US Combat Deaths in Afghanistan since 2001: just over 600
Those numbers I already knew. A volunteer for the ACLU, working on a street corner I happened to walk past today, alerted me to a related set of facts I'd been unaware of.
# of attempted suicides amongst active duty US soldiers in 2002: 350
# of attempted suicides amongst active duty US soldiers in 2007: 2,100
The vast majority of those suicides have been amongst units that are NOT seeing combat, mostly on bases within the US. The suicide rate amongst servicemen is the highest it's been since the Vietnam War.
Worse yet, she said the same thing is happening amongst the National Guard units that were deployed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Worst of all, she said, despite all the combat, more US soldiers had killed themselves this year than had died in Afghanistan.
What the fuck is going on? These figures seemed so crazy, I couldn't just take her word for it. I told her as much, I was openly skeptical.
She said she was quite confident in those figures, as she herself had been out of the army for less than a year, having been discharged for medical reasons just a few months ago. She said this is the most important election in US History, and that her experiences in the military convinced her to take an active role in the ACLU to help ensure the integrity of the vote this year. She said, if you doubt my numbers, google it yourself when you get home.
So I did. OMG WTF I feel sick! She was right. Combat deaths right now are less than 10% of what they were in Vietnam, but the suicide rate for soldiers is about the same as it was then? Remember, in 'Nam, people were drafted - our current Army is all-volunteer, yet this year is expected to set a record-high for both attempts and successful suicides among servicemen. That is a terrifying sign that something really abnormal is transpiring on bases in the US.
I now have to repeat my earlier question: "What the fuck is going on?"
Addendum/Update:
- According to the articles, the vast majority of the suicides are folks who either have never seen combat duty, or have returned to from deployment more than a year ago. Nearly all the suicides are occuring on US bases.
- According to the lady I was talking to yesterday, there's one base in particular that's had more suicides in the past 7 years than soldiers died in Afgahnistan. I haven't been able to find an online source that confirms that later point, but I also can't remember the name of the base she'd indicated, which would probably make the search much easier. If this is true, that's a sure sign that something fucked up is happening on that base.
4 comments:
The US armed forces could take advantage of this and train their troops that if they are going to kill themselves, at least take out an enemy target in the process.
We still have so much to learn from al Qaeda.
Dude, that was sick, uncalled for, tasteless, and incredibly tacky. I'm ashamed that it made me laugh.
Damnit, I left out of the post the most chilling detail. Over 70% of the suicides were amongst soldiers stationed in the US, who had either never seen combat duty or who had returned from combat deployment over a year ago. It's not soldiers in combat stress who are killing themselves, it's soldiers on US bases.
Updated to reflect that fact.
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