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ARMY "TAP DANCES" AROUND SUICIDE /
DEPLOYMENT
RELATIONSHIP -- Says repeated deployments not
linked to suicide. Blames legal, occupational,
spousal and substance-abuse problems.
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
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-------------------------
by Larry Scott
Everyone knows
there's a right way, a wrong way... and the Army way.
At the moment, the
Army way appears to be "tap dancing" around some problematic suicide
statistics. The Army wants everyone to believe that the high rate of
soldier suicide has nothing to do with multiple deployments. Latest
suicide figures are here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfmar09/nf030609-4.htm
In the story below,
an Army spokesperson says that multiple deployments bring about "a certain
resiliency." I guess that means the more times we deploy troops, the
stronger they become. Suck it up, GI... right?
This is similar to
the Army mantra about post-traumatic "growth" that is being drummed into
the troops in the field during counseling sessions. That story
here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfmar09/nf030209-2.htm
So, why the suicides?
The Army's chief psychiatrist,
Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a somewhat controversial figure, speaks of "legal,
occupational, spousal and substance-abuse problems."
Well, gee whiz, Col. Ritchie, then what brought
on the "legal, occupational, spousal and substance-abuse problems?"
Maybe multiple deployments? Which brings us back to the suicides!
Remember, Ritchie has claimed, on more than one
occasion, that PTSD can be "cured," so that tends to put a big black mark
on her credibility. More on Ritchie here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearc
h.php?q=elspeth+ritchie&op=and
And, an interesting note comes from Paul Sullivan
of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS):
During our VCS v. VA lawsuit, the court ruled
that, "Dr. Gerald Cross, the Deputy Under Secretary for Health in the
VA, testified that the high rates of PTSD among Iraq veterans are the
result of various factors, including multiple deployments, the inability
to identify the enemy, the lack of real safe zones, and the inadvertent
killing of innocent civilians." The court ruling that high rates of
PTSD is related to multiple deployments is a "finding of fact" that can be
used in other lawsuits. The other phony causes given by the Army were not
listed in the Court's ruling. You can find the court's quote about Dr.
Cross on page 17:
http://www.veteransptsdclassaction.org/pdf/courtfile
d/2008-06-25-Memorandum%20of%20Decision.pdf
So, the VA testifies that PTSD is a result of
multiple deployments. But, the Army says suicide is not a result of
multiple deployments. It really does get tiring writing about the
military leaders who point their finger at the GIs in their command and
crow, "It's all their fault."
click for more information -- a disabled veteran
owned business
Story here...
http://www.salon.com/p
olitics/war_room/2009/03/05/suicides/index.html
Story below:
-------------------------
Army says deployments not linked to suicides
The Army released frightening new suicide statistics Thursday, but
suggested the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have little to do with this
alarming trend.
In fact, the vice chief of staff of the Army said that after reviewing
suicide statistics for 2008, multiple combat deployments actually make
soldiers less likely to commit suicide.
"The rational person might think the more deployments, the more likely you
are to commit suicide, but we saw exactly the opposite," said Gen. Peter
Chiarelli. "A certain resiliency seems to grow in an individual who has
multiple deployments."
Chiarelli and other Army officials released the February statistics on a
conference call with online journalists Thursday. Last month, the number
of Army suicides nearly equaled that of soldiers killed in combat. Among
active-duty, National Guard, and Reserve soldiers, there were 18
unconfirmed suicides and 20 combat-related deaths in February.
"This is not business as usual," Chiarelli said.
While that may be the case, Army suicides are becoming more and more
frequent. In January, 24 soldiers killed themselves, more than died in
combat in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. At least 138 soldiers took their
own lives in 2008, up from 115 in 2007.
 Last
month, Salon's Mark Benjamin investigated preventable suicides and deaths
at Fort Carson, a U.S. Army post in Colorado in his series "Coming Home."
Col. Elspeth Ritchie, the Army's top psychiatrist, was also on the
conference call. Ritchie explained that legal, occupational, spousal and
substance-abuse problems are often involved in these suicides, but that
they aren't sure what's causing the problems. "Sometimes it's hard to
identify what was the actual precipitant," she said.
Throughout the conference call, no one suggested that the country's two
wars might have something to do with the rise in suicides.
Further, according to the Army they have devoted tremendous resources to
fight the growing suicide rates. Chiarelli listed program after program
created to prevent soldiers from taking their own lives. In particular,
the general highlighted the Army's interactive video, Beyond the Front,
which depicts soldiers on the brink of suicide and asks the viewer to make
choices that will either result in the soldier receiving help or
committing suicide.
"I wish we could show you Beyond the Front, because what you described,
the Beyond the Front video, the interactive video, that is serving as the
centerpiece for our current stand-down, gets at those issues," he said.
― Christopher M. Matthews
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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