U.S. General Says Soldiers Who Commit Suicide Are 'Selfish'

[n2doc]

After 10 years at war, American soldiers are showing severe signs of wear. Not only have 126,000 troops returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with traumatic brain injuries since the start of the wars, another 70,000 of them have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. According to Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli, the majority of soldiers disqualified from service due to injury have either TBI or PTSD.

As you might imagine, all that mental turmoil has resulted in erratic behavior in the military's ranks. Hundreds of American veterans and enlisted people still commit suicide every year, and for a couple years more soldiers were killing themselves than were dying on the battlefield. Crime is regular enough amongst the veteran community that special "veterans courts" have begun popping up around the United States.

War demands that people kill men, women, and children, and watch their friends get killed in return—probably the most mentally taxing experience the world has ever known. Of course our soldiers come back in agony, and of course that agony sometimes leads to suicide. But to at least one American general, all this complaining about soldiers killing themselves is "selfish."

"I have now come to the conclusion that suicide is an absolutely selfish act," wrote Major General Dana Pittard, who commands Fort Bliss, one of the nation's largest military bases, in an official blog post. "I am personally fed up with soldiers who are choosing to take their own lives so that others can clean up their mess." Pittard added that any soldier thinking of committing suicide should "be an adult, act like an adult, and deal with your real-life problems like the rest of us."

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http://www.good.is/post/u-s-general-says-soldiers-who-commit-suicide-are-selfish/

[ZombieHorde]

1. I am looking up the word "asshole" in my dictionary....oh, there it is,

a picture of the general making that statement.

[whatchamacallit]

2. God, what a fucking asshole!

Another American Psycho in charge.

[tularetom]

3. I was sure it was the Onion

Wow, what a dick!

[teddy51]

4. This asshole has obviously never suffered from either stress or ptsd so I have no idea

how he is in any kind of position to judge!

And to add: These men and women come home from war suffering from a serious problem, and told to basically deal with it on their own.

[Autumn]

5. Fuck you you worthless fucking asshole

My beloved Nephew was the most unselfish ,kindest, loving young man in the world. Bastards like you sent him into Iraq and Afghanistan 4 fucking times. 4 FUCKING TIMES. And you fucking call him selfish ? You are the selfish son of a bitch. I hope you fucking rot in hell.

[socialist_n_TN]

6. I one particular area I agree with him.......

Suicide and depression is ANGER turned inward. Maybe they need to turn that anger outward. Like against a few generals.

[loyalsister]

7. Bull

I would argue the opposite. Many people who commit suicide do it because they don't want to subject their friends and family to their behavior. People don't get how much pain people go through when they unjustifiably hate themselves.

[roguevalley]

17. for whatever, they are doing this

personal private thing. I wish they would stay but they aren't so we have to DO SOMETHING!

we have to save our boys and girls.

[loyalsister]

19. Absolutely

I really hate to see them maligned - especially by someone who is supposed to care about them.

[elehhhhna]

8. he's fed up

gonna punish them




wow. ya don't expect a general to be all Oprah, but still.

[fascisthunter]

9. you sick brainwashed feeble moron!

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. What an ASSHOLE! nt.

[Lars39]

11. He needs to be relieved of duty

and at minimum have his ass kicked from one end of the base to the other.

[provis99]

12. it's official now: that general is an ASSHOLE.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

13. I swear that could have been a Frank Burns line in M*A*S*H.

[Arctic Dave]

14. Say goodbye to your command shitbag.

Easy for this fuckstick to say while in the comfort of an air conditioned office. Most likely came up the ranks during "peacetime" and thinks he is the shit.

[freshwest]

15. What of the bullies who physically & verbally abused a soldier in war zone until he killed himself?

What of their selfishness?

Is this a back handed defense of them, further defaming this young man?

U.S. soldiers charged in death of their comrade in Afghanistan

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/316495

He may have some deep reasons for his statement, but the phrase, 'be an adult, act like an adult, and deal with your real-life problems like the rest of us' does not come near to equating with the problem of a soldier away from home, in a country surrounded by enemies both foreign and of his own group. Who is the 'rest of us,' the ones who drove him to that? I suggest they made sure he felt he did not belong!

This is no way to refer to a person who commits suicide when they have been subjected to war, doubts, exhaustion and knowing they no longer have the function to behave as they once did... And are not free to change their circumstances.

Perhaps a robot army would be preferable to him, to be able to be turned on and off when useful, instead a human being with the infinite capacity to understand and learn about themselves and the world.

Yet this makes news, this harsh statement, instead of the protest of veterans who are arguing for a better world and he is arguing for ...what exactly?

I think this is a media diversion from the positive news from the veterans in Chicago.

[Swede]

16. Saying that is about as low as you can get.

He should get drummed out of the military.

[hifiguy]

18. This asshat shouldn't be in command of a scout troop

much less soldiers.

[Mr.Turnip]

20. Im going to be flamed for this but I actually agree with the General somewhat.

I do see suicide as a fundamentally selfish and cowardly act, now of course every case is different and I know that veterans committing suicide are going through a lot more than most who think about that and we should do everything in our power to help them get through it. But I stand by my view of suicide as cowardly and selfish at it's core.

[RedCappedBandit]

21. Depression is a disease

and it is sometimes fatal (along with other mental illnesses). Cowardly and selfish are irrelevant words.

[Mr.Turnip]

22. No not really.

Regardless of any disease I see killing yourself to escape from your problems as cowardly.

[SomethingFishy]

23. I suppose this is how they sleep at night...

"It's not my fault the guy couldn't handle 4 tours of duty".


This sick fucking piece of shit needs to have his fucking rank pulled right fucking now.

Why is it that "support the troops" in this country means put a flag bumper sticker on your car, and not actually "SUPPORT THE TROOPS".

Gee, maybe if there wasn't a 120 day waiting period for a soldier with PTSD to see a shrink there would be less suicides. Gee, maybe if instead of throwing away used soldiers, they were treated like human beings and given the best medical and mental help there is we might have lees suicides. Gee, maybe if we spent a little less arming these guys and a little more helping them deal with what they had to do there would be less suicides.

Gee maybe if the families of soldiers on their 4th tour weren't in danger of losing their mortgage or having to live on fucking food stamps there might be less suicides.

Fuck this guy and his army.

[RZM]

24. This isn't all that unusual. Suicide is often characterized as 'selfish'

There was a rash of suicides at my HS when I attended there. And several more after. I've known people who have done it and know others whose family members have. I have a history of it in my own family as well.

One friend of mine's mother committed suicide and he was really angry about it. He was mad because he thought that for somebody with children to do such a thing was an incredibly spiteful and selfish act. And I see where he was coming from.

It causes a lot of pain to one's family and friends, who are the same people who want to support and help the person who feels that they have no help and support. I couldn't imagine doing such a thing to my family. I could never hurt them like that.

[boxman15]

25. Without regard to a person's mental health, suicide is a cowardly and selfish act. However,

the vast, vast majority of those who commit suicide or contemplate suicide are not in a good state of mind and are suffering from depression or other mental problems. Depression is an extremely serious issue that should never be belittled in any way, shape, or form, especially not in the context of the battlefield.

The general's comments piss me off. My brother suffers from a stress disorder and went through a period of depression. It was not easy on any of us, but it was the hardest on him. To just dismiss certain acts as "selfish" or "childish" is insulting not only to those suffering from depression, but also to the loved ones of that person.

[BlueIris]

26. "(P)ersonally 'fed up,'" are you, General?

Disturbing.