Burdens

I must begin with a disclaimer.  I am not a veteran.  I have never served in the military.  No one in my immediate family was in the military.  I have never even been a Cub or Boy Scout.  My closest affiliation with anything remotely military has been the occasional run in with Major Headaches and General Malaise, two close personal friends.  I had a bad experience with Corporal Punishment once, but that was a long time ago.  Otherwise, I am civilian through and through.  I respect the military, although I am the first to admit that don’t always understand its procedures, protocols, motivations, routines, etc.  I know the challenges faced by military personnel are beyond my comprehension, and that’s by my choice.  I was (am) too much of a free thinker during my enlistment eligible days of youth to consider such a regimented and potentially dangerous lifestyle. 

 

From this vantage point, I read the following from Congress.org (as reported in The Week):

For the second year in a row, in 2010 the U.S. military lost more troops to suicide than in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  At least 468 soldiers killed themselves in 2010.

Let that one sink in for a moment.  Tragic.  Unspeakably sad.  Avoidable?  I don’t know.

  

My healthy skepticism of all statistics got me to thinking that this presentation of a number without context could be misleading.  Shocking, right?  The questions kept coming: 

·         How does this number compare to the rate of suicide in the general population?

·         How does this number compare to peacetime suicide totals?

·         Is this above, below or the same as historical averages?

·         Do the military forces of other countries suffer from the same, worse or better numbers?

·         How does the survey define suicide?  I ask because the quote above refers to “at least” 468 suicides, which leads me to believe that the cause of death is sometimes in dispute.

·         How many happened in the theater of operations?  How many happened to individuals who had never seen combat missions? 

·         How many happened within 2 years of combat?  How many happened more than 20 years after combat?

·         Are those who join the military for the structure and the discipline more likely to drift into depression once that structure and discipline is removed post-active duty?

The easy answer, the lazy answer is that war is hell, and that these suicides in proportion to actual battlefield casualties represent nothing more than unavoidable collateral damage.  That view feels too cynical and too callous for me.  Another lazy answer is that more money and resources must be devoted to mental health resources for our military veterans, particularly those who have seen firsthand the horrors of war.  More resources may be needed, but I cannot base that opinion solely on the one dramatic statistic that started me down this path of curiosity in the first place.

I don’t know all of the answers to my questions.  Ultimately, I don’t know what drives someone to consider such a permanent solution to temporary problems.  What I do know is that these numbers represent real people, people who decided for whatever personal reason to join our fighting forces and spend time defending our nation.  For that, they should never be forgotten.  The causes of their descent are likely unique, but that should never be an excuse for not finding out the answers and addressing the problem of military suicides aggressively and in the light of day.

God rest their souls.