More than 100 soldiers committed suicide in 2007

Source: USA Today/AP

At least 108 soldiers committed suicide last year, according to the Pentagon. Defense Department officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the report hasn't been publicly released, tell the Associated Press that the number of suicides in 2007 is the highest they've seen since 1990.

Read more: http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/05/more-than-100-s.html

it was reported that the Pentagon had released a report saying that about there have been about 800 military suicides
a year. Then it was discovered that the figure was just a bit off: actually, the real figure was closer to 1,000 PER MONTH!

George W. bUsh has killed, destroyed, maimed, ruined far more Americans than OBL, al Qaeda or any other terrorist group ever has.

Heckova job, georgie. The terrorists love ya!

My b-i-l's nephew, after two tours in Iraq, committed suicide last June.....

All veterans --> 120 a month.

Attempted veteran suicides in 2007 --> 12,000

Perhaps the Associated Press should look in our Veterans forum......

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8945

Veterans Administration Tried to Conceal Extent of Attempted Veteran Suicides, Email Shows

by Jason Leopold

Global Research, May 11, 2008
The Public Record - 2008-04-28

..snip

In a December email Katz sent to Brig. Gen. Michael J. Kussman, the undersecretary for health at the Veterans Health Administration within the VA, that roughly 126 veterans of all wars commit suicide per week. He added that data the agency obtained from the Center for Disease Control showed that 20 percent of the suicides in the country are identified as war veterans.

The “VA’s own data demonstrate 4-5 suicides per day among those who receive care from us,” Katz said in the email he sent to Kussman.

Pehaps underscoring just how underprepared the VA was for the number of PTSD cases to emerge from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, documents released to support the plaintiffs’ allegations show that prior to the U.S. Invasion of Iraq the VA believed it would likely see a maximum of 8,000 cases where veterans showed signs of PTSD.

Last week, the RAND Corporation released a study that said about 300,000 U.S. troops sent to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from major depression or PTSD, and 320,000 received traumatic brain injuries. Since October 2001, about 1.6 million U.S. troops have deployed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many soldiers have completed more than two tours of duty meaning they are exposed to prolonged periods of combat-related stress or traumatic events.

..snip


http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3204.shtml

Special Reports Last Updated: Apr 22nd, 2008 - 00:36:59

VA confirms 18 vets commit suicide every day
By Jason Leopold
Online Journal Contributing Writer


Apr 22, 2008, 00:19

Email this article
Printer friendly page
In a stunning admission, top officials at the Veterans Health Administration confirmed that the agency’s own statistics show that an average of 126 veterans per week -- 6,552 veterans per year -- commit suicide, according to an internal email distributed to several VA officials.

Brig. Gen. Michael J. Kussman, the undersecretary for health at the VA, sent the email, dated Dec. 15, 2007. Kussman had inquired about the accuracy of a news report published that month claiming the suicide rate among veterans was 18 per day.

“McClatchy alleges that 18 veterans kill themselves everyday and this is confirmed by the VA’s own statistics,” Kussman wrote. “Is that true? Sounds awful but if one is considering 24 million veterans.”

In an email response to Kussman, Ira Katz, the head of mental health at the VA, confirmed the statistics and added “VA’s own data demonstrate 4-5 suicides per day among those who receive care from us.”

This week, in a federal courthouse in San Francisco, that email will be cited as evidence that the VA has failed to properly treat veterans who suffer from PTSD and veterans who are suicidal. Those allegations were made in a class action lawsuit filed against the VA by two veterans advocacy groups, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, alleging a systematic breakdown at the VA has led to an epidemic of suicides.

..snip

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/us/22suicide.html

Talking Veterans Down From Despair

By PATRICIA COHEN
Published: April 22, 2008
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — Nancy Nosewicz was busy fielding calls at the new national veterans hot line on a recent afternoon when someone from the Department of Veterans Affairs in Topeka, Kan., phoned. He had a 55-year-old Army veteran from the Northwest on the line who had called to complain about his benefits, but now the guy, drunk and crying, was talking about not wanting to live. Could Ms. Nosewicz pick up?


In a slurred voice, heavy from weeping, the veteran, named Robert, told her that he was homeless and wanted to “just lay down in the river and never get up.”

..snip
The veterans hot line is part of a specialized effort by the Department of Veterans Affairs to reduce suicide by enabling counselors, for the first time, to instantly check a veteran’s medical records and then combine emergency response with local follow-up services. It comes after years of criticism that the department has been neglecting tens of thousands of wounded service men and women who have returned from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Monday, a class action suit brought by veterans groups opened in San Francisco charging a “systemwide breakdown,” citing long delays in receiving disability benefits and flaws in the way discharged soldiers at risk for suicide had been treated. Kerri J. Childress, a department spokeswoman, said Monday that there were an average of 18 suicides a day among America’s 25 million veterans and that more than a fifth were committed by men and women being treated by Veterans Affairs.
..snip

they really need to get up to speed with their public relations, they are famous for underreporting deaths.

Source: CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More U.S. soldiers committed suicide in 2007 than at any time since the first Gulf War, according to an Army study to be released later Thursday.

There were 108 suicides last year, up from 102 the year before. The 2006 figure also was itself the highest since 1990.

More than two in five of the suicides came after soldiers returned home from deployments.

The military is set to announce the findings officially later Thursday. CNN obtained some statistics from the study before publication


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/29/army.suicides/index.html

Source: Amry Times / Asssociated Press

Army suicides reported at 18-year high
By Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday May 29, 2008 11:27:56 EDT

WASHINGTON — The number of Army suicides increased again last year, amid the most violent year yet in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Two defense officials said Thursday that 108 troops committed suicide in 2007, six more than the previous year. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the full report on the deaths wasn't being released until later Thursday.

About one-quarter of the deaths occurred in Iraq.

The overall toll was the highest in many years, and it was unclear when, if ever, it was previously that high. Immediately available Army records go back only to 1990 and the figure then was lower — 102 — for that year, as well as 1991.

Read more: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_suicide_052908/

---

The Veterans Administration admits that 18 veterans off themselves every day. 1,000 veterans try to off themselves every month. I call bullshit on Jelinek.

but, I find that hard to believe!! 1000 vets a month?