Remembering All the Casualties of War This Veterans Day
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On this Veterans Day, let us remember the soldiers and veterans that have died from injuries sustained in war, but go unacknowledged. I am speaking of the thousands of men and women who have taken their own lives as a result of the US government sending them to war, often repeatedly.
In 2005, for example, in just those 45 states that information was obtained there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That is 120 each and every week, in just one year. *1
One age group stood out. Veterans aged 20 through 24, those who have served during the war on terror. They had the highest suicide rate among all veterans, estimated between two and four times higher than civilians the same age. (The suicide rate for non-veterans is 8.3 per 100,000, while the rate for veterans was found to be between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000.)*2
The suicide rate among veterans aged 20 to 24 was 22.9 per 100,000 in 2007—four times higher than non-veterans in the same age bracket. It is also estimated for every person that completes suicide, there are another 10 that attempted it.
Veterans Affairs (VA) reported in January that 178,483 veterans of the two wars had been diagnosed with one or more mental illnesses between 2002 and September 2008. The conditions diagnosed included 92,998 cases of possible PTSD; 63,009 possible depressive disorders; 50,569 neurotic disorders; 35,937 cases of affective psychoses; 27,246 cases of drug abuse and 16,217 cases of alcohol dependency.*3
Mortality rates of soldiers returning from war during the first 5 years have been 1.5 times higher than solders that were not deployed to war zones. This is consistent with WWII, Korea and Vietnam. External causes both intentional and unintentional accounted for most of the increased mortality rates. Deaths from vehicular crashes were 2 times higher amongst deployed Vietnam soldiers. Suicide and homicide rates showed similar increases.*4
Let us not forget the veterans that have died or are ill because of chemical weapons depleted uranium, mustard gas, Lewisite, VX, sarin nerve agents used in war zones and experimental vaccines unwittingly given to US troops.
Let us not forget the many homeless vets, who have died because of exposure, disease, violence among others. Current population estimates suggest that about 131,000 Veterans (male and female) are homeless on any given night and perhaps twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year. About 45% of homeless Veterans suffer from mental illness and (with considerable overlap) slightly more than 70% suffer from alcohol or other drug abuse problems. *5
*1 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main34964...
*2 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/feb2009/suic-f04.shtml
*3 http://www.vvaa.org.au/media12.htm
*4 http://www.cdc.gov/mmwR/preview/mmwrhtml/00000865.htm
*5 http://www1.va.gov/homeless/page.cfm?pg=1
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Deadly+aftermath+for+Vietnam+veterans.+%28...
http://cybersarges.tripod.com/aovm.html
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/06/agent-orange-diagnosis-and-treat...
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/05/uncle-sams-human-lab-rats
www.hill4-11.org/vet-resources/john-wilson-paper.pdf
http://www.truthout.org/article/multiple-deployments-may-raise-risk-mili...
