[v911t] Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans
 
Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 12:21:44 -0600 (CST)

_CBS News Investigates Shocking  Rate Of Veteran Suicides_ 
(http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/15/cbs-news-investigates-shocking-rate-of-veteran-suicides
/) 
 
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CBS News aired the  results of their 5 month investigation into veteran 
suicides this evening and  what they found was devastating. In 2005 alone, 125 
veterans committed  suicide each week and of the more than 88,000 vets returning 
from Iraq, more  than 28% of them have experienced mental health problems. CBS' 
Armen  Keteyian talked with Paul Sullivan of _Veterans For Common Sense_ 
(http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/)  who had this to say  about the dismal 
system the VA has for tracking veteran suicides;
 
Sullivan: "We call it the don't  look, don't find policy. If the VA doesn't 
collect the data, then they don't  have to do anything about it." 
_Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans_ 
(http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/8808)   
_http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/_ 
(http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/)   

_Progressive News Daily 
_ (http://progressivenewsdaily.com/?p=977) 

Nov 15, 2007

The US military is experiencing a "suicide epidemic" with  veterans killing 
themselves at the rate of 120 a week, according to an  investigation by US 
television network CBS. 
At least 6,256 US veterans committed suicide in 2005 --- an  average of 17 a 
day --- the network reported, with veterans overall more than  twice as likely 
to take their own lives as the rest of the general  population. 
While the suicide rate among the general population was 8.9 per  100,000, the 
level among veterans was between 18.7 and 20.8 per  100,000. 
That figure rose to 22.9 to 31.9 suicides per 100,000 among  veterans aged 20 
to 24 --- almost four times the non-veteran average for the age  group. 
"Those numbers clearly show an epidemic of mental health  problems," CBS 
quoted veterans' rights advocate Paul Sullivan as  saying. 
CBS quoted the father of a 23-year-old soldier who shot himself  in 2005 as 
saying the military did not want the true scale of the problem to be  known. 

_http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/8808_ 
(http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/8808) 

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