6000 Veterans Commited Suicide Last Year!

I was almost one of them in May/June of last year. In fact had carried a 9mm bullet in my pocket for months prior too in which I had inscribed my name into the casing. Not wishing to get into too many details as I somewhat still struggle to get that life behind me....it truly is a struggle. To see the evil horror that mankind is capable of, and live with it day in and day out and do multiple repeated tours only to then come out of theater and 24 hours after boarding a C5 to come home, you find yourself standing in a Safeway supermarket and just staring in amazement as you watch everyone hand select their vegetables, the little spray misters come on and spray the fruits and veggies....and then realizing upon driving home that you actually now have to stop for stoplights/signs, do the speed limit, not being able to choke the living # out of some dillhole that wants beef with you because you passed him on the freeway...etc...

In fact I became a very lost individual for a number of years because I had become a man without a home pretty much. While I was over there I could think of nothing but wanting to come back home...and once home I had to be on the next plane back over there. It truly can be a vicious cycle. And then to learn that after having been injured by a mortar round in Kandahar, Afganistan my country's VA system decided to only compensate me 10% disability upon my retirement. That is $123 a month taken out of my overall $1400 a month retirement (BEFORE taxes), but take $123 a month out before taxes.

And actually getting "service" at our outstanding VA hospitals?!?! Buwhaha a TOTAL AND COMPLETE JOKE! I have been riveted with PAIN since being medvac'd outta Afghanistan and having multiple back surgeries, a dozen ESI spine injections (which hurt like a mofo each time), and a half dozen other painful procedures none of which were effective in the long run...ONLY TO THEN after having been in Pain Management WITH THE SAME DOC in CA for 3 years and never having been reprimanded so much as ONCE by him for improper medicine intake as I had ALWAYS taken as prescribed, only to get out of the military after 20+ years, LEARN THAT THE COUNTRY THAT I HAD FOUGHT AND DEFENDED FOR HAD BEEN SOLD OUT WHILE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS ARE BEING KILLED OVER THERE!! And then to LOSE EVERYTHING AND GO BANKRUPT due to the WORST economy in decades I could not find work, CA blew me off 3 times of collecting unemployment EACH TIME saying that I WAS IN ERROR in some way with the process of filing (only to learn later that I was not alone as CA was going bankrupt and was telling MANY people the same lies), TO THEN after losing everything and having to ask and old Navy buddy in AZ to take me in and to then go to the VA ONLY TO THEN BE SCRUTINIZED AS I WAS THERE ONLY FOR DRUG SEEKING BEHAVIOR....WHEN I WOULD BRING A COMPLETE MEDICAL HISTORY WITH NO GAPS OR NOTHING NEGATIVE SINCE 2001!!!

Sorry for ranting all....I guess I just wanted to share a little bit of what we veterans have to face after having been used and exploited by the very same government that we were...well never mind, it is all complete and utter BS anymore. This country has long been pimped and sold out. This government doesn't give a rats ass about it troops. We were and all are nothing more than pawns being used to further a hidden agenda, and make the 3% richest even more rich. I haven't had the urge to off myself though in a few months and believe that I am making more strides every day. My message to other vets struggling, DON'T GIVE UP MAN NO MATTER WHAT! If you need to talk I am here for you, even if the gov is not. Take care.

THIS IS CRAZY!!!

TOO CRAZY!!!

I DON'T BELIEVE THIS S#!T....

reply to post by Newbomb Turk

Hang in there dog, just trying to get a a beautiful girl an have a family. Thats the only thing worth living for anyways. If it wasn't for that, I would be dead or in jail myself.

reply to post by freighttrain


And I can assure you that you can get along with any cannibal in the world.....as long as you dont mind ending up in the soup pot.

Originally posted by freighttrain
We as human beings are NOT meant to kill one another... it's that simple! Animals kill one another, because either they're protecting or feeding themselves.

That is completely WRONG! humans are meant to kill eachother or do whatever it takes to maintain safety and security. That is our way and always has been. you must live in another world to think otherwise. If we were NOT supposed to do it, then simply we wouldnt be capable of doing it and it would be hard coded into our DNA not to do it. This is real science not the worked up rantings of a burnt out hippie who has lost touch with reality from one acid trip too many.

Veterans do not need clinics, my idea for reverse boot camps that would help them to reente society is a much better idea. Like a half way house for sex offenders, soldiers are just as dangerous. Look at LA and compare the people in jail and look at how many of those criminals are offenders, if they were a minority they would be the LARGEST minority in the US prison system. Re educating them would not only keep soldiers from killing our children in the streets in a never ending search to quench their blood lust. It would also give them a skill and the right mindset to know what a real american is. most are abroad so long that their not even american anymore, i had a friend who was stationed in germany and he came back acting like a piece of eurotrash thinking the world owed him a favor for being a soldier. Noone is paying for my med school and we go to school to be real heros and save lives unlike well you see what i mean. Being a soldier is traumatizing and they need help to readjust, much of PTSD comes from a failure to readjust. Rather then set up clinics which I think is too late, let them do this before leaving the military so they can save up and have money to not live in a box when their out. Also giving them life skills like how to live on a budget, how to vote for freedom and how to work harder to stay busy and be happy. The harder they work the happier they are and this is whats important to me their happiness. Many people hear sound like they dont care or dont want to help them, and that is a horrible thing to do to a fellow american who has fallen from grace.

reply to post by tigpoppa


Wow... so now you are comparing soldiers to sex offenders? You really have no clue do you? I hope I never need medical help from you... I think I'd have better luck giving a duck 5 dollars to operate on me. Your stupidity amazes me.

As for your friend... Being stationed in Germany and being in a war zone are like comparing apples and pickup trucks. I have been to Germany... It was like a vacation.

Combat related PTSD is not a failure to readjust. It's a failure to cope with the horrible things that are done and seen in a war zone. I don't know where you got your information... but you should really check your sources.

And yes... Doctors ARE heroes as well... as long as you have the money to pay them to be a hero.

Originally posted by Stupe
reply to post by tigpoppa

 

Wow... so now you are comparing soldiers to sex offenders? You really have no clue do you? I hope I never need medical help from you... I think I'd have better luck giving a duck 5 dollars to operate on me. Your stupidity amazes me.

As for your friend... Being stationed in Germany and being in a war zone are like comparing apples and pickup trucks. I have been to Germany... It was like a vacation.

Combat related PTSD is not a failure to readjust. It's a failure to cope with the horrible things that are done and seen in a war zone. I don't know where you got your information... but you should really check your sources.

And yes... Doctors ARE heroes as well... as long as you have the money to pay them to be a hero.

Hey just want to say that you are SPOT on in your assessment, BUT responding to that diillhole is a complete waste. Read his/hers many posts on every other topic on here and you will come to that conclusion with a quickness....it only takes one or two. My guess is that he/she is a member of the Westboro Baptist "Church".

Ignorance at its finest with that one lol

reply to post by Brotherman


move to another country, the world is huge there are many opportunities.

reply to post by On the Edge


how are you going to get people away from american idol to actually give a sh-t.

reply to post by randomname


moving to another country requires some dinaro which is not exactly in abundace right now, do you think I can get a credit line with china as well. If I could New Zealand doesnt sound too bad.

Originally posted by tigpoppa
That news man is a professional. So their 2 different classes. Soldiers need to learn how to GET A JOB! not one veteran was in any of my medical programs. Know why? because they dont care about the value of a dollar or working hard.

Hard work? Pogue, you don't know the meaning of hard work. Ever been under fire while you were going thru your "medical program"? Ever been rocketed or mortared? Nope, you haven't. Because if you had, you wouldn't be writing something like that.

Originally posted by tigpoppa
They think everything should be given to them, when they did nothing to earn it.

Yeah, right. And you have? Tell some Marine or Soldier that just came back from a tour in Iraq or A-stan that they didn't earn anything.

Originally posted by tigpoppa
Everyone one of them should be saluting us the hard workers of america since their all stealing from our wallets and our families with their problems.

Yeah, I got your salute right here.

Originally posted by vipertech0596
What bothers me almost as bad as the subject of this thread does, is that several posters on this one, talking about their concern for veterans....are on other threads calling those same veterans psychopathic murderers.

Seems a bit odd...

Hit the nail right on the head with that post, Vipertech. Read thru some of the crap that's spewed here on ATS. People without Clue One on what goes on in the military run their suck about what's going on. "Hey, my mother's, aunt's, cousin's, brother's, father's, college roommate's, uncle's, grandfather was in the military, so that means I know everything there is to know without serving one day."

Originally posted by Newbomb Turk
This government doesn't give a rats ass about it troops. We were and all are nothing more than pawns being used to further a hidden agenda...

Unfortunately, that's been the attitude of the government for years. We are kevlar that can mow the grass. They've never given a rat's ass about the troops. Everyone dumps on Bush about the crappy VA, but that didn't happen overnight. Every president in office before him had a hand in making sure that the VA was highspeed/lowdrag, but they never give a crap.

I think its a wide range of factors that contribute to suicides in general, the same goes for vets who've committed suicide. Rarely is it one thing that makes them want to kill themselves.

I've had quite a few people I know go to war, but only one who I would consider a close friend and he's the only one I was able to see the affects personally.

He was Iraq fairly early on, I believe by May - June of 05 he was back from his only deployment. The first time I saw him upon returning it was clear that he had changed. Just the look on his face wasn't the same confident, happy guy I knew just a year earlier. The look in his eyes said it all and just seeing that you could feel his pain. He wasn't able to even be in the same house with me and another friend while we played "Call of Duty", upon hearing a car backfire, outside, he immediately ducked down behind the car's tire's. We didn't notice he had done so, but when we looked around and didn't notice him we walked over and he's crouched against the tire, very scared.

He, atleast with us seemed to freely open up about his experiences. And the one I'm telling about now is most likely the tipping point that broke him down.

While on patrol in Iraq, I'm unsure of what city, his squad was approached by a young child, 8-12 from my friends guess. From what I recall the child offered some of the troops something, bread, some sort of snack or something from a basket. The child then walked away, after about 20 yards he turned around and tossed a grenade at the squad, killing I don't recall how many troops but one of my friends close friends who was 2 up from him in the column, took the leg off the guy in front of him, and left him with a back and side full of shrapnel. My friend then shot the child.

Just the stress of being in combat is enough to break a lot of people down, not to mention being wounded, watching your friends die, and taking anothers life, especially a child.

He as far as I know never got too close to suicide, but he did exhibit a lot of behavior that worried us, and it ended up destroying his marriage and forced us all to encourage him to enter a facility and seek professional help for his problems. Today he's remarried and he's doing real good.

Many guys go overseas, experience these same harrowing circumstances then come home to find out their wives were cheating on them, find little support from their government in securing their mental and physical health, find little chance for employment, find that most people in the end, just don't care.

reply to post by ThaLoccster

Many guys go overseas, experience these same harrowing circumstances then come home to find out their wives were cheating on them, find little support from their government in securing their mental and physical health, find little chance for employment, find that most people in the end, just don't care.

I think the latter is the main factor that really hits home with these Vets.

Most Americans could give a flying crap about their Vets, sure they might express shock and condolences on an Internet forum but that's about it.

What really must drive the nail in the coffin of these poor guys is seeing that damned hypocritical yellow "I support our troops" magnet on an SUV...

What the hell does "I support the troops" mean any way? Does it mean you support them God damn getting blown the hell up, loosing limbs and life in a illegal war?

Is that what "I support my troops" means.

If Americans gave to poops about their troops they would not be in Iraq or Afghanistan....

I can understand troops in Pakistan because of the nukes but that's about the only place these troops should be fighting at.

We are talking about 6,000 soldiers taking their lives, this is no joke, a serious problem. This is more solders dead then those killed in both Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

The American civilian population needs to start giving a good golly about their troops instead of looking like they do by buying a little yellow "I support the killing of my sons and daughters for nothing" magnet for their SUV.

WAKE UP!!

You guys spend more energy worrying about the Cartel deaths in Mexico than you do about your God Damn own. That's not right.

There is current a proposed bill that more than likely will get stuck in the committee stage of the house, UNLESS, we contact our local Congressperson to make sure they understand the importance of the bill. Here is the link: 1.usa.gov...
Basically if passed, this piece of legislation will greatly increase and improve mental health services for our Veterans. Currently in 2011, the rate of Veteran suicide is up to 18 men and women a day. They deserve so much more intervention and help for everything they did for this country.
Please urge your Congresspeople to support this bill. If you need help finding out who your Congressperson is or if you want a form letter to send to them, let me know.

Thank you for your time!

reply to post by On the Edge


As a veteran of Afghanistan and East Timor (Australian military), I am appalled, shocked and sickened from reading this article.

I've only just joined ATS, but I wanted to thank you all for writing about this - I'm glad I read it, as I'm going to read more and try and spread this message.

reply to post by ExCommando


Welcome to the crazy house.

So what brings you here then?

Many seem to think we hate the soldiers, it's the uniform we hate, and the unlimited (im)morality it represents and distributes.

Originally posted by Blanca Rose

Originally posted by ugie1028


this was just brought to my attention today, and it is not sitting right. What is causing these soldiers to kill themselves, and why has it been kept quiet?

They are quietly coming home with little glory, and realizing they went to war for all the wrong reasons. Also, many had their tours extended.

This is just another Viet Nam...pointless. Nobody is delcared a winner, in something that is seeming to go on for ever, with no end in sight.

My heart goes out to them, and the families that are left to pick up the pieces.

Why would we "glorify" them?

Should we also get on our knees and worship and pray to them?

Originally posted by Newbomb Turk
I was almost one of them in May/June of last year. In fact had carried a 9mm bullet in my pocket for months prior too in which I had inscribed my name into the casing. Not wishing to get into too many details as I somewhat still struggle to get that life behind me....it truly is a struggle. To see the evil horror that mankind is capable of, and live with it day in and day out and do multiple repeated tours only to then come out of theater and 24 hours after boarding a C5 to come home, you find yourself standing in a Safeway supermarket and just staring in amazement as you watch everyone hand select their vegetables, the little spray misters come on and spray the fruits and veggies....and then realizing upon driving home that you actually now have to stop for stoplights/signs, do the speed limit, not being able to choke the living # out of some dillhole that wants beef with you because you passed him on the freeway...etc...

In fact I became a very lost individual for a number of years because I had become a man without a home pretty much. While I was over there I could think of nothing but wanting to come back home...and once home I had to be on the next plane back over there. It truly can be a vicious cycle. And then to learn that after having been injured by a mortar round in Kandahar, Afganistan my country's VA system decided to only compensate me 10% disability upon my retirement. That is $123 a month taken out of my overall $1400 a month retirement (BEFORE taxes), but take $123 a month out before taxes.

And actually getting "service" at our outstanding VA hospitals?!?! Buwhaha a TOTAL AND COMPLETE JOKE! I have been riveted with PAIN since being medvac'd outta Afghanistan and having multiple back surgeries, a dozen ESI spine injections (which hurt like a mofo each time), and a half dozen other painful procedures none of which were effective in the long run...ONLY TO THEN after having been in Pain Management WITH THE SAME DOC in CA for 3 years and never having been reprimanded so much as ONCE by him for improper medicine intake as I had ALWAYS taken as prescribed, only to get out of the military after 20+ years, LEARN THAT THE COUNTRY THAT I HAD FOUGHT AND DEFENDED FOR HAD BEEN SOLD OUT WHILE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS ARE BEING KILLED OVER THERE!! And then to LOSE EVERYTHING AND GO BANKRUPT due to the WORST economy in decades I could not find work, CA blew me off 3 times of collecting unemployment EACH TIME saying that I WAS IN ERROR in some way with the process of filing (only to learn later that I was not alone as CA was going bankrupt and was telling MANY people the same lies), TO THEN after losing everything and having to ask and old Navy buddy in AZ to take me in and to then go to the VA ONLY TO THEN BE SCRUTINIZED AS I WAS THERE ONLY FOR DRUG SEEKING BEHAVIOR....WHEN I WOULD BRING A COMPLETE MEDICAL HISTORY WITH NO GAPS OR NOTHING NEGATIVE SINCE 2001!!!

Sorry for ranting all....I guess I just wanted to share a little bit of what we veterans have to face after having been used and exploited by the very same government that we were...well never mind, it is all complete and utter BS anymore. This country has long been pimped and sold out. This government doesn't give a rats ass about it troops. We were and all are nothing more than pawns being used to further a hidden agenda, and make the 3% richest even more rich. I haven't had the urge to off myself though in a few months and believe that I am making more strides every day. My message to other vets struggling, DON'T GIVE UP MAN NO MATTER WHAT! If you need to talk I am here for you, even if the gov is not. Take care.

Brother - I'm so sorry that you've had to endure that process.

Thank you for writing your story, I can only imagine the pain and suffering you have been through.

You should sell everything, and move over to Australia - much better quality of life here