Military Suicides

[bayside]

My sisters best friend's husband lost his battle to PTSD yesterday, and took his own life. The amount of suicides among Iraq veterans are staggering. Why are these soldiers not getting the help they need? It makes me so sad to think about how troubled someone has to be to take their own life. How can someone feel that alone that they feel that is their only option?
Please take the time to tell a soldier how much you appreciate the work/sacrifice they make for everyone in this country. Let them know that no matter how low they get, they are NEVER alone. Thanks to all the soldiers for what they do for me, my family, and our country.
If anyone on here is contemplating suicide, please talk to someone, it's not worth it, seriously.

http://ptsdcombat.blogspot.com/2009/01/riding-tide-2008-oefoif-veteran.html

 

[Roy]

Hate to hear that bayside. Tragedy indeed. I have had a few students who suffered from PTSD - and it is highly individualized. Hard to say if every one is getting the exact help they need and even then what help they do get may not ultimately be enough anyway. Very sad indeed.

Thanks for posting the link.

UTROY
Proverbs 21:19 (why I hunt!)

 

[D13er]

...plenty of people that weren't in the military take there own lives too....


great post/pic, thanks for sharing

JB

 

[1911]

+ JB

......plenty of people who were in military combat zones don't come back and claim all of life's hardships on ptsd also. Maybe I'm a heartless jerk, but I think it is way over played. Just my opinion.

 

[Huntnfever]

Not a Jerk just misinformed. Yes non military members take their life, but you can get ptsd from anything. Also Everybodys mental capacity is different, what Effects someone might not Effect his friend to the right. Even if they seen the same thing. Also i cant remember the exact numbers but suicides in military is roughly i think 4 or 5 times as civilians in the 18-30 age group. I know what its like to not sleep for 3 nights, got so bad my brother thought i was on drugs cause i would sleep an hour in a week. I know what its like to not be able to go to the movies, to big resteraunts to concerts. I know what its like to have a thunderstorm make me think i am under a mortar attack or getting shot at again, or a roadside bomb. All the poster was asking for was a little compassion not someone telling him how week the person taking their life is. Just a thought.

has anyone seen my kittie

 

[bayside]

exactly, thank you

 

[spcheuvront]

Guys;

I have alot of experience with this.

I would ask the posters, who don't know what they are talking about, to just steer clear of a very sensitive subject like this, I am asking.

These suicides are tragic, but I think of them as kia's just not in the combat zone.

These BRAVE men and women got to their breaking point, and that hell they live with 24 hours a day, finally won the fight. There is no winners in that fight, only loosers. In this case, the young man, his wife, his and her parents, any sisters and brothers, etc.

They will face the words, laughs, ridicule, scorn, of the cruel not understanding public.

I speak from experience, that feeling that you miss a loved one is bad enough, but as a child, to hear the scorn of others, is past enduring and understanding.

Steve Cheuvront

 

[mmwb]

A lot of them won't accept the help that is available. Soldiers tend to be self sufficient, independent, "fighters" that feel they have to deal with that battle alone too. We have a lot of follow up and support in our area for the troops and the agency I work at offers unlimited mental health and substance abuse services to all vets and their immediate families without charge. I wish more were willing to seek help. Depression, anxiety, PTSD, personality disorders, substance abuse, etc... are all readily treatable.

Regardless of the details leading up to the death, my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends. I believe that no one would commit suicide if they had any idea the short and long term pain it leaves to the survivors...

 

[Huntnfever]

mmwb, i agree with you to a point. I took the help offered, since i have got help i have had to go through my feelings and what has happened to me over and over and over. I am done with telling my story, i am done sitting there with someone that has never had to pick up the remains of their best friend try to help me with my feelings. I am done telling doctors that never had to worry about if tomorrow was the day they were going to die. I am done having to talk to a doctor that got to go home to his family every night while i sit in line trying to make a phone call just for 30 mins. I tasted a little bit of the hell that ww1 ww2 and korea and vietnam vets have went through, i understand why many never really came home. Became lost in drugs and alcohol. I dont try to understand i just try to live day to day, and there are plenty of low points. But i just live to hunt and live for my family.

has anyone seen my kittie

 

[nickman]

WOW!!!!!!

Some of you guys are way out of your depth here and are dangerously close to slipping into AZZHOLE classification!

This is serious stuff and the comments need to stick to the post.

No question, suicide in any situation is terrible, but those that are a result of a military experience are even more disasterous because they involve people who have served this country and now this country cannot seem to help them in return.

I ain't saying that the help is not available, but it is way too often unsuccessful.

I ain't calling anyone out here, but if you ain't been there......done that....then STFU!

 

[mmwb]

Always a lot of judgmental stuff goes on with touchy subjects. I guess I would suggest a person never give up. Suicide is generally an act of escape from pain: physical, psychic, or both. Talking about experiences is not necessarily the solution to some problems. A good mental health professional does not have to have experienced what the client has to effectively facilitate healing. I've never served in the military, but the soldiers and their families that I have worked with seem to think the work they did with me was very helpful.

I'm mainly responding because I hate to see anyone get discouraged from seeking help because they think it may be ineffective. Not all professionals are the same and I'd encourage anyone to shop around to find the right fit with the right approach for you.

I've been a practicing, licensed mental health professional for 17 years and have plenty of experience dealing with suicidality and dealing with the aftermath of suicides. I wouldn't stay in the field if I didn't know how much difference the work can and does make.

 

[fireball77]

So People aren't allowed to voice their opinions because its a "TOUCHY" subject.

If you haven't noticed MM isn't exactly the best place to come for advice or sympathy outside of hunting or guns etc.


Is it a sad situation yes but IMO look at all the people that would kill for one just one more day and have no choice, this person or other people like them have the choice and choose not to do something with it.


So I guess take your own advice and STFU!!!

 

[fireball77]

"Regardless of the details leading up to the death, my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends. I believe that no one would commit suicide if they had any idea the short and long term pain it leaves to the survivors... "

+1

 

[bayside]

I understand that people have the CHOICE to do this, the point of the article is that the percentage of iraqi vets killing themselves as opposed to regular people is much much higher. The point of my post is to let military personel know how much we appreciate their sacrifices, and let them know that there is help available if they want to utilize it. I don't want your sympathy, hell, I don't know any of you. I just thought I would make a general post and possibly make a soldiers day by telling them that someone appreciates them. Should've figured that theres always an idiot or 2 that will try and spin it and twist it to get people riled up.

 

[nickman]

It must be comforting to some people, to find out that a 6th grade education was all they would ever need to use.

 

[B_BOP_A_LU_LU]

Easy Red!
LOL!

I love not acting my age,
Damn I love my NASCAR race,
And Hell yes I love my Truck!

 

[Huntnfever]

Oh and by the way MM was my escape the second time i was in iraq, i had a different name that i couldnt remember when i came back stateside...but there are vets that do use MM to dream about where they would rather be. Like said if ya never walked in their shoes dont say anything....How many of you would say the same thing about Nam vets? The majority that came back suffer from some kind of mental illness. Some were able to come home get married have families, alot are homeless or used drugs and alcohol to get the help they dont get otherwise. Again thanks bayside some of us do care

has anyone seen my kittie

 

[1911]

My father is a Vietnam Veteran. He spent a couple of years on the front lines and eventually left 20 linear feet of his digestive tract on the jungle floor after a close up and personal with a grenade. He saw as much hell as there was available to see. He has suffered physically every day of his life which was extended by nothing short of a series of miracles from that fateful day forward. He also brought back with him a nice case of malaria. Upon his arrival to the States he did not get any hero's welcome. None of those Vietnam boys did.

You might say my father has been there done that. He will be the first to say a lot of this topic is over rated hype. Does it exist? Absolutely it exists but it is also abused as a crutch often times. Furthermore, many of the alcoholic drug users that came out of the Vietman era you might say were predisposed, by previous substance abuse prior to the war.

At what point are we doing our servicemen a disservice by creating a self fulfilled prophecy illusion that anyone coming from a combat zone is doomed to mental illness? A placebo effect is a powerful thing. It would be an absurd assertion to discount the contributing effect this might have. I'm sorry if it offends to suggest others have ultimate control over their lives rather than let everyone follow a notion that somehow they should succumb to something they cannot escape. Ultimately, life is about choices, there is only one driver seat, choose wisely.

That said, I come from a military family, many of my closest friends and colleagues are military, and I have the utmost respect for their service, especially those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

 

[Huntnfever]

1911, thank your dad for me...i know what its like a little bit, i got no welcome home. I got a welcome home to a cheating fiance the first time and a cheating wife the second...A big problem with why there is so many people having problems they need the numbers they need people to go fight so they lower the standards with people that really shouldnt be there in the first place. Oh and by the way i am not asking to feel sorry for me or anything. I think that if they knew now what they didnt know then about war and the effects it causes a whole lot more people from vietnam and korea would be known to suffer from mental illness. And dont take this the wrong way to anyone who has lost friends or family members, cause i have too. I think that they kinda are the lucky ones they died a heros death and they dont have to worry about any problems they might have came back with. And thats all i have to say about that.

has anyone seen my kittie

 

[spcheuvront]

Huntnfever;

PM me and I will give you my phone number, and we can talk,

Steve Cheuvront

 

[overton]

Gee Huntnfever I hope it hasn't come to that.

 

[Huntnfever]

No its not that, i love life i got my kids, and love to hunt...i am just saying in general i know alot of people come back to things they cant handle... I realize that i may never have a relationship that lasts, cause of things that happened. I ruined a marriage because i couldnt handle my emotions and did the manly ignore it my problems will go away. Only reason i got help is i had a daughter coming. Alot of people cant handle life and try to kill themselves various ways....drugs.... drinking.... One my best friends was one the first to die in iraq.. I dunno if i came off as being on the verge of being a statistic, but naw i am good i got my wyoming deer hunt to look forward to i hope. And another year hunting with my old man and my brother

has anyone seen my kittie

 

[feddoc]

I will probably never understand why some people react differently to different kinds of stress. Being in bad guy country and picking up body parts of good friends,acquaintences and just regular guys never bothered me until I got back home. My prep for that part of the inevitable was that whatever God had in mind for that guy was already taken care of; the best I could do was show that body the utmost in respect. And miss terribly what he could be doing now.

I did go to counseling for different things, and I gotta say it is no different than going to a doctor to get a broken bone set, or a tooth pulled, or a sore throat, etc. The point is that something is broken and needs to get fixed.

I never understood why some guys would poke fun at others for going to the shrink. That is totally uncool. Having been in the Navy from 74 - 07, I have seen a tremendous shift in the thought process; going to the shrink does not seem to carry the stigma that it once did. In some cases, at least for Navy guys, it is mandatory.



Compromise, hell! ... If freedom is right and tyranny is wrong, why should those who believe in freedom treat it as if it were a roll of bologna to be bartered a slice at a time?

 

[rugarm77]

See post #9 I agree with Nick !!!

 

[Huntnfever]

Feddoc, it never effected me til i came back also. I had my wife pregnant when i was over there. She was a high risk pregnancy, we were having problems i wasnt sleeping going outside the wire without sleep living on pure addrenalin. I had a job to do. I had to go pick up trucks, humvees, tanks that people lost their lives in. It didnt bother me. I was just suppressing my feelings. I came back wife went home 3 days later, i missed the birth of my daughter most of her life so far. Came back drank alot, still trying to keep that demon down. It wasnt until i met a girl that made me realize i wasnt in love with my wife. Nor was she me. I started taking my meds again and quit drinking. All that i had suppressed came flooding out. That girl decided she didnt want to be with me because i dont show emotion, i still love her and maybe we will be together again but i have alot of self improvement to do. It just really gets to me about how certain things do bother someone, and his buddy next to him nothing... or how do cops and fireman see the stuff they see every day and not be effected by it.

has anyone seen my kittie