Some things were done by the book after the shooting at Fort Hood. Trauma teams rushed in and that was good. Soldiers banded together no matter where they were from, if they were staying at Fort Hood or deploying. As reported in the story below, the soldiers deployed to Afghanistan helped each other. That's all good but the troubling part is there was very little followup done after this event that shattered their sense of safety on their own base.
There are stories coming out about female troops stopping their fluid intake at noon, no matter how hot it is, because they fear having to use the latrine in the middle of the night. It doesn't matter if no one they knew was attacked or not, it is the reports of it happening that cause them to fear it will happen to them. A sense of safety is gone when there is one report of a female solider being attacked and it causes psychological damage. It's the same thing with the soldiers at Fort Hood and even on other bases.
Major Hasan was in a position of power but betrayed the men and women he was supposed to be serving with and taking care of. The commanders that allowed him to not only stay in the military but be promoted, betrayed the troops. All the way around, there was a deep sense of betrayal and it caused fear for them as well as for their families because this happened in their own back yard.
There is still much that needs to be done for the soldiers at Fort Hood but by the looks of it, not enough is happening.
Soldiers say work helped after Fort Hood shootings
By TODD RICHMOND
The Associated Press
Sunday, October 31, 2010; 12:04 AM
MADISON, Wis. -- For nearly a year in Afghanistan, a tightly knit Army Reserve unit kept the memories of their comrades killed during a shooting rampage Fort Hood close. But not too close.
The Madison-based 467th Combat Stress Control Detachment wore black wrist bands and dedicated field clinics to their fallen friends. At the same, they poured themselves into their jobs, blocking out their grief by helping combat troops deal with theirs.
Wounded Soldiers Stuck in Middle of Aircraft Battle
Sharon Weinberger
Contributor
This is the third in a series of stories by our special correspondent about military aviation issues linked to the war in Afghanistan. Read also the growing pains of the Afghan air force and the attempts of women pilots to find a place in it.
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (Oct. 30) -- More than two dozen injured U.S. troops, including six critical-care patients, have been loaded onto the C-17 transport aircraft destined for Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Then everyone aboard gets the bad news:
There's a fuel leak, and the aircraft may not be able to fly today.
That means more waiting for the patients, a number of whom were wounded in operations in Afghanistan.
If the aircraft can't be fixed within a few hours, a new aircraft will have to be found, and that's easier said than done. Flights these like -- aeromedical evacuation -- have a high priority, but with military operations in Afghanistan surging, finding an aircraft can be a game of musical chairs.
read more here
Soldier's longest struggle has taken place off the battlefield
After year of rehab, surgeries, staff sergeant shot in the head at Fort Hood is determined to recover, continue his Army career.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler saw the red laser sight approach his head, and then it all became like a dream. He opened his eyes and he was on the ground, the sound of screams filling the air. He tried to crawl out of the medical building, but he kept slipping on the blood pouring from his head. He grabbed the leg of a chair, but it slid across the wet floor.
His eyes closed, and the world grew dark. "I'm pretty much done for," he thought.
When he opened his eyes again, he was on the ground outside Fort Hood's Soldier Readiness Processing Center. He doesn't remember, but he would later learn that he could move somehow, despite the bullet lodged in his brain and the three others in his shoulder, arm and hip. He cried out for a cell phone so he could call Jessica.
With his massive head wound, paramedics said he easily could have been ignored among the growing number of dead and wounded soldiers being pulled from the unfolding massacre in the processing center — which happened a year ago this Friday.
But his talking attracted the attention of a medic. He was lifted onto a gurney, an oxygen mask was slipped over his face, and needles were plunged into his arm. The helicopter rose into the air and flew 27 miles east to Scott and White Hospital — Temple. The doctors who met his flight were amazed that he was still alive.
read more here Soldier longest struggle
12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, October 31, 2010
By DAVID TARRANT / The Dallas Morning News
dtarrant@dallasnews.com / The Dallas Morning News
Lee Hancock contributed to this report.
When Jessica Hansen awoke that Thursday morning, she found a text message on her cellphone.
"Happy Nov. 5th. I love you."
It was from Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler of Fort Hood. He and Jessica, a senior at Boston University, met 11 months earlier on Dec. 5, 2008, and they liked to celebrate each new month of their relationship. They kept in constant communication, so when Patrick followed up his text with a noontime call, it wasn't unusual – except for the way it ended:
"I love you, Jessica," he said.
"I love you, too," she replied.
"No, really, I love you," he insisted.
He sounded serious, unlike his usual wisecracking self. She wondered if he was having a hard day.
Hours later, after the news broke of a mass shooting at Fort Hood, after her frantic calls to Patrick's cellphone went unanswered, after the late-night call from Patrick's father telling her Patrick had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, Jessica replayed that last conversation over and over.
To deny an award for certain wounds is wrong. Tell me that TBI caused by a bomb in Iraq or Afghanistan is not the same as having metal pierce the skin or tell me having PTSD is not yet another wound caused by trauma during combat and I'll point to the countless articles on this blog alone proving that these two wounds deeper than skin do in fact matter.
There have been some in this country saying that Washington designed the Purple Heart for wounds, but the truth was he designed it to honor service. It was adopted later on for wounds received during combat at a time when PTSD was still not acknowledged and no one knew about TBI. We know better now but there are still some saying PTSD and TBI are just not worthy of getting the Purple Heart. Well, thank's to Lily over at Healing Combat Trauma, we know the Danes have been ahead of us on this and bravo for them!
October 27, 2010
Those Progressive Danes! Their Purple Heart Just Extended to Include PTSD
Those (ultimately) progressive Danes!
In a momentous development yet to be mentioned in the American or the English language-speaking press, we've learned that Denmark has expanded the criteria for their version of our Purple Heart medal -- given to those who have been wounded physically in combat operations -- to include those who suffer the less-visible wound of post-traumatic stress disorder.
(We wrote about the topic back in 2008, linked here, about whether it would be wise to extend the Purple Heart's criteria to include PTSD. That proposal generates controversy here, but the Danes have since moved past the controversy to actual recognition.)
From an official Danish government publication, issued date October 10, 2010, and translated here: "In 2010 Her Majesty The Queen approved that...veterans who are wounded physically in international operations can receive the Armed Forces Medal for Wounded in Service."
Importantly, the publication adds, "The Government recognizes the psychological harm on an equal footing with physical damage, and has therefore taken the initiative to add recognition of physical and mental injuries treated. The Defense medal "Wounded in Service" will from now on be attributed also to those mentally wounded."
The Toll of Veteran Suicide: Those Unnecessary Deaths
by
Lily Casura
The poet T.S. Eliot called April "the cruelest month," but you know, this time of year, heading into the holidays, isn't that great either -- especially for those who are suffering from post-traumatic stress, when numbers of those who take their own lives actually climb. The numbers are already bad enough; and 'tis the season, so to speak, when they actually get worse.
Currently, 18 veterans a day(!!!) kill themselves; and one active duty servicemember every 36 hours(!!!).
Those are TERRIBLE numbers, because each one represents a life that can never come back, and plunges a family and a community into an often never-ending ordeal.
read more here The Toll of Veteran Suicide: Those Unnecessary Deaths
If Lily's words do not hit you as hard as they should, maybe if you read some of their stories it will matter to you more than just seeing numbers. This video is a couple of years old but I found over a hundred of their stories.
DoD Study: Most Troops, Families OK With Gays
October 29, 2010
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- An internal Pentagon study has found that most U.S. troops and their families don't care whether gays are allowed to serve openly and think the policy of "don't ask, don't tell" could be done away with, according to officials familiar with its findings.
The survey results were expected to be used by gay rights advocates to bolster their argument that the 1993 law on gays could be repealed immediately with little harm done to the military. But the survey also was expected to reveal challenges the services could face in overturning the long-held policy, including overcoming fierce opposition in some parts of the military even if they represent a minority.
Details on the survey results were still scarce Thursday, with the Pentagon declining to discuss the findings until after Dec. 1 when it rolls out its own plan for repeal.
Faith plays a big part in the lives of a lot of our servicemen and women but it is of their own freewill they decide how to worship, when to worship and in what manner they worship. Trying to get them to convert to one denomination over another is appalling when they should be trying to sooth their souls and ease their minds. This is one of the biggest reasons they do not trust military chaplains even if most of them do their jobs the right way.
I believe in the power of prayer and I am a devoted Christian but that is where it ends when I am working with veterans or their families. My job is to help their souls heal not to get new members into a church someone told me to. I believe military chaplains are very important and that the biggest issue is that there are not enough of them to go around but my blood boils when I read about what too many of them are doing. They end up pushing them away from the very faith they are trying to force them into. No one is served by this. Not the men and women serving, not the chaplains and not the military as a whole. God is not served either by pushing people away.
AF Academy Survey: Proselytizing Cited
October 29, 2010
Associated Press
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- An Air Force Academy survey found that 41 percent of cadets who identified themselves as non-Christian said they were subjected to unwanted proselytizing at least once or twice last year.
Overall, 19 percent of all cadets said they were subjected to unwanted proselytizing.
Participation by cadets in the official academy survey, conducted in December and January, was both voluntary and anonymous. Forty-seven percent, or 2,170, of the cadets participated in the poll.
Lt. Gen. Michael Gould, the academy superintendent, had resisted disclosing specifics of the survey but now plans to release some details on Friday after several groups, including The Associated Press, filed Freedom of Information Act requests.
They know how to get things done, how to work together but above that, they know what it is like to put their lives on the line and not put themselves always first. We need them in congress no matter what political side they are on because when it comes to veterans, they are always on America's side. Isn't that what really should matter in the long run? We cannot assume all veterans care about other veterans. Look at John McCain and his voting record. He votes against veterans most of the time but too many others, on both sides, deeply care about this country and those who serve more than political agenda.
Number of veterans in Congress likely to drop
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Oct 28, 2010 18:55:01 EDT
The number of veterans serving in Congress is likely to drop as a result of Tuesday’s elections, according to the executive director of a nonpartisan group that teaches veterans how to run for political office.
Seth McCormick Lynn, executive director of the Veterans’ Campaign, said Thursday that the number of veterans in the Senate — now 26 — might increase as a result of the election. But in the House of Representatives, the number of veterans is certain to decline from the current 95.
Of the total, 61 are Democrats — including two delegates — and 60 are Republicans.
A drop in the number of veterans in Congress would be significant, Lynn said. “The lack of military experience in Congress has implications far beyond foreign policy and national defense,” he said.
“Veterans share a common bond that transcends party affiliation. Fewer veterans mean increasing polarization and partisanship.”
read more here Number of veterans in Congress likely to drop
GI died in shooting spree, kin say
By DENNIS YUSKO Staff Writer
Published: 02:38 p.m., Wednesday, October 27, 2010
By Wednesday. nearly 600 Facebook users had joined the site's page called "Justice for Dead Army Pfc. David R. Jones." A user named Chris Wheeler of Canajoharie wrote: "It's coming. The truth is (going) to come out. Victim of another soldier gone nuts."
ST. JOHNSVILLE -- The family of a Montgomery County soldier killed in Iraq said Wednesday that they have received information from Baghdad saying that he and others were murdered during a one-person shooting spree.
The Department of Defense confirmed Wednesday that Army Pfc. David Jones of St. Johnsville, Montgomery County, died Sunday from injuries sustained in a "non-combat incident" in Baghdad.
But Theresa Bennett, an aunt who helped raised Jones, received a copy of a text message from a soldier who worked with him in Iraq that stated Jones was one of five people killed or wounded Sunday in a shooting "rampage" on a U.S. military base in the Iraqi capital, Jones' cousin George Bennett said Wednesday.
The text came Tuesday afternoon to the family of Jones' girlfriend, Brittany Winton, George Bennett said. Brittany Winton declined comment on Wednesday, but a member of her family who asked not to be identified confirmed receiving the text and its contents.
"Someone went on a rampage and killed David," George Bennett said, though he said he didn't know who.
As of late Wednesday, the Pentagon's casualty notification website made no mention of additional soldiers dying in Iraq on Sunday.
Asked Wednesday about the message received by Jones' family, a spokesman at Fort Hood in Texas, where Jones was assigned, said, "the circumstances surrounding the incident are currently under investigation by the military."
read more here GI died in shooting spree, kin say
linked from ICasualties.org
Sorry but the ads down here in Florida are driving me nuts! Marco Rubio keeps talking about our kids futures and passing on debt as if that ever mattered to the politicians over all the years no one was paying for anything. Remember the surplus Clinton left? Well tax breaks for the rich and corporations ate that up just as the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not paid for. Preying on our emotions about passing on debt to our kids is not where our fears are based right now. We're worrying about today and tomorrow.
We're worrying about bills coming due and not enough money to pay for them right now. For jobs that the GOP don't seem to care about. For health insurance that covers us getting sick, our families when one of them has a medical condition insurance companies can decide to not cover. We're worrying about someone being elected determined to cut benefits to our veterans, our elderly, raise the retirement age, end Medicare and end the Department of Education. We have enough to worry about for today so the fear Rubio wants us to focus on is, as FDR said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" and that fear is if we don't elect people putting us first ahead of "winning to defeat Obama" then when our kids grow up, they will have less than they do today. They will have more debt because no one is talking about how to pay for what they want to do in the GOP other than cutting benefits for what we need. None of them are talking about taking away the ability to have health insurance to pay for our healthcare or how we are supposed to get jobs when they are blocking bills to help small businesses buy equipment and hire workers.
If things are not fixed today, and the GOP are not stopped from blocking bills, our kids will have enough to worry about right now!
NC Marine commander relieved of duty
Charged with drunk driving on Monday
Updated: Thursday, 28 Oct 2010, 11:14 AM EDT
Published : Thursday, 28 Oct 2010, 10:00 AM EDT
NC Marine commander relieved of duty
MCAS CHERRY POINT, N.C. (AP) - The colonel in charge of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point has been removed from his command after he was charged with speeding and drunken driving earlier in the week, a Marine Corps spokesman said Thursday.
Col. Douglas Denn was removed by order of Maj. Gen. Carl Jensen "due to loss of confidence in Denn's ability to command," said Maj. Bradley Gordon, spokesman for the Marine Corps Installations East located at Camp LeJeune in Jacksonville.
"The relief occurred as a result of an investigation into allegations of Denn driving under the influence that eroded good order and discipline," Gordon said.
Jensen is in charge of Marine Corps Installations East, which covers six Marine Corps bases in the mid-Atlantic region.
Col. Robert Clinton, the executive officer at Cherry Point, has assumed command, Gordon said. Clinton is a CH-46E helicopter pilot and graduate of the Naval War College, Gordon said.
read more here NC Marine commander relieved of duty
We can all remember what it was like when nightmares woke us up as kids. We'd run to our parents seeking safety and assurance that the monsters of our dreams couldn't hurt us. We were protected by their love. Some of us were just as afraid of our parents. You'd see kids like that walking around the school hallways with dark circles under their eyes. They would fall asleep in class and some of them ended up wanting to make other kids understand what it was like to be afraid by becoming bullies.
As we got older, nightmares faded away replaced by real life fears we all faced as grownups. The movie Nightmare On Elm Street, one of my favorites, Freddy got even grownups to be afraid again. I went to see it with a friend of mine when it first came out. That movie hit us so hard that when we went to get back into the car, we were looking in the back seat to make sure no one was there.
I remembered what it was like to have nightmares come as a kid as I woke up in the dark, too afraid to go to my parents. I sought safety under the sheets with a flashlight. Each sound sent me into a panic. I knew I couldn't go to my parents because my Mom would just tell me the monsters weren't real and she had to go to work early in the morning. It was not that she didn't care about it but she had her own monsters to deal with in real life. My Dad was an alcoholic. I just had to learn how to fight off the monsters of my dreams on my own. Yes, I was one of those kids with dark circles under my eyes, but instead of wanting other kids to know what fear was, I wanted to comfort them because I didn't want anyone else to feel the way I did.
Horror movies play on our childhood fears. Life plays on our experiences of all of our past experiences.
Veterans have the same baggage we all do. They grew up the same way the rest of us did. They went to school, had parents they could go to when they were afraid or the kind of parents they were afraid to go to. They either faced bullies down or became one. What separated them from the rest of us was that while we went on to live common, peaceful lives, they were willing to take on the monsters in real life. They trained to do and prayed they wouldn't have to do it. When the time came, they picked up their weapons, locked and loaded, said a prayer and let hell loose on the enemy they were sent to fight.
Judgment of the action was "above their pay grade" which really boiled down to the fact it was not up to them to decide who was the enemy they needed to battle or when they fought, but it was their job to make sure as many of their buddies as possible would go home as soon as possible. It didn't matter if they enlisted or were drafted into the military once they were there. It was a matter of life or death.
For some, they walked away from the real-life nightmare the same way we walked away from childhood nightmares, with powerless memories to push out of their minds or powerful ones they had to battle to keep them from taking over their lives.
Instead of wanting to find safety in their parents arms, as adults, they wanted to find safety in being cared about, talking to someone who would not judge them, tell them the monsters haunting them were not real, or telling them to just go back to sleep. They needed reassurance they were not going to be destroyed by the monster, they did not deserve to be haunted and someone would stand by their side to help them fight it off.
As kids, we wanted to talk about our nightmares so that we would know someone else had the same experience or if they did not, they could understand what it was like to be afraid. Sharing our fears, our thoughts, our dreams, helped us defeat them slowly but surely. As veterans, they need the same ability to be able to defeat what they had to go through in real life.
This is one of the biggest reasons medication without therapy does not work. Meds only mask the pain so they can function. Sharing the experience helps them defeat it.
The longer the time between event and therapy with a professional or a trusted ally goes on, the deeper the cuts become. It is a wound to the emotional part of the mind, digging deeper like and untreated infection claiming more and more territory as the rest of the brain tries to take back control and protect itself, things get twisted around. Once they begin to talk, the strength of the monster vanishes. What is left of the damage done depends on how long it was allowed to destroy at will. Most of what PTSD does can be reversed. An infected wound will heal when it is treated. The scar left behind depends on how soon it was treated. Some scars will last a lifetime but there are ways to cope with what cannot be reversed. Understanding this monster, knowing where it came from, why it came after them, helps them cope with a monster reduced to the size of a really big bug.
The nightmare is not just on Elm street but on many streets across this country. If you want to see how vivid a nightmare can strike, here's a video I found on YouTube. Not my kind of music but it's pretty good. It talks about the price of evil but if you turn it around and think of it as evil just being what people do to other people, you'll get the point. Our veterans are not evil but what they had to go through was hell.
New York Soldier Dies After Iraq Injuries
Updated: Thursday, 28 Oct 2010, 9:55 AM EDT
Published : Thursday, 28 Oct 2010, 9:55 AM EDT
By LUKE FUNK
MYFOXNY.COM - Private First Class David R. Jones, Jr. of Saint Johnsville, N.Y. died of injuries sustained in a non-combat incident on October 24, 2010 in Baghdad, Iraq.
read more here
Bragg: Homes Where Babies Died Are Safe
October 28, 2010
Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer
Fort Bragg officials say test results have ruled out the possibility that conditions inside homes on the installation contributed to the inexplicable deaths of 10 infants since 2007.
But a separate and ongoing probe into military housing by the Army Criminal Investigation Command and the Consumer Product Safety Commission has yet to eliminate any environmental factors in the deaths.
Despite the ongoing probe, officials with Fort Bragg and Picerne Military Housing declared Tuesday that the houses where infants died are safe.
Fort Bragg's Directorate of Public Works ordered environmental tests at each of the 10 homes associated with the deaths, and those results were announced Tuesday.
"Across the board, none of them tested positive for anything that would contribute [to the deaths]," said Col. Stephen Sicinski, garrison commander at Fort Bragg.
Airmen Given Expired Anthrax Vaccines
October 28, 2010
Military.com|by Bryant Jordan
In a memo issued Oct. 26, Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark Ediger, commander of the Air Force Medical Operations Agency in San Antonio, said the stand-down would remain in place until treatment centers can confirm the vaccine stock they have is current. But Ediger also said that confirmation that corrective actions had been taken were to be sent to the AFMOA by close of business Oct. 27, according to a copy of the memo obtained by Military.com.
The only exceptions to the stand-down will be for personnel slated to deploy prior to Oct. 29 if the center can confirm that its vaccine supply is current, the memo states. If the available vaccine has passed its expiration date, the medical centers must follow waiver procedures set up by the Air Force Central Command Surgeon General's office.
read more here Airmen Given Expired Anthrax Vaccines
Mother of accused soldier asks 'Where was the Army?'
By Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston, CNN
October 26, 2010 9:34 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Dana Holmes: "The man that came home was not my son"
Holmes' mother says Army should be "going after" officers in charge
His attorney says Andrew Holmes is innocent
Holmes and four others are charged with murder
Editor's note: For more details on this story, watch Drew Griffin's report on tonight's "Situation Room," which airs at 5 ET. Click here for an archive of Griffin's reporting on this investigation.
Boise, Idaho (CNN) -- Five American soldiers have been charged with killing Afghan civilians for sport and staging the slayings to look like legitimate war casualties. The youngest of those five -- a now 20-year-old private from Idaho -- came home a changed man, his mother says.
And, said Dana Holmes, the Army not only should have known something had gone dreadfully wrong, but commanding officers should be held responsible.
"The man that came home was not my son," said Holmes. "He was very thin. He'd lost about 50 pounds. He said the Army told him he had a parasite. I made him his favorite sandwich, and it took him two days to eat the whole sandwich. Just couldn't eat; he didn't sleep."
Pfc. Andrew Holmes was a healthy, 185-pound 18-year-old when he joined the Army, his mother said. He came home on leave in April -- weeks before the Army launched an investigation into the suspected illegal drug use by his platoon, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, Fifth Brigade.
read more here and see video Mother of accused soldier asks Where was the Army
It would be wonderful to find out who even thought of cutting benefits from the troops in the first place.
Cut waste, not benefits, Webb says
Senator says he will ‘not walk back on’ well-compensated military
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Oct 27, 2010 12:01:06 EDT
The chairman of the Senate panel responsible for military personnel said Wednesday he is all for cutting waste out of the defense budget — but that does not include reductions in pay or benefits.
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., said he is willing to cut the size of the force, particularly Army and Marine Corps ground forces.
FSU, military study suicide prevention
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Oct 27, 2010 5:41:21 EDT
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State University is preparing to announce a new research effort into military suicides.
Florida State professor Thomas Joiner, who has studied suicide issues for many years, will join researchers from the Army and the Denver VA Medical Center to discuss an initiative they think can help reduce military suicides.
More than 1,100 members of the armed forces killed themselves from 2005 to 2009, and suicides have been rising again this year.
Just last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius launched the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, a public and private coalition dedicated to reducing suicides across the U.S. population. FSU, military study suicide prevention/
From FSU
"Soldiers see a lot of violence, they see death, they see the people who are closest to them in the world get killed, and they themselves are often seriously injured."
Thomas Joiner
Florida State University Department of Psychology
Florida State to help military wage war on suicide
American soldiers are taking their own lives in the largest numbers since the military began keeping records, and the Department of Defense has enlisted the help of The Florida State University in waging the war against suicide.
Thomas JoinerA $17 million federal grant has been awarded to FSU and the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center to establish the Military Suicide Research Consortium. The consortium is the first of its kind to integrate DOD and civilian efforts in implementing a multidisciplinary research approach to suicide prevention.
Florida State's Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Thomas Joiner, an internationally known suicide researcher, and Peter Gutierrez, a leading suicide expert and clinical/research psychologist with the VA's Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center at the Denver VA Medical Center, will lead the consortium. Each institution will receive $8.5 million in initial funding over the next three years.
The new consortium comes as the military struggles with a surging suicide rate that now exceeds the rate of suicide in the general population. More than 1,100 members of the armed forces died by suicide from 2005 to 2009 — that's more than the total number of servicemen and women killed in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 — and suicides are rising again this year, according to a new task force report ordered by Congress.
"These suicides have deeply affected the military leadership, and they are desperate to do something about it," Joiner said. "For many in the military, they never knew the misery of suicide, and now they do. They are agonizing over this. They say it hurts every bit as much as losing someone in combat, maybe more."
Despite the new trend of suicide in the military, very little medical research has actually been done on the subject, said Joiner, who is also the Bright-Burton Professor of Psychology and a Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology at FSU. There's no doubt that the trauma of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq plays a role, but that doesn't explain why some soldiers take their own lives and others who share the same experience don't.
