In what is a sad irony, combat is not the leading cause of death of American soldiers serving in the Mid-East. Suicide is.
American combat deaths, thank goodness, have declined in the past three or four years in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is due to a changed strategy, with American troops serving in advisory capacities and with the use of targeted airstrikes against ISIS terrorists rather than direct combat. Instead of thousands of American soldiers killed, the number last year was under 20, which of course is 20 too many.
In the meantime, the suicides of military personnel remain a tragedy, both in war zones and back here, stateside. According to MilitaryTimes, 7,400 veterans took their own lives in 2014 (the year for the most reliable statistics). That accounts for 18 percent of all suicides by Americans, and veterans are fewer than 9 percent of the total population.
Last year, the Department of Veterans Affairs conducted the most comprehensive study of veteran suicides in history, those that occurred between 1979-2014. The study concluded 70 percent of veterans who committed suicide were not regular users of services offered by the Veterans Administration medical system.
There are, on average, 20 soldier and veteran suicides per day. in the United States, a rate that is 21 percent higher than civilian suicides. Most alarmingly, the rate for female veterans increased by 85 percent from 1979-2014, compared to 40 percent for civilian women.
The VA has been trying to do something about it. It hired more than 5,000 mental-health providers and upgraded its crisis-call line. It branched out to form partnerships with local health providers to offer more counseling for veterans. Those efforts, and other outreach programs, continue.
We hear a lot about post-traumatic stress disorder. However, its causes are uncertain and, in most cases, a tangle of stresses contribute to feelings of intolerable anxieties, fears and pain that lead to suicide. Some causes, according to VA studies, include multiple deployments that cause military personnel to be away from their homes and families for long stretches of time; the terrible sights and sounds, injuries and deaths in combat zones; the seeming “unreality” of peaceful civilian life immediately following the dangers and terrors of a combat zone; and mental problems that existed in recruits before they joined the military.
Some years ago, there were cases of veterans suffering intolerable mental anxieties who were put in waiting status by some VA hospitals; and meantime those veterans, feeling utterly helpless, killed themselves. We are told veterans now have immediate access to care when they are close to the edge. We hope that immediacy is true and that it continues. These people who served the country under terrible stresses and mortal dangers most of us cannot even imagine deserve the very best-quality care every day of their lives. Anything less than that is a national disgrace that ought to bring shame to us all.
We can do our part by reaching out, offering personal support and practical support to veterans and their families and by urging our legislators to do everything in their power to enact laws that will strengthen physical and mental care for all veterans.