Wiped Away
Triple amputee, and former Senator Max Cleland insists: “the deepest wounds and scars of war are psychological, mental and emotional, which you carry to your grave. Major depression should be anticipate and if we don’t intervene with the emotional aftermath of war early, it can turn into alcoholism, drug addiction, depression and suicide.”
Many more of our veterans have been committing suicide than troops have been dying in Iraq. According to a recent report at least 6,256 former servicemen took their lives in 2005. Veterans are more than twice as likely than the rest of the population to commit suicide. Some have claimed this high rate of suicides among veterans demonstrates a “mental health epidemic” linked to post-traumatic stress.
The suicide rate among Americans as a whole was 8.9 per 100,000, but the level among veterans was at least 18.7. That figure rose to a minimum of 22.9 among veterans aged 20 to 24, which is almost four times the nonveteran average for people of the same age.
“Not everyone comes home from the war wounded, but the bottom line is nobody comes home unchanged,” said Paul Rieckhoff, a former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America.
Another study shows that military veterans make up one in four homeless people in America, even though they represent just 11 per cent of the general adult population. Younger soldiers are already trickling into shelters and soup kitchens after completing tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2005, it’s estimated that on any given night 194,254 veterans were homeless.
“We wish that a merciful God could wipe away our memories of that service; as easily as this administration has wiped away their memories of us.” - Vietnam Veteran, John Kerry’s testimony before a Senate committee - April 1971.
Many more of our veterans have been committing suicide than troops have been dying in Iraq. According to a recent report at least 6,256 former servicemen took their lives in 2005. Veterans are more than twice as likely than the rest of the population to commit suicide. Some have claimed this high rate of suicides among veterans demonstrates a “mental health epidemic” linked to post-traumatic stress.
The suicide rate among Americans as a whole was 8.9 per 100,000, but the level among veterans was at least 18.7. That figure rose to a minimum of 22.9 among veterans aged 20 to 24, which is almost four times the nonveteran average for people of the same age.
“Not everyone comes home from the war wounded, but the bottom line is nobody comes home unchanged,” said Paul Rieckhoff, a former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America.
Another study shows that military veterans make up one in four homeless people in America, even though they represent just 11 per cent of the general adult population. Younger soldiers are already trickling into shelters and soup kitchens after completing tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2005, it’s estimated that on any given night 194,254 veterans were homeless.
“We wish that a merciful God could wipe away our memories of that service; as easily as this administration has wiped away their memories of us.” - Vietnam Veteran, John Kerry’s testimony before a Senate committee - April 1971.
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