Time – by Denver NicksThe number of male veterans under the age of 30 who commit suicide jumped by 44 percent between 2009 and 2011, the most recent year for which data was available, according to numbers released Thursday by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Roughly two young veterans a day commit suicide.
Suicide rates for female vets also increased by 11 percent between 2009 and 2011. The suicide rate among veterans remains well above that for the general population, with roughly 22 former servicemen and women committing suicide every day.
The troubling spike in suicide rates among younger vets comes as overall suicide rates for people using the Veterans Health Administration have held relatively steady in recent years. Suicide rates among older veterans decreased 16.1 percent between 1999 and 2010, while the overall population of older U.S. males ages saw a 27.3 percent increase in the rate of suicide over the same period.
The leap in rates for the youngest vets has officials especially worried, Stars and Stripes reports. The cause of the increase remains unclear, but officials searching for reasons point to post-traumatic stress disorder, combat injuries and the difficulties young veterans face in re-entering civilian life.
“Their rates are astronomically high and climbing,” Jan Kemp, the VA’s National Mental Health Director for Suicide Prevention, told Stars and Stripes. “That’s concerning us.”
[Stars and Stripes]Read more: Suicide Rate Soars For Young Vets | TIME.com http://swampland.time.com/2014/01/10/report-suicide-rate-soars-among-young-vets/#ixzz2qBzJXvtO
“The suicide rate among veterans remains well above that for the general population, with roughly 22 former servicemen and women committing suicide every day.”
Naturally, one just has to wonder exactly how many of them were ‘suicided’.
Remember though #1 about all the BS drugs the VA has those vets on that may be creating this problem. I had to talk my neighbor out of suicide for that very same reason – too many damned drugs from the minneapolis VA , and real high doses at that – and for me to say that which is realy realy rare is rare , if ya know what I mean .
Also remember, digger, that those same veterans are the ones the so-called ‘government’ fears most, because of their military training.
They won’t hesitate to eliminate them any way they can.
And that is right too isn`t #1 !!
I had a few words for your buddy, dingdong.
Yes I saw that #1 . Good job bro. Yea #1 I smelled a rat in ding dong – hell #1 – ding dong even admited that he was here to start trouble ya might say. Ha ain`t no love fest with me and ding dong at all #1 😆 By the way #1 thanks for your support at the end there 😉 😎