How many veterans committing suicide is acceptable?

If this surprises you, you have not been paying attention.

Here are some things to consider from All Things Considered KUNC by Michael De Yoanna that came out today.

Each day about 20 veterans and active-duty service members take their own lives. It's a stubborn number that hasn't changed much since 2005. If the trend continues, 100,000 veterans and troops will have been lost to suicide by the end of this year.

(Actually the VA had to retract that part with the current military in the number)

They should have added the word "known" to that because we have tracked the ones who apparently, did not count. 

The 20-a-day rate has been relatively consistent since 2008. By that estimate, more than 58,000 veterans and troops have taken their own lives since 2008. Add roughly 20,000 more suicides for the three years prior to that, when the daily suicide rate was 19 a day (in 2007) and about 18 (in 2005 and 2006). Numbers for 2016, 2017 and 2018 are yet to be tallied. If they hold to 20 a day, by the end of this year the total number of suicides among veterans and troops will be more than 100,000 since 2005.

In one snapshot of the of the issue, Congress’ investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office, found that 57,000 Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines troops discharged between 2011 and 2015 for misconduct had post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries and other conditions, like adjustment, anxiety and depressive disorders. Of these troops, more than 20 percent, or about 13,000 of them, received “other than honorable” discharges, which made them potentially ineligible for veterans benefits, including access to health care for their conditions.

Actually that total is a lot higher too. Plus add in about 200,000 Vietnam veterans and you get the idea.

Only 22 states with the inclusion of California in 2017 track veteran suicides but when the first suicide report came out, the limited data came from just 21 states. No clue what the other states are doing with their veterans.

So what about all the others who did not count? The veterans who moved out of the country? Veterans who faced off with law enforcement and lost their lives. That happened on a weekly basis last year.

And now for what the headline was,

Some 78,000 Veterans And Troops Lost To Suicide Since 2005

Keep in mind that while the DOD puts out quarterly reports, about 90 days after the end of the quarter, the average is 500 a year, and has not gotten better either. That screams of the need to stop what does not work all the way through. But then again, as there seems to be more and more folks screaming about numbers, the number of living veterans continues to drop.

All that plus the calls into suicide prevention keep going up!

Still no answer from the DOD on what will be the one too many to change. No answer on how many veterans committing suicide is acceptable to them either!

Stolen Valor Fake Vietnam Veteran

He collected nearly $200K posing as a Vietnam vet with 2 Purple Hearts — but he never served
The News and Observer (Tribune News Service)
By AARON MOODY
Published: June 27, 2018

A Charleston, S.C. man collected nearly $200,000 in VA benefits over the past few years while listed as a Navy medic who received two Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam.

Keith R. Hudson Charleston County Sheriff's Office

But Keith R. Hudson, 70, was never in the military, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina said Wednesday.

“This is a particularly awful type of white collar crime,” U.S. Attorney Sherri Lydon said in a news release. “Veteran health benefits are for those who served our nation in the military. The VA has limited numbers of physicians and resources. There is not much to spare.”

Hudson pleaded guilty in federal court to defrauding the VA of $197,237. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
read more here

Police Officer Lost Battle For His Own Life

Lancaster police officer's death ruled a suicide; first responders urged to get help 
York Daily Record 
Geoff Morrow 
Published June 27, 2018

Lancaster City Police on Wednesday announced that the recent death of Patrol Officer Mark Gehron, 43, was a suicide. Gehron, a 19-year veteran of the police bureau, died Saturday, June 23. 

He was previously a volunteer firefighter and, as a police officer, received several awards and commendations. 

Gehron was also the father to sons Chris and Carter, both of Lancaster. In its release, the Lancaster Police Department said the law enforcement community experiences an average of 130 deaths a year related to officers in crisis. read more here

Report: Multiple people shot at Maryland newspaper office

UPDATE
CBSNews
5 dead and several wounded.

Report: Multiple people shot at Maryland newspaper office
Thomson Reuters

Jun 28th 2018

June 28 (Reuters) - Several people were fatally shot at a newspaper office in the Maryland capital of Annapolis on Thursday and a suspect was apprehended, the local sheriff told Fox News.

Anne Arundel Sheriff Ron Bateman told Fox News the incident took place outside the Capital Gazette office.

Phil Davis, a Gazette reporter, said that multiple people had been shot, according to a report from the Baltimore Sun, which owns the paper.

Agents from the Baltimore office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were responding to the incident, the bureau tweeted.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran and PTSD Service Dog Kicked Off Bus?

Veteran, dog kicked off city bus highlights service animal policy
KRQE News
By: Jackie Kent
Posted: Jun 26, 2018

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) - ABQ Ride says one of its drivers did not follow its policy when he kicked a veteran and his service dog off a city bus.

"They treat you different because you have a service animal and I don't think that's fair," said Jesse Gordon about his latest ABQ Ride experience.

The Vietnam veteran said he tried to hop on a city bus on June 18, with his service animal, Jackson, to get to a doctor's appointment. Yet, bus surveillance video shows he never got past the bus stop at Eubank and Central.

"The driver of the bus looked at the animal and says, 'That's not a service animal.'" Gordon said.

He said the bus driver claimed Gordon's PTSD was not a recognized disability that would allow him to have the vested dog.
read more here

Navy: Sailor's death suicide on flight line

UPDATE

His Suicide Note Was a Message to the Navy. The Way He Died Was the Exclamation Point

On June 25, 2018, Caserta left notes to several friends and his parents, walked out on the flight line at Naval Station Norfolk and hurled himself into the spinning tail rotor of an MH-60S helicopter."I'm sorry you have to see this," he shouted to the plane captain before he died.

Sailor Died by Suicide at Naval Station Norfolk: Navy
Associated Press
June 26, 2018

Aircraft carriers in port at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, the world's largest naval station, on Dec. 20, 2012. Stocktrek Images

NORFOLK, Va. — U.S. Navy officials say a sailor who died on a helicopter flight line at a base in Virginia died by suicide.

Cmdr. Dave Hecht, a spokesman for Naval Air Force Atlantic, said by phone Tuesday that Monday's death was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Hecht did not provide additional details.

The sailor worked as a maintainer in a helicopter squadron. Navy officials said Monday that the sailor had been killed in a "mishap" at Naval Station Norfolk. The flight line is where helicopters take off.
read more here

#TakeBackYourLife from trauma. I did!

Crossposted from PTSD Patrol
Special post for PTSD Awareness Day I cannot think of a better day to explain why I do what I do. I am a survivor! Not once, twice or even five times, but this will give you an idea of why I work as hard as I do, devoted so much research and get so pissed off!

It is the reason for this site, Combat PTSD Wounded Times, all the books, videos and articles, training, research and yes, my marriage that has lasted over 3 decades!

If you have PTSD, no matter what caused it, you need to hear this. If nothing else, this is the one message you need to get today of all days, because all the bullshit out there has been blocking what could change your next day.

Yep! #TakeBackYourLife from trauma. I did!

This may shock some of my friends but, if you read the book, FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR MY BATTLE, then you already know all of this. (PS original book was in 2003 before this became a billion dollar industry for people making a lot of money off our suffering.)

Veterans committing suicide,..they'll drink to that?

If you do not like it when I use bad language, do not read this! I have had to contain myself all day since I read this at work.

What the fuck gave anyone the idea that since veterans are killing themselves having fun was the solution? First it was the groups using a number as if it was fact. Yes, the number "22" which the VA stated clearly was not to be considered all there was. They also pointed out that they had only limited data from 21 states. Guess that was not as important as grabbing the headline and then raising a lot of cash.

Oh, then we all remember the smiling faces lining up to do their pushups that veterans also experienced while in the service as punishment for doing something wrong!!! Yep, they also did use the "22" a day.

Anyway, then we had Congress spending billions, charities raising billions AS MORE AND MORE VETERANS NOT ONLY LOST HOPE ENOUGH TO STAY ALIVE, THEY ALSO FIGURED OUT THEY DID NOT EVEN MATTER TO THE GROUPS TALKING ABOUT THEM COMMITTING SUICIDE AND HAVING FUN WHILE THEY WERE SUFFERING!

OH, NO! NONE OF THAT WAS BAD ENOUGH!
Now there is a fun-raiser that includes drinking---to help fight suicides!~~~ WTF!

Help fight veteran suicide during Red, White and Brew Bar Crawl in downtown Allentown
Ryan Kneller
Of The Morning Call
June 25, 2018

Tickets, $5, include a commemorative cup and giveaways. Proceeds benefit The One Fight Foundation, whose mission is to combat veteran suicide through a peer-to-peer support network while providing fellowship and camaraderie to empower all veterans.

Kick off your Fourth of July celebrations while supporting a patriotic cause during a Red, White and Brew Bar Crawl, 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday in downtown Allentown.

Participants are encouraged to wear red, white and blue apparel as they enjoy drink specials ($3 beers and $4 cocktails) at the following bars: Fegley’s Allentown Brew Works, Bell Hall, Grain, The Hamilton Kitchen and Queen City BBQ.

no joke read more here

It wasn't bad enough the VA had to change the statement they made on the latest suicide report, that basically made it useless.

VA backs off suicide study that indicated thousands of unreported military deaths

VA officials blamed the confusion on the troops’ suicide information on inconsistent definitions used in various agencies. Individuals who served in the guard or reserves and are considered “veterans” in census reports may not have been counted in the Defense Department statistics because of different mobilization authorities and state rules.

It was not bad enough that we found far too many missing sources in their research, or the fact that as the veteran population dropped, the number of "known" suicides remained "stable" since 1999~ but oh, no, none of that was bad enough.

When the hell will people wake up that all they are doing is proving to veterans that while they are the topic of a way to make money, they survived combat a hell of a lot easier than being surrounded by people who really did not even give enough of a shit to READ THE DAMN REPORT IN THE FIRST PLACE OR HAVE A CLUE WHAT TO DO TO MAKE LIVING VETERANS WANT TO KEEP ON LIVING!!!

Just to point out one more thing, as every report the VA has released is the other fact that while these groups never mention older veterans, veterans over the age of 50 are the majority of the veterans deciding to give up! Like today when a 58 year old Air Force Veteran set himself on fire in Georgia!

58 year old veteran set himself on fire at Georgia Capitol

UPDATE July 3, 2018 from Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — State investigators say a man who identified himself as an Air Force veteran has died after he lit himself on fire in front of the Georgia Capitol last week to protest the Veterans Affairs system.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation tweeted Tuesday that 58-year-old John Michael Watts died Monday. Authorities say Watts strapped fireworks to his chest, doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire June 26. A state trooper who saw what was happening quickly put out the flames. 

UPDATE from Atlanta Journal

About 10:45 a.m., the 58-year-old Air Force veteran from Mableton parked a Nissan Sentra on Washington Street, stepped out of the car and walked toward the Capitol, GSP Capt. Mark Perry told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Veteran sets himself on fire in protest outside Georgia Capitol
Military Times
By: J.D. Simkins
3 hours ago

A veteran who was fed up with treatment by the Department of Veterans Affairs set himself on fire in protest outside of the Georgia state Capitol building in downtown Atlanta on Tuesday.

A veteran protesting treatment from the Department of Veterans affairs set himself on fire outside of the Georgia Capitol building on Tuesday. (Stephen Morton/Getty Images)

The 58-year-old from Mableton, Georgia, who has not yet been identified, parked his car alongside the Capitol before walking toward the building, where he commenced self-immolation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

“He was strapped with some homemade incendiary devices (and) firecrackers, and doused himself with some kind of flammable liquid,” Georgia State Patrol Capt. Mark Perry told the AJC.
read more here

Army 1st Lt. Garlin Murl Conner MOH

Grandson of WWI's 'Sgt. York' Will Attend Medal of Honor Ceremony
Military.com
By Richard Sisk
25 Jun 2018

On Tuesday, Pauline Conner will accept the posthumous award of the Medal of Honor for her husband, who died in 1998 at age 79

They were Appalachian farm boys and crack shots who were distantly related by marriage, and now they are both Medal of Honor recipients for their "above and beyond" actions in separate wars.

Sgt. Alvin C York (US Army)

Army Sgt. Alvin C. York, believed to be the most highly decorated American soldier of World War I and made famous in a 1941 blockbuster movie, and Army 1st Lt. Garlin Murl Conner, one of the most highly decorated soldiers of World War II, first met when York came to the parade for Conner's homecoming in May 1945 and spoke at the Clinton County Courthouse in Kentucky.

That was where Pauline Conner, or Miss Pauline as she is known in the county, first saw the man who was to become her husband. He was all of about 5-foot-6 and maybe 130 pounds -- "probably," she said with a laugh at a Pentagon briefing Monday.

Pauline, who was Pauline Wells at the time, said her future husband didn't make a good first impression. She recalled with a smile turning to her mother, Tressie, and saying "my God, Mama, that little wharf rat couldn't have done all of what they said he'd done."
read more here