Friday, July 3, 2009

Army Suicides At Record Pace


Wounds Of War -- Washington Times

A warrior braves the hardship of the front, endures months away from home, suffers the trauma of combat, escapes bullets and explosions and then comes home to America to take his own life.

This makes no sense at all. Yet this year, 82 soldiers have committed suicide, according to the Army. At this pace, the tally for 2009 will likely eclipse last year's total of 140 suicides, the highest annual rate since the Pentagon began recording suicide rates 28 years ago.

It is all the more distressing since multiple efforts have been made to combat this phenomenon.

Read more ....

My Comment: Long time readers of this blog know that my godfather was a World War 2 vet who committed suicide 18 years after the end of the war. Even though 18 years had passed .... we all knew that it was because of his war time experiences that he took his life.

Fortunately, public awareness is now making this issue something that we are now all aware of .... and something that we watch for.

But more work will still have to be done.

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