming things on Bush.
Galt2009 on December 9, 2012 at 7:17 PM
President Obama has been CINC since 2009. Have the lives of veterans been dramatically improved under Obama’s enlightened stewardship? If so, how?
Outlander on December 9, 2012 at 7:37 PM
Bullshit on your liberal concern. Where are the protests for extending GITMO? Where are the anti-war demonstrations for Libya, Epypy and Syria? We’re still in Afghanistan and obama’s ROE favors the enemy. Where are the tallys? Where are your fucking weeking/monthy millestones of concern. Oh, right. Your concern was nothing more than hate for George Bush. You liberals used the military as pawns and the war as a political issue rather than a national security concern.
I hate liberals. Took a while, but I hate them. obama smeared UBL’s blood all over his face, but he has the blood of thousands of soldiers and US civilains on his hands.
hawkdriver on December 9, 2012 at 7:39 PM
Bullshit on your liberal concern. Where are the protests for extending GITMO. Wherre are the anti-war demonstrations for Libya, Epypy and Syria? We’re still in Afghanistan and obama’s ROE favors the enemy. Where are the tallys? Where are your freaking weeking/monthy millestones of concern. Oh, right. Your concern was nothing more than hate for George Bush. You liberals used the military as pawns and the war as a political issue rather than a national security concern.
I hate liberals. Took a while, but I hate them. obama smeared UBL’s blood all over his face, but he has the blood of thousands of soldiers and US civilains on his hands.
hawkdriver on December 9, 2012 at 7:39 PM
The only group of soldiers you’d condescend to. I can tell you a a Vet, the military would take George Bush back over super clusterf@ck in a heartbeat.
hawkdriver on December 9, 2012 at 7:42 PM
The clarifying language being withheld is suspect. Not only does the omission you highlight make me suspicious, I state that it is.
I agree with your analysis. Sorry if that bothers you.
Thank you for your reply.
Capitalist Hog on December 9, 2012 at 7:49 PM
The suicide rate of the military recently caught up the general American population, I believe somewhere around the start of 2012. The disturbing trend has been less the overall rate so much as getting a little farther into the numbers.
Until, I believe, 2012, suicide was predominately performed by Soldiers with 1 or fewer deployments. Over the course of the past year, however, more Soldiers with multiple combat tours — those whom the military has relied upon to be high resiliency members — have been killing themselves.
All that being said, the notion that an NCO is not authorized to ask if their Soldier owns a firearm is ludicrous. The command is not allowed to catalog the specifics of an individual’s firearms, but to say that a squad leader doesn’t know who has a gun in his squad and who does is, in my experience, completely absurd.
Sgt Steve on December 9, 2012 at 7:50 PM
Well they have used it that way, you idiot.
VorDaj on December 9, 2012 at 7:59 PM
There was nothing much about Walter Reed Hospital. It was an walk in clinic annex IIRC.
You libs are funny..”Dubyas War”..is that special or something? Regular old war is different? How about BOyas War? that different?
That reminds me..where are all the anti war rallies..the “Peace Movement” rallies..the people camped out in front of Oboyas house..the people disrupting Oboyas speeches and trying to make citizens arrests for “war chimes”..where are all the paper mache heads of Oboya with a Hitler mustache and Biden with blood dripping vampire fangs, was Hillary treated to you nutbags throwing fake blood on her yet etc etc? If not, why not?
Hypocrites much?
Mimzey on December 9, 2012 at 8:00 PM
Beat me to it.
I didn’t see your post.
Mimzey on December 9, 2012 at 8:03 PM
I say drop brainfree’s next NEA faculty meeting deep into Helmand Province, Afghanistan and see how long it takes for him to realize how lucky he was to be a preening imbecile in the safety of the teacher’s lounge. Brainfree would be squealing like Angel on The Rockford Files.
viking01 on December 9, 2012 at 9:30 PM
Agreed.
Sgt. Vulcha
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on December 9, 2012 at 9:38 PM
The stats are out there on the net. I recall sparring with some libtard about it about 7 years ago on someother blog. Lib tried argue that bush’s war caused suicides to go up. As I recall it suicide never made the top five. For most of the time, auto accidents was the top – not counting natural causes like heart attacks etc.
AH_C on December 9, 2012 at 10:31 PM
There were more active duty military deaths during clinton’s presidency than the first 10 years of the WOT.
tom daschle concerned on December 9, 2012 at 10:45 PM