US Military Deaths: Killed in Action vs Veteran Suicides



    by Various_Pop_3907

    35 Comments

    1. So war is bad, and we should avoid it as much as possible(which is pretty much every war)?

      Who would have thought.

    2. For a country that never shuts up about how much they love their military, the US government really doesn’t give a single shit about their military, do they?

    3. Does anyone know where this data is from? Not criticizing, just curious for more detail.

    4. Euronated-inmypants on

      Republicans scream and yell about helping Veterans then vote against every single bill that helps veterans. Then blame dems for not helping Veterans

    5. Personally knew of three deaths in my unit. Also, in my platoon, out of the 10 of us that were married prior to deployment, only one came back still married.

    6. XYZ died due to non-combat related injuries ….

      If you had ever wondered why it was reported that way in Stars and Stripes

    7. It was a rude awakening after serving in the military and discovering that the real enemy was behind us, not in front. Can’t tell you how many people I know who’ve bit the bullet because of how awful the treatment is.

    8. Beginning_Self896 on

      “When you talk about the mental health problems — when people come back from war and combat, and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over, and you’re strong and you can handle it. But a lot of people can’t handle it,”

      Guess who

    9. silent_violet_ on

      Army vet, combat engineer.

      I feel like my life is riding with the check engine light on, suspension going out, registration past due, and “Hey I just met you” stuck on the radio…

      …and my insurance is $365 a month at USAA (that part’s true and I’ve left them for progressive).

    10. Cool story. Now let’s all pretend to care and make up excuses to blame the opposing political groups while absolutely nothing gets done, but at least everyone can pretend to give a shit while doing nothing and blaming someone else…

    11. Kinda sad, you get in the military when you’re young, then you leave, and then the sad reality that you’re not a hero but instead a puppet hits and you start to remember everything that you went through and how the system used you as a tool so politicians can tell a sad story on TV to make them more powerful.

    12. there should be a rehab for EVERY vet which should be FREE, it should last 6 months, enough time for them to get used to normal society once aain

    13. But remember everybody: all of those programs and services and safety nets and psychological services we just cut were getting in the way of warrior ethos

    14. Why not just compare military suicides to non military suicides? I’m sure it’s not equal but that is the real metric that matters.

    15. The data nerd in me would like a little more info. Were these all vet suicides or just those serving in these two conflict zones? How many of those suicides were active duty still? For those who were separated, how much time was there between separation and suicide?

      Also…a ton of people join the military to escape a tough home life or socioeconomic struggles. I’d be willing to bet that many of them would be at a higher risk for suicide already – not saying that’s the cause but something worth considering.

    16. I saw an interview from a Vietnam vet one day and je could hardly get it out but he said a difference even in his day was that for guys coming back from WW1 and WW2, they had a month or longer sometimes sailing home. So they had time to talk to buddies and decompress before going back and a heroes welcome. Vietnam especially did not and later wars you were in combat and then could be home the next day and expected to just flip off the switch and go right back to civilian life.

      TLDR; take the time to read above

    17. why a 38 seconds video when a static graph could have conveyed the same information?

      I don’t believe the video add drama to the fact…

    18. Necessary-Tone-6166 on

      That is so fucking horrible. Thank you for sharing it.

      Does anyone have data on the last four years?

    19. Hefty-Tomatillo-1236 on

      Then they made a movie about how some hero got sad after dropping bombs and killing people in their time in the middle east

    20. As a vet. The VA mental health system is atrocious. I have been misdiagnosed, have had pills thrown at me that make me feel like a fucking zombie, run the gambit until I finally got a provider that listened to my thoughts and feelings in order to properly diagnose me and give me the correct medication.

      It took A LOT of work and pushback on my end. I have the intelligence and ware with all to play the game and get to where I need to be to be healthy.

      I can empathize and see where others would get fed up, feel lost, feel alone, and feel unheard.

      If you’ve experienced the system, you know what I’m talking about. My story and journey are not dissimilar to what others go through, yet semi unique in the way that I was able to get things accomplished and get the help I needed, where as others don’t and even face more difficult challenges than I did.

      Some, one is too many, give up and check out. I don’t blame them, it’s the system.

      The military in war time is an eater of souls. No one comes back the same whether you were a cook or a door kicker.

      Stay strong my brothers and sisters in arms. There’s always someone willing to listen. Give it one more shot one more everything you got before you give in please. There is help!

    21. touchstone8787 on

      These stats always paint an incomplete picture. I never see them with the national suicide rates or even death rates of veterans from causes other than suicide.

      Im not saying there isn’t a problem here. The science is out there clearly linking head trauma from blasts to mental deterioration. Mental health as a whole is under treated here in the US. Most health insurance plans dont even cover mental health, so most people are either forced to pay out of pocket or just not get treatment.

    22. Spirited_Honey_6372 on

      Also have to mention: both of those countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, suffered more than 10x the number of casualties for unjust, unnecessary wars. Someone has to say it. We can’t just look at eh loss of American lives, those ppl are human beings too

    23. Playing devil’s advocate here..

      This infographic literally means nothing. Does it show suicide rates in veterans is higher than the average?

      It may very well be, but the graph could show the same numbers even if serving actually *reduced* suicide rates

      Why is it comparing two completely different group sizes in raw numbers instead of percentages? All veterans VS actively serving during the wartime is a different scale.

      This could be very interesting if the infographic wasn’t misleading to the point of irrelevance

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