Suicides by soldiers tragic in Canada

Suicides by soldiers tragic
By PETER WORTHINGTON, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 14th July 2009, 3:57am
Last week the Toronto Star ran a disturbing front page headlined story about suicides in the Canadian military, and cited evidence that the stress of overseas missions may result in criminal acts by returned veterans.

The renewed concern about suicide and stress disorder among the military has intensified since Maj. Michelle Mendes, a fast-tracked and respected intelligence officer, committed suicide shortly after arriving in Afghanistan in April.

Now research is underway among veterans, dating back to the Korean war and peacekeeping, to see if there's a pattern of what they went through that may have affected their later lives.

Soldiers who commit suicide has always been a puzzling phenomenon that is rarely diagnosed except by hindsight. Maybe it57;s incomprehensible, except that it happens and is always tragic and seemingly unnecessary.

DND prides itself in noting that the suicide rate in the military is lower than the national average, but this is misleading because military personnel are screened before they are accepted, and are not the average.

A harsh reality is that since 1995 when the UN's peacekeeping role in the Balkans was turned over to NATO to become more aggressive, through 2008 and the "war" in Afghanistan, more Canadian service personnel have committed suicide than have been killed by enemy action - 145 suicides to 124 killed in action (at this writing) in Afghanistan.
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Suicides by soldiers tragic