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Time to Pay the Price of War (Addressing Troop Suicides & Mental Health)... [View all]
Source: Huffington Post
...This past July, 38 American soldiers committed suicide, the highest rate since the Army began keeping count. A veteran commits suicide every 80 minutes. If you have ever known someone who lost a family member to suicide, you've had a glimpse of the devastation suicide leaves in its wake.
...On Aug. 31, President Obama signaled that the government is making the mental health of our service members and veterans a top priority. Obama issued an executive order called "Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members, and Military Families" that mandates several essential concrete measures. And while each and every one of these measures is laudable and critical, one component is missing from the order: funding.
...While the executive order says all the right things, on closer inspection these statements are meaningless without providing for funding. For the order to be more than rhetoric, uttered during a campaign, the administration must forcefully present the case to Congress: You voted for these wars, wars for which you allocated no money.
The time has come to pay the price.
...On Aug. 31, President Obama signaled that the government is making the mental health of our service members and veterans a top priority. Obama issued an executive order called "Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members, and Military Families" that mandates several essential concrete measures. And while each and every one of these measures is laudable and critical, one component is missing from the order: funding.
...While the executive order says all the right things, on closer inspection these statements are meaningless without providing for funding. For the order to be more than rhetoric, uttered during a campaign, the administration must forcefully present the case to Congress: You voted for these wars, wars for which you allocated no money.
The time has come to pay the price.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leila-levinson/veterans-mental-health_b_1898771.html
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