Eighteen American veterans per day die from hidden wounds of war resulting in suicide according to a news report Sunday. One thousand former soldiers receiving care from the Department of Veterans Affairs attempt suicide every month. More veterans are committing suicide than are dying in combat overseas. These are not officially reported as casualties.
There has been ongoing lack of assistance and timely accessibility to services for veterans with depression and PTSD.
NBC reporter John Stofflet recently reported, "A startling number of our service members and veterans are taking their own lives. They are returning from war with wounds to the mind that can prove to be as deadly as wounds to the body."
Sunday, NBC reported that veterans typically wait weeks to see a doctor. One veteran, who did receive notice for needed increased services, died five weeks later.
The Veterans Help Center reports that according to an April 2008 study by the Rand Corporation:
300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans currently suffer from post traumatic stress disorder or major depression.
Another 320,000 suffer from traumatic brain injury, physical brain damage. (Also see the 2008 Keith Olbermann Veteran Suicide report on CBS at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhXnfJSEFsI&feature=related)
These statistics have continually escalated.
"A majority are not receiving help from the Pentagon and VA system which are more concerned with concealing unpleasant facts than they are with providing care," states Veterans Help Center.
The Supreme Court has recently told Veterans Affairs to correct unchecked incompetence.
Troop suicide rate has been escalating for years, as the embedded Watchdog 2008 CBS News report indicates. (See embedded Youtube on this page.)
NBC reported that if you are a service member, veteran or family member facing an emotional crisis, you can call 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Press "1" for the confidential Veterans Crisis Line... day or night. Or, chat confidentially on-line at http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/Veterans/Default.aspx
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) are leading an Operation Recovery campaign. The veterans organization has free posters that can be downloaded and printed to hang in public spaces to promote awareness and discussion of the veteran suicide epidemic, continued deployment of traumatized troops, and GIs' right to heal. (See: Mentally injured troops used to murder children and women daily, Dupré, D. Examiner, Sept 24, 2010, and Fee veterans posters: War Is Trauma, Dupré, D., Examiner)
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