You are hereBlogs / missy Beattie's blog / Needing You

Needing You


By missy Beattie - Posted on 15 August 2010

Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs believe that more than 6000 veterans will commit suicide in 2010.

According to an article in Foreign Policy, an average of one soldier a day committed suicide in June.

When Barack Obama spoke to Disabled Veterans of America (DVA) in Georgia on August 2, he addressed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), calling it “a pain like no other” and said: "… the hopelessness that has led too many of our troops and veterans to take their own lives. Today, I want to say to anyone who is struggling—do not suffer in silence. It’s not a sign of weakness to reach out for support—it’s a sign of strength. Your country needs you."

“Your country needs you.” Yes, the United States of American needs you.

Your country needs you for imperialist wars and occupations.

Your country needs you to secure the resources of other countries.

Your country needs you to risk your life to ensure that the power elite will remain the power elite.

Your country needs you to use weapons banned by international law.

Your country needs you to keep your mouth shut.

Your country needs you to inspire terrorism.

Your country needs you to replace the fallen.

Your country needs you, needs you, needs you—for exploitation.

Imagine if Obama were struck by a bolt of honesty and said all of the above instead of the usual 9/11, 9/11, 9/11, terrorists, insurgents, and al- Qa’ida. Oh, and 9/11.

Imagine if White House press secretary Robert Gibbs had admitted to Obama’s Bushian agenda instead of calling the president’s progressive critics “the Professional Left” and suggesting that we, who don’t hesitate to condemn Barry’s compromises, are “crazy” and, thus, should “be drug-tested."

Candor, lost among mainstream politicos, could terminate a pathology that has plunged this country to the depths of immorality. If forthrightness were articulated, all parents and loved ones of troops wounded or killed in war, finally, might question, as Cindy Sheehan did: “For what noble cause?” Those who wear the uniform might question, as well. Might even expose war crimes as PFC Bradley Manning, who didn’t keep his mouth shut, recently did.

For what noble cause are they returning with PTSD? For what noble cause are they killing? For what noble cause are they dying? For what noble cause are they committing suicide?

I remember hearing a military mom’s poignant speech at an antiwar rally. She described a son who returned from combat a changed man, someone whose behavior she didn’t recognize.

People cope with agony differently. I just read about a soldier who completed suicide after serving in Iraq. His parents, now, are working for an easier navigation of mental health care and attempting to eliminate the stigma associated with asking for psychological therapy. Certainly, this is honorable. But more is necessary. A system that assaults the psyche, the system that either emotionally damages or physically slaughters must end.

I’m finished with hearing, “He died doing what he loved.” As if this statement lays the dead to rest, along with the dialogue about war’s reality. I want to ask how someone can love dying for lies. How can anyone love the sights and smells of death? Of seeing children whose flesh is melted by explosives? How?

When will people become so outraged that they will identify the problem—a pattern that sends young men and women thousands of miles away to massacre other human beings and risk being killed for lies? A structure that forever alters survivors.

We must teach our children to value life. We must teach them that no one wins in war. Instead of calling for more suicide hotlines, mothers, fathers, and spouses of soldiers, in fact, each and every one of us, should acknowledge the hideous truth of war.

President Obama wants our troops to seek help because his administration is “making major investments in awareness, outreach, and suicide prevention.”

The noble solution, obviating the need for military mental health maintenance, is war prevention. Its synonym is peace.

And it reminded me of the damn "Uncle Sam Wants You" military recruitment signs. Wars based on lies and for racket; what a sick way for a govt to treat a population.

I hope people are teaching children that govt, politicians lie, while [occasionally] telling some truths; a few. Organized crime!

Quote: "Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs believe that more than 6000 veterans will commit suicide in 2010.

According to an article in Foreign Policy, an average of one soldier a day committed suicide in June."

The latter tells me that the 6,000 or more veterans the VA believes will commit suicide this year are veterans of the present and past wars, while an average of one soldier who served in either of the present wars committed suicide per day in June.

Roughly 360 suicides in a year of soldiers who served in either of the present wars seems high, though perhaps not for the military. I don't know what the historical military numbers are. And I don't know what civilian suicide statistics in the country are, but believe to have read that around 1.5mn soldiers served in the present wars, including those presently serving, and doubt that there are this many suicides per 1.5mn segment of the civilian population of the country per year. Maybe there's a similar number of civilian suicides and I'm simply not aware of it.

But these or certainly most of these soldier suicides surely would not happen if the soldiers hadn't been sent to and/or hadn't accepted to serve in these wars based on lies; especially the way the wars have been insanely conducted. All or most of these soldiers would still be alive and not at risk of committing suicide, if they hadn't been lied into serving in these insanely conducted wars.

That's something to certainly keep in mind when statistically comparing the number of soldier suicides to civilian suicides. The causes are very different. Comparing the statistics for civilian suicides in different parts of the country and internationally is fine, but soldier suicides require additional or special consideration. They mostly would not happen if the soldiers hadn't served in the wars that drove them to suicide.

Re. the 6,000 suicides expected this year according to the VA, I wonder what the total number of veterans this is based on is and which wars most of these veterans served in. It surely can't be veterans of only the present wars. If it is, then it's incredible that the wars would be continued. The govt would be killing more of its soldiers due to driving them to suicide, alone, than soldiers who died or were killed in the Vietnam War. That's only for the suicides, so excluding KIA and dead from injuries received in the wars while dying after being transferred out of the war zones.

The 6,000 must be for veterans of both present [and] past wars. Surely?

All for the Capitalist Regime - The DLC Neo-libs in the WH care as much as did the last psychopath.
Economic Conscription of the poor - life as a poor person is far different than a middle or even working class... the ability to absorb life, witness life, even worse than they grew up in must be insufferable.

There are probably as many post Viet Nam suicides as there are names on the WALL of disgust in DC. i puked my guts out when i first saw the WALL of Shame. I was there and the thought of seeing my name on that Disgusting WALL made me wretch but i never wanted to kill myself.

Suicides won't even get that. i wonder if their next of kin/ survivor get benefits?

due to their service in the war(s)?

Definitely. They're dead because of having served in the war or wars. That's all that matters when it comes to whether or not their families should receive benefits from their loved ones' service in the military and war. The benefits should be equal to what families of soldiers KIA get.

Do any of them get anything amounting to real benefits? That question is meant besides the fact that what they've lost can never be replaced, of course.

This is for the "not" alternative method. It's cheaper to just kill Americans in the US.

It's not about war, not military war anyway, but it is about killing Americans; and read the article, below, and see for yourself that this isn't a much better way to be killed by your govt. There's extremely little coverage for the Gulf crisis at this web site, so I'm using a page that's for an article about the govt killing Americans by sending them to war based on LIES. With the Gulf coast, we have the govt killing Americans again, again based on lies, again based on corporatism, and so on. All that's missing is the foreign war part. This time, the govt runs a war directly on Americans at home.

This is an article you really do not want to skip reading. Here's some home-brewed "shock & awe" treatment the govt would probably prefer to call therapy.

"Gulf Health Problems Blamed on Dispersed Oil"

by Dahr Jamail, IPS, Aug 12, 2010

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20598

It reminds me of 9/11 and the extremely toxic air from the fallout in Manhattan. The Bush administration ordered the head of the EPA to keep her warning to herself, instead of letting her get it immediately to first responders and to share it with the public. She complied. Tens of thousands of first responders and other citizens suffered badly, some died, and some won't live anywhere as long as they would have, if they had been warned about the extremely toxic air and would, therefore, have worn whatever protective devices that were needed for keeping lungs from taking in the toxicities. This is thanks to Uncle Sam's criminal silence. There were some reports that stated that as many as around 30,000 citizens were sought treatment in nearby or relatively nearby hospitals, and that was several years ago, maybe as far back as 2004, so the numbers may have increased since then.

From what I've gathered so far, we can expect much worse in Gulf coast states.

And the Taliban must be jealous. The US govt kills Americans faster than anyone else in the world; all at US taxpayer expense too.

Speaking Events

2017

 

August 2-6: Peace and Democracy Conference at Democracy Convention in Minneapolis, Minn.

 

September 22-24: No War 2017 at American University in Washington, D.C.

 

October 28: Peace and Justice Studies Association Conference



Find more events here.

CHOOSE LANGUAGE

Support This Site

Donate.

Get free books and gear when you become a supporter.

 

Sponsors:

Speaking Truth to Empire

***

Families United

***

Ray McGovern

***

Julie Varughese

***

Financial supporters of this site can choose to be listed here.

 

Ads:

Ca-Dress Long Prom Dresses Canada
Ca Dress Long Prom Dresses on Ca-Dress.com

Buy Books

Get Gear

The log-in box below is only for bloggers. Nobody else will be able to log in because we have not figured out how to stop voluminous spam ruining the site. If you would like us to have the resources to figure that out please donate. If you would like to receive occasional emails please sign up. If you would like to be a blogger here please send your resume.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.