House bill orders VA to prepare suicide-prevention program

[maddezmom]

Source: Star Tribune

The death of Minnesotan Jonathan Schulze has helped ignite a nationwide push.
By Brady Averill and Joy Powell, Star Tribune
Last update: March 21, 2007 – 11:12 PM


WASHINGTON - Reacting to recent reports of suicides by Iraq war veterans in Minnesota and other states, the House on Wednesday directed the Veterans' Affairs Department to develop a suicide-prevention plan.
The proposal, which was approved unanimously, seeks to better train VA staff members, screen vets for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and set up a hotline for veterans wanting to discuss problems.

The action comes amid growing calls to provide higher quality care for the 1.4 million servicemen and women whose duties included combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Studies cited by the House Wednesday reported that one out of five veterans returning from Iraq suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.


The action comes amid growing calls to provide higher quality care for the 1.4 million servicemen and women whose duties included combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Studies cited by the House Wednesday reported that one out of five veterans returning from Iraq suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Moreover, one in five suicides in the nation is a veteran.




Read more: http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1071482.html

[vickitulsa]

1. I'm very glad to see this step being taken, but it will not be enough.

The very nature of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are such that they will create at least as many PTSD cases among veterans as did the war in Vietnam -- and from my extensive familiarity with Nam vets, I'd say at least one in three suffers from some level of PTSD to this day.

PTSD is a likely root cause in many if not most suicides among vets. Most of the Nam vets were not diagnosed with PTSD until 20 or even 30 years after they returned from the war. In my opinion the main reason it took so long is that soldiers are trained from Day One of boot camp to be tough and not show or admit any "weakness." Just as they are taught to kill without hesitation, they are trained to "move on" afterward and not think about it.

Only later, for most of them, do the thoughts of what they've seen and done in a war zone start to become intrusive and very painful. When they're experiencing combat, they have their "buds" around them, and if they talk about it at all, it's probably with a lot of bravado and no admission of regrets or pain. It's only much later that they find themselves alone with their thoughts and memories, and often with nightmares and flashbacks and hypervigilance that just won't go away.

They become "haunted," in a very real sense. Their lives are impaired in dramatic ways most of us can't even begin to imagine. They can't talk it out with others who weren't "there."

I hope our troops WILL be screened more carefully than they are now for signs of PTSD, but it will be hard to get them to admit it so soon after their tours of duty. Suicide prevention is delicate psych work and requires a lot of skill and experience that psych personnel can't get overnight. I hope they'll try harder than they have been thus far.

There were an estimated 2.3 million Vietnam war vets just after the war, and here we already have 1.4 million vets of Iraq. What a heavy toll our country is paying for an evil warmongering maniac's wet dreams, greed, and LIES!

The longer it goes on, the more we all pay -- but the troops most of all. And the Iraqis and Afghans pay even more!

I'll never understand humankind's "need" for WAR, more war, and yet more bloody war! What's wrong with human beings, that we fight and kill each other even when there is no need for it at all?? How very pointless and tragic it all is....

[lligrd]

2. Well, This Is Going To Piss Freepers Off

They will actually be forced to pay valuable tax dollars to care for these Vets that we insist on caring about.

[Donnachaidh]

3. the phrase *better late than never* sticks in my throat on this

Is there any REAL figures on how many of these kids committed suicide? All that fake support from thos freepers and the WH. :sarcasm: