Suicide Attempts for Vets Jump 500%% in Five Years, and Government
Ignores It

By Penny Coleman, AlterNet. Posted September 11, 2008.

Vets are killing themselves in growing numbers, but the government
sees suicides as a way to lower the official average processing time
of claims.

This year, in recognition of National Suicide Prevention Week (Sept.
7-13), the Army chose the theme "Shoulder-to-Shoulder: No Soldier
Stands Alone," "to emphasize the strength of the Army Family when it
works together to tackle tough problems."

It has not been a good week for the Army Family in spite of the
special attention.

On Sept. 8, an altercation between a 22-year-old Fort Hood soldier and
his commanding officer, a 24-year-old lieutenant, ended when the
soldier first shot and killed his officer and then turned his gun on
himself. Both were assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division, which had
returned from a 15-month tour in Iraq in December. The division is
currently in training to redeploy back to Iraq this winter for another
12 months -- which in all probability will turn out to be the as good
an explanation as any for the tragedy.

Then on Sept. 9, a VA report acknowledged that suicide rates for young
male Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans hit a record high in 2006, the
last year for which official records are available. Last week, the
Portland Tribune reported that in 2005, the last year for which
complete Oregon data has been compiled, 19 Oregon soldiers died in
combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. That same year, 153 Oregon veterans of
all ages, serving in various wars, committed suicide.

After five years of war in Iraq, Marine suicides doubled between 2006
and 2007, and Army suicides are at the highest level since records
were first kept in 1980. Reported suicide attempts jumped 500 percent
between 2002 and 2007.

The Defense Department says the numbers may be partly attributable to
better compliance with reporting requirements.

Every year since 2004, when the Army sent its first Mental Health
Advisory Team to Iraq to study the distressing rash of soldier
suicides, and insisted in its final report that "relationship
problems" were the root cause, I have tried to find sympathy for Col.
Elspeth Ritchie, the Army psychiatrist who always seems to get stuck
with the impossible task of announcing that the Army is sticking with
that absurdity. For the first time this year, Ritchie has been allowed
to add the screamingly obvious qualifier: "Lengthy and multiple combat
tours in Iraq and Afghanistan cause relationship problems, a leading
factor in suicides." Albeit indirectly, the role of war in suicides
has officially been acknowledged.

Last May, House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner,
D-Calif., provided the following reaction to VA Secretary James B.
Peake's announcement that he was prepared to take on the issue of
military suicides:

... Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. Peake announced the creation of
two panels with a handful of members appointed to recommend
improvements to the Department concerning suicide prevention, suicide
research and suicide education.

The VA can set up five commissions -- yet the real problem goes
unresolved. We all know that convening meetings to study an issue in
order to formulate a report to offer recommendations IS NOT ACTION. I
strongly encourage the VA to proactively reach out to all our
returning veterans now. Veterans cannot wait -- and should not have to
wait -- for a blue ribbon panel to come out yet again with another
report.

We KNOW what needs to be done. Each and every service member,
Reservist and Guardsman must be given a thorough and mandatory medical
evaluation by competent medical personnel when they separate from
military service for PTSD and TBI. The VA Secretary was asked to do
this weeks ago.

The time for panels has passed. I expect immediate action to address
the immediate needs of our veterans.

Yesterday, in a prepared statement (which avoided the risk of being
laughed at by any reporters who might have been paying attention),
Peake announced his blue ribbon panel's recommendations.

The VA will:

Design a study that identifies suicide risks among veterans ... within
30 days.
Improve VA's screening for suicide veterans with depression or
post-traumatic stress disorder ... with pilot test ... beginning Oct.
1, 2008.

Ensure that evidence-based research is used to determine the
appropriateness of medications for depression, PTSD and suicidal
behavior.

So, the VA will continue to study and prepare and try to weed out the
other-than-evidence-based research it has been relying on, while
sanctimoniously asking us to keep believing that "every human life is
precious, none more than the men and women who serve this nation in
the military."

Precious to whom?

When Veterans for Common Sense (unsuccessfully) sued the VA for delays
in benefits, lost records, long waits for doctors' appointments,
insufficient oversight, and veterans turned away from hospitals in
spite of suicidal thoughts, one of the most revealing moments was the
testimony of Associate Deputy Under Secretary for Field Operations
Michael Walcoff. Confronted with the shameful backlog of veterans'
claims for health benefits, Walcoff admitted that the VA improved the
appearance of timeliness by counting every suicide as a resolved
claim. This lowers the official average processing time.

It's also a precious lot of money saved.

Penny Coleman is the widow of a Vietnam veteran who took his own life
after coming home. Her latest book, Flashback: Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder, Suicide and the Lessons of War, was released on Memorial
Day, 2006. Her Web site is Flashback.