Military suicides increase in Alaska

[seriousstan]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base has reported an increase in the number of suicides despite a decade-old program to prevent them.

The Anchorage Daily News said there have been three suicides so far this year, compared with one or none during previous years. Most at risk seem to be young men, new to Alaska, the report said.

"We are aggressively going after this, trying to do everything we can to make sure we are helping folks before the pressure builds," said Col. Michael Snodgrass, commander of Elmendorf's 3rd Wing.

Throughout the Air Force, 48 active-duty airmen had taken their own lives as of the end of November, or a rate of 14.1 per 100,000 people, the report said.

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[fernsibal]

1. I would certainly feel like killing myself

If I was in the air force and had just moved to Alaska. Depressing. Sounds like they need mental health counseling and anti-depressants.

[chookie]

2. Uh, maybe a different Commander in Chief?

We've all heard of "Coyote Ugly" -- these may be cases of "coyote unjust."

[I Love Alaska]

3. suicide rates

The suicide rate for the state of Alaska is 16.1 per 100,000 compared to the national average of 10.8 according to the National Vital Statistics Report.

I would feel suicidal if I had to go fight in a war that I didn't believe in.

[aquart]

4. Lack of sunlight? SAD? Seasonal Affective Disorder?

[FDRrocks]

5. It seems a tradeoff in my mind...

does anyone here have decent stats on the ratios of dead persian bodies per ameican soldier. I definately know its over 1:1. I'm sad this man died, but how many people did/would he kill, without a real cause.

My best friend is about to be deployed to Fallujah. He isn't the man I used to know, and the only thing he talks about is his soldiers killing or his soldiers dying, and how noble it is.

What the fuck is going on here.

[AndyTiedye]

6. That's What They Do to Make People into Soldiers

> My best friend is about to be deployed to Fallujah. He isn't the man I
> used to know, and the only thing he talks about is his soldiers
> killing or his soldiers dying, and how noble it is.

> What the fuck is going on here.

Indoctrination, brainwashing, whatever.
If they start up the draft they'll get to do it to everybody.
Sadly, it usually works, and is most often quite permanent.

[Qanisqineq]

7. I don't think I'd say "usually"

I am married to a soldier, live on a military base, and don't know anyone that actually got brainwashed. I know it happens (my husband says it is the marines that are brainwashed) but the only time I hear soldiers talk like that is when they are repeating something they were told to say to the public. Just repeating, not actually believing it. Even the conservative soldiers are not happy about this war. They just don't dare tell anyone that.

Just my 2 cents.

[llmart]

8. If they're so unhappy with this war.......

then why did they vote for these assholes? At least that's what the "official" vote breakdown showed.

[tk2kewl]

9. why the fuck would anyone ever be happy with a war?

even if it was a justified war

[MountainLaurel]

11. In this case

Because they get to go over and kill lots of brown heathens-- just the thought of it warms the cockles of their hearts.

:eyes:

[Qanisqineq]

13. you said it right there

"official" -- in quotes

[NVMojo]

10. I've lived there and a psychiatric hospital chain I once worked for

had a hospital in Anchorage a few years ago, they had the highest census for depression and suicidal ideations in the entire chain. The other hospitals were in the "lower 48". So you can chock some of this up to the darkness most of the year. They call it "seasonal affective disorder".

Then there are the other things that depress a soldier these days, add this together ...

[callous taoboy]

12. I taught on the army base next to

Elmendorf for about 6 years. Alaska has a very trying climate, and I know that the military pressures are huge. I finally had to move back to sun and warmth.

[Voltaire99]

14. The pathology of military life

Life is exceedingly cheap in the US, yet perhaps nowhere is it treated as cheaply as in the cult of death that is the armed forces.

Our overbuilt military is a symptom of a deeper pathology, like the tumors that sprout from cancer. These poor fellows killing themselves are--were--all too human for the trade.

We will be on our way toward building a sane society when our military is reduced to one quarter its current size. When, in other words, it is designed for defense, rather than aggression. Until then, no joy will come of it; only deeper sorrow.

[DS1]

16. Maybe they were too human, or maybe they were like people

who couldn't handle digging their way through 8 feet of snow with a rope tied to them so they wouldn't get lost, just to take a leak at night.

[DS1]

15. umm, winter is setting in for the northern hemisphere, why is this

a surprise to anyone?

[RebelOne]

17. I have a friend whose husband was stationed in Alaska

and he committed suicide. And this was many years ago.