Veterans group says military suicide rate is 'out of control'

Not to sound like Ronald Reagan, but yeah. There she goes, again.

Take a look here. Note:

'"While the percentage of all suicides reported as Veterans has decreased, the number of suicides has increased,” the conclusion of the study stated.
...
"A majority of Veteran suicides are among those age 50 years and older. Male Veterans who die by suicide are older than non-Veteran males who die by suicide,” the study’s findings stated. “The age distribution of Veteran and non-Veteran women who have died from suicide is similar.”'

So the suicide rate is the same as in the general population and most suicides among veterans are by veterans over age 50. First, these'll likely be nearly all men, and second, it's not atypical for the entire population that suicide is skewed toward the >50 pop'n. None of these facts are good, but what I'm saying is that the rate and particulars appears not much different from the general pop'n. And note that male vets killing themselves on avg. are *older* than male suicides who aren't vets. As for female vets, note the age dist'n isn't different from the gen'l pop'n.

The actual percentage of vets committing suicide has *declined* over time, according to this article. The raw nos. have gone up b/c the number of ppl that have been in the armed forces in the past 20 yrs. has gone up compared to the 20 yrs. prior. In addition, as ppl get older they're more likely to commit suicide. There are any nbr of reasons, and unfortunately they often entail a sense of irrelevancy around their later yrs. or a desire to avoid age-related illness, or any kinds of late-life issues. Bad as it is, it's a reality.

There are as many vets as there are headed into their older yrs. due to when they served. A peak time includes 1960-1975 due to the Vietnam-era draft. Men in the armed forces in 1960 who joined at age 20 would today be 74 yrs. old. Most men drafted in the 'nam era were in the service after 1960, so the ages of them would be lower than 74 at this time even if they served in 'nam.

As for the fact that the nbr of ppl who are vets committing suicide exceeds the rate of US combat casualties sustained currently in our military operations, that simply speaks to the high nbr of vets we have over age 50 vs. how few casualties we are sustaining in combat. Low combat deaths are a good thing. None are best.

And so while I don't want to seem unconcerned, I observe as follows:

1. The percentage of vets of both sexes committing suicide isn't different from the gen'l pop'n rate.
2. The nbr of vets by percentage and nbrs. committing suicide doesn't seem to differ by age dist'n vs. the gen'l pop'n.

So would all of us, vet and not, benefit from mental health maint. and treatment intervention when necessary? Well, of course we would.

But does any of the foregoing suggest the matter of vet suicide needs to be approached from the "sexual violence trauma" POV? No. But Gillibrand can't wait to slap that label on it. Seems a male vet killing himself after losing a muti-decade struggle w/ PTSD from his 'nam experience isn't nearly as interesting to her as the far less-numerous cases of female vets killing themselves due to sexual assault trauma PTSD symptoms. Would she care if the victim were male, I wonder?