http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/opinion/07sun3.html?_r=1&ref=opinionIntolerable Rise in Soldier Suicides
Nearly the entire military corps at Fort Campbell, Ky., was summoned last month to hear an anxious general make an extraordinary plea about the alarming rate of suicide by soldiers. “Don’t take away your tomorrow,” the general beseeched his audience of thousands of men and women at the base, where 14 suicides in the first half of this year leads what many fear could be a record toll across the military services.
The woeful challenge reaches far beyond Fort Campbell, as Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized in Washington last week. He predicted the toll this year will top the record of 2008, when the Army suffered 133 suicides. That was twice the number in 2004, before the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns turned into a slog of repeated tours.
Military suicide is the nation’s problem, not just the Pentagon’s. There is a shortage of mental health professionals in the military. The Obama administration and Congress must quickly address this, perhaps with bolstered programs of tuition assistance and volunteer professionals — two ideas Admiral Mullen raised.
-snip-
----------------------------
I said this once before:
the military should hold mandatory group theraphy sessions on all our bases.
Why? to hear what the soldiers have to say and to learn how to treat and stop the suicides.
but they won't. the only kind of psyc. the military is interested in is used for torture.
the brass can ask the soldiers not to kill themselves until the cows come home and it won't stop the killing.
"There is a shortage of mental health professionals in the military"
maybe if the pentagon purchased 1 or 2 less killing machines they would have enough money to hire mental health professionals.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
