War vets dying from suicide in growing numbers

Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Beaver - wikimedia

Carol Forsloff - "The VA and DoD can’t do it alone. We need to rely on community providers,” declared Jon Towers, senior policy advisor on the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs as specialists underlined the need to revamp the mental health system for returning troops.  But has happened to change things since these statements were made more than four years ago?


The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) conference held a conference in 2010 focused on American troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and other veterans whom they say cannot depend solely on the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) for mental health car, even though the civilian mental health care system is in crisis.

U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy warned, “Every day in America, our military veterans are being held behind enemy lines” because of the nation’s “Byzantine mental health system.”

Suicide among the soldiers is a major problem, convention participants underlined.   Pamela Hyde, administrator of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), said as many soldiers in the Army are dying from suicide as died in Iraq.

“The mental health of service members depends on the mental health of family members,” Towers said.

But since 2010 has the increase in these numbers continued?

A Senate Panel has backed a bill on methods to reduce the suicide rate among veterans.  The problem has remained since four years ago, and in fact, the problem may have actually grown, according to reports nationwide.

The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee just days ago approved a bill that was named after Clay Hunt.  He was a veteran only 26 years of age when he killed himself in 2011.  Suicide is said to claim 22 military veterans daily.

And just two days ago a mother was reported by USA Today to have declared that the Veterans Administrative should assume direct responsibility for her son, Janos (John) Lutz suicide.  In Broward County, Florida the veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan wars had complained about depression following the breakup with a girlfriend.  He was only 24 years old when he killed himself with  medications, medications his mother claims were beyond his needs and inappropriate for his condition.  There were also expressed concerns about internal communication about Lutz needs within the medical facility. This particular case is being investigated without conclusions on the claim itself at present, however it shows how complicated and stressful it can be for medical personnel and family members when a suicide occurs.

What the Veterans Administration has found is that the younger veterans are more apt to commit suicide than older ones.  The rate of increase of suicides of veterans between the ages of 18-24 has been 33 per 100,000.  The weapon used is primarily firearms, at a rate of 70 percent.

Suicide among veterans remains a consequence of war.  The sorrow of families who lose a loved one is part of the issue, as government leaders are addressing the problem.

The consequences of war continue to be how young men and women are affected.  In a volunteer military those rates, experts hope, will change with a renewed focus on the problem.