A Surge in Soldier Suicides

The American heroes of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are being decimated, not by the enemy, but by their own hands through suicides. These soldiers are the veterans of both wars who returned to the country, were given military honors and presented as heroes; and after the photo ops and the fanfare, were left to rot by the wayside. In 2006, the rate was reported to be at its highest among soldiers in 26 years at 99 confirmed suicides. Today, it is running at an average of 18 suicides per day. Five of these are under the care of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth have filed a class action suit against the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) claiming inadequate care is leading to a surge in suicides, and would like to see that patients are actually treated with respect. According to Lawyer Gordon Erspamer, "failure to provide care is manifesting itself in an epidemic of suicides". There are about 300,00 US troops, roughly 20% of those currently deployed, who are suffering from depression or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), after their tour of service in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In July last year, a class action lawsuit was also filed against the US government by veterans of both wars on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, claiming the DVA has deliberately cheated traumatized war veterans of benefits owed to them. These include disability pay and mental health treatment. This case comes 3 months after President George Bush apologized for the scandal that broke out in Walter Reed Medical Center where wounded veterans were housed in sub-standard facilities infested by rats and cockroaches on walls full of molds. The scandal caused the resignation of US Army Secretary Francis Harvey. President Bush promised to fix the problem at the time. While the walls have apparently been whitewashed, the problems remain and its effects have worsened.

Of the country's 744,313 homeless, about 194,254 or roughly 25% are veterans, even if they comprise only 11% of the adult population. Moreover, 44,000-64,000 are chronically homeless and some 500,000 are at a high risk of homelessness as of November 2007. And, many veterans find themselves at shelters so soon after their discharge from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The mental health problems arising from these wars are enormous, and fears of their numbers growing at a very fast rate have been raised.

The DVA has countered that 3,700 new mental health professionals have been added, bringing the total to just under 17,000; and that $3.8 billion has been earmarked for mental health. It is filing papers arguing that courts have no jurisdiction on the day-to-day management of a network that has 153 medical facilities nationwide. Here, the American bureaucrat's penchant for numbers and figures come into play. It is not the size of the budget nor the number of professionals that matter, but the quality of care and treatment received. Reference should be made to the thoroughness with which each patient is diagnosed, evaluated, and respected in the process of treatment. Also, the rightful provision of benefits paid to each soldier after the service duty should be judiciously and speedily forwarded. A disabled soldier has already been robbed of a number of opportunities in life, must he still be cheated out of the sacrifice he has rendered and endured?

Can the US sustain 100 years in Iraq as John McCain proposes if it treats its heroes this way? Will not these images weaken recruitment for US forces? Is America so financially bankrupt that it allows its heroes to waste away in demeaning conditions? What purpose do the medals serve? Has financial bankruptcy led to moral bankruptcy? Is this any way to fight a war, much less win it? Will these issues be singled out again as agitation by left wingers so it can be easily dismissed after labeling? The figures cited are from the DVA and US Census, and there is no way these can be denied. The number of suicides per day are actual deaths with the corresponding body count, it cannot be silenced by denial, but can be denied by silence.

Like Vietnam, the veterans are being released like damaged dogs left to struggle for their survival in the garbage dumps of the urban jungle. This is no longer surprising. After being used and rendered useless, the promises become memories of a surreal nightmare, which soldiers wake up to each day. Would they have been better off killed and buried? Apparently, that's what those who took their own lives believed. In World War II, the US created the USAFFE to help defend against the Japanese invasion in Asia. These were soldiers fighting for America who were promised veterans benefits and back pay after the war. They are now in their 80's and are dying in the streets of the US waiting for the promised benefits. Their Iraq and Afghanistan wars counterparts could well be their grandchildren in terms of the age gap, and they suffer the same fate.

It seems that being a soldier in the land of the free and the home of the brave, you are free to die by your own hands or those of the enemy, or you can brave surviving alone, like a wounded and unloved dog.

Haaarrrwwwwk...Twooooooph...Ting!