Why does nobody want to talk about the REAL reason behind military suicides?

It's an all-volunteer military since '73.
If you can't hack it, don't sign the contract.

We had 16 million veterans return home from war in WW2...many of them were in combat and had no choice in the matter. They were drafted.
If anyone's got a right to complain it's the pre-1973 draftees from the Vietnam conflict and back...they had no choice. However today's
military? It's a voluntary decision.

I think the correlation of combat experiences with suicide is sketchy at best. It's more complex, you must factor in things like relationship issues...lack of jobs, and peripheral issues to actual time spent in combat. However the "whining" about how bad military life is, only reflects the person's poor decision making abilities
and enlisting on a whim and not giving the serious considerations the decision is due.

The "I had no choice" is a blatant lie....anyone serving in today's military, VOLUNTEERED.

The internet provides a plethora of information about what to expect, and keeping the culture shock of going from a civilian to being in the military...within manageable levels.

 

"How did Obama demoralize our armed forces?"

Taxcutter says:
Restrictive rules of engagement that values the enemy over US troops.

 

Many of them have no choice or they won't be driven to suicide at such high rates.

They have no opportunities at home, they join the military for educational benefits and income. They find out the recruiter filled their head with nonsense, combined with their desperation was recipe for disaster.

The wealthy destroy the economy at home to get rich abroad, and send poor young souls to fight their battles for profits ....

 

I'm a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, and I am being compensated for having PTSD. I had extremely good care from the VA hospitals with both inpatient and outpatient services. Where do you (a veteran) come off bashing the military as a major part of America's history and Constitution to say we waste money on it, and that its a waste of time and energy? How do you suppose our nation would hold up against further terrorism acts, and or against those rogue nations that either already have nukes or are in the process of developing them--especially those that have been threatening the annihilation of the Western world? Let me guess, you live in Chicago and you're on the bandwagon for gun control and the abrogation of the 2nd Amendment. Tell us, did you just happen to go AWOL during your military daze, and or did they catch you smoking dope while on duty?

 

I spent 4 years in Clinton's army and I hated it the whole time I was there. I was treated like I was worthless. I had NCO's specifically tell me we're playing army and that we were a waste of taxpayers money because we weren't in a real war while marching us around forcing us to pick up cigarette butts out of the grass. I hated spending 2 months in the field getting all my gear dirty and having a lousy week to get it spruced up again because some liberal Senator wanted us to parade in front of him like he was somebody important. I hated practicing for that parade lining up all the tall people in the front and the short people in the back so that they would have to run to keep up with us and end up sending up to 45 people to sick call in a single days worth of practicing from heat exhaustion just so one slimy liberal Senator could feel important.

You know The military in Lees burg Louisiana pays for 4 millionaire type homes for occupancy by Generals but only has 1 General on the whole post and might get 1 General visiting one week a year to live in one of the other three homes? The military wastes money like crazy.

I hated having to order like crazy near the end of the month for stuff we didn't really need because if we didn't spend all the money we were budgeted for the month we risked not having enough money the next month to buy the stuff we needed.

I hated the fact that losers who couldn't make it in the real world would be promoted to Staff Sergeant of higher simply because they had enough time in grade. The same losers who kept calling me a loser and didn't really know their own jobs. At the end of the field problem I know our Platoon leader would be told to pick 3 people to get awards because it was our platoons turn to get them. This turn system explained why HQ company got most of the awards. It had nothing to do with merit.

I hated my Lt who was so dumb I got him trained so that he would walk into my radio van and push the Parity button on my radio and look at all the meters to see if they moved and then walk out as if he actually knew something. Ok I didn't hate that. I did hate the fact that my Platoon Sergeant caught him doing it once and explained to him how that button had no wires attached to it.

This same Lt. I had running around the entire base looking for Order Wire Grease because our talk channels were stat-icky and needed to be lubed so we could hear each other better but was so expensive only an officer could pick it up from the Supply. Some Colonel, who did know his job, explained it to him after catching him cussing out a Supply Sergeant for refusing to release his emergency supply of the stuff.

Damn I wish I had reenlisted, I'd be retired now and say (*)(*)(*)(*) Obama and his tax hikes I'm retired.

 

The death rate in the military is lower than civillian men of similar age.

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We've had that far longer than Obama.

 

If it wasn't for the military getting involved in Afghanistan in the 80's, 9/11 never would have happened. The best way to prevent further terrorism acts is to ignore them. How we're using it now, yes, the military is a waste of time and money.

About rogue nations with nukes, maybe we can stay out of their affairs and let them run their country how they want without the constant threat of sanctions. No nation has threatened the annihilation of the western world.

 

And when they use those nukes on their neighbors and the winds blow their aftermath into our airspace like Japan is having to deal with pollution in China right now what then.

 

The U.S. is the only country that has used nuclear weapons and has been, along with its allies, more willing than any other country to use them again

 

That will change once more third world dictators get their hands on them.

 

You don't get to do that. That worthless old fart Rummy encouraged medical personnel to call PTSD and TBI "pre-existing behavioral disorders in order to save money on VA benefits and hide the real cost of the war.

Obama just kicked some ass on medical personnel here at Madigan AMC for doing that (*)(*)(*)(*).

Have some clue what you are talking about, okay?

 

OldJar you are conflating PTSD and Gulf War Syndrome which are two different things. We still don't have a good handle on what's up with the latter.

Further Deomcrats are always the people restricting how you fight wars. Had the same problem in 'Nam when LBJ was president.

 

First off, who are you talking to? Secondly, PTSD explains a lot. And thirdly, after Nam, how can you possibly deny military waste, when 55,000 fellow Americans died for absolutely NOTHING in that war?

 

Why would you think that?

 

Got a hard-on against the military, do ya?

I think your theory on why they commit suicide is wrong.

 

I believe that if Democrats would have not undermined the war effort in Iraq, it would have been a great success (possibly even with those bouquets of roses for the soldiers).

 

It's the nature of the beast. You know third world dictators.

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The worst thing you can do to a military man is tell him he's not needed. If he's not needed then bam he's gone.

 

I didn't say anything about PTSD, but I don't really think it's as much of a problem as some people are saying. I've heard statistics that say 20% of the military in Iraq and Afghanistan experience PTSD. There are also statistics that say 20% of the general population experience PTSD. The PTSD rate in the military actually may be lower than the civillian because there is a higher chance of military veterans going in to get diagnosed. Most of the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan weren't even caused by combat, but by accidents that can happen just as easily in civillian life. We don't need all of these treatments and medications for PTSD. Statistics are very easily manipulated in the media, so if you see a claim that appeals to emotions, make sure to keep it in context. Most people don't understand how combat or the military works, so it is very easy to manipulate statistics to get people to believe what you want. For example, thousands of people have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there are also nearly a million people serving in those wars, and people will die just because there are so many people included.

We shouldn't be giving benefits to military personnel with PTSD. One of the first areas that can be cut without many negative effects is Veterans Affairs. The war in Iraq has been restricted by Bush as well.

 

I don't see what is wrong with 3rd world dictators. If we didn't try to overthrow them, then maybe they wouldn't need to try to get nuclear bombs to protect themselves from U.S. agression.

 

I believe that if the merry morons in the executive branch had an average IQ of 90, we would never have gone in there in the first place. Dumb freaking idea.

 

Lefty the only reason we went into Iraq in the first place was because strategically there wasn't any other viable option. We had 50k troops set in Kuwait holding Saddams 90k Republican guard at bay. We knew going in that would need them for Afghanistan, which because of of political considerations as well as lines of supply was always going to be the more difficult operation. To merely pull them out would have left about 15-20k Kuwaitis and Saudis to defend against those same 90k Rep guards. We won the war against Saddam quickly, easily, and cheaply. We then promptly blew the peace.

 

I doubt that.

 

The chief trouble with third world dctators getting Nukes is that dictatorship is an inherently unstable system of governance and in the chaos that ensues when a 3rd world dictator gets over thrown there is no way of knowing who will wind up with the nukes.

 

Dictatorships aren't any more unstable than any other form of government.

 

Total hogwash. The merry morons wanted to do Iraq, that damned simple. There is no way in hell it was to free up troops for Afghanistan.

It does not matter how easy it might be to overthrow a government. You still need to leave considerable forces there. You have to have enough troops to do the job when you jump off. The man who designed the force we had told the Shrub and the morons that we didn't have the troops, but those bozos thought they knew how to fight a war.

They didn't.