Wed, Jul 09 2008
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Published May 02, 2008 11:14 am - Did you know that the number of suicides among returning veterans is many times higher than the number of battlefield deaths? Guest columnist, Elliot Denniston: U.S. soldiers face battle at home, too Did you know that the number of suicides among returning veterans is many times higher than the number of battlefield deaths?
Did you know that there are about 18 suicides a day among American veterans, or about 6,570 suicides a year, while the battlefield deaths for the whole war have averaged about 800 deaths a year? You’re not likely to know this because the media does not like to tell you about it. And what’s behind these extremely high numbers? According to new research by the highly respected Rand Corporation, “nearly 20 percent (300,000 men and women) of military members who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan … report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression….” In addition, 320,000 of these troops have returned with physical brain injuries. (About 7 percent of the soldiers are in both categories.) In short, 1 in 5 of returning military members suffer from serious psychological problems! So, what’s being done for these veterans? Did you know that most veterans are not automatically cared for by the Department of Veteran Affairs? They have to pay for their health insurance. And, according to a Harvard Medical School study (published in the American Journal of Public Health), millions of veterans and their families cannot afford health insurance. In addition, “more than 600,000 veterans are waiting, on average, more than six months for disability benefits,” says Paul Sullivan, director of Veterans for Common Sense. About half of those with psychological problems did seek help over the past year, but, according to the Rand research, only half of those seeking help actually received treatment. That treatment was only “minimally” adequate, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. The VA is so overloaded and understaffed that they cannot handle this “health-care crisis.” It is widely agreed that to help these traumatized soldiers heal, they need early treatment: The sooner they get help, the more likely they are to be able to return to normal living. Yet the VA is not able to treat half of those who want treatment and is postponing the treatment of the others often interminably; tragically those waiting in line sometimes become the next suicide statistics. According to Lisa Jaycox, a co-leader of the Rand study, “If post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression go untreated or are under-treated, there is a cascading set of consequences,” such as drug use, unemployment, marital problems and suicide. And there is also the danger of many walking time bombs endangering our society for years to come. On top of all this, the VA has been covering up the facts, reports CBS News. The VA’s head of mental health, Dr. Ira Katz, claimed that there were 790 suicide attempts a year when he knew that the actual number was 12,000. He sent out internal e-mails about keeping the correct numbers concealed. Finally, he was exposed, and eventually admitted the truth. “This is disgraceful. This is a crime against our nation, our nations’ veterans,” stated Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., who chairs the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. A lawsuit filed by veterans’ rights groups accuses the VA of not doing enough to deal with this mental-health crisis. And how has the Bush Administration handled this? Instead of working to resolve the problem, it has tried nothing but legal tactics to try to get the suit dismissed. The suit went to trial on April 21. I have trouble drawing conclusions to all of this. I do know that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are clearly much more brutal on our soldiers than most of us have believed. But, I would have thought that the one group whom the President would show some small compassion for would be our military men and women. Apparently not. Elliott Denniston lives north of Webb City and is a retired Missouri Southern State University professor. 
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