As if there is not enough that has gone tragically wrong in this era of endless warfare, the military is facing an epidemic of suicides. In the year that ended Sept. 30, 2009, 160 active duty soldiers took their own lives — a record for the Army. The Marines set their own tragic record in 2009 with 52 suicides. And this past June, another record was set — 32 military suicides in just one month.
War is a meat grinder for service members and their families. It grinds people up without mercy, killing them and inflicting the worst kinds of wounds imaginable, physical and psychological. The Pentagon is trying to cope with the surge in suicides, but it is holding a bad hand: the desperate shortage of troops has forced military officials to lower the bar for enlistment, thus letting in people whose drug and alcohol abuse or other behavioral problems would previously have kept them out. And the multiple deployments (four, five and six tours in the war zones) have jacked up stress levels to the point where many just can’t take it.
The G.I.’s have fought valiantly in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands have died and many, many more have suffered. But the wars have been conducted as if their leaders had been reading from a lunatic’s manual. This is not Germany or Japan or the old Soviet Union that we’re fighting. But after nearly a decade, neither war has been won and there is no prospect of winning.
Go, read the whole thing here.
5 comments:
This is horrible!
Prayers ascending!
It seems to me there might be a message in there somewhere.
Why is it that only those of us with little sway over these matters can hear it???
But then, we are legion, and ought to stand more visibly as one against this insanity.
And they are probably not listed as casualities of war.... and their dependents don't receive appropriate benefits....
So sad.
Shocking and very sad. You'd think the powers would get the message. Who knows better how the war goes than the soldiers?
Margaret, if what you say is true, it is beyond despicable.
Lord, have mercy on us all.
One of the worst things is the so called "stop-loss" program where someone signs up for a four year hitch and then is not allowed to leave at the end of the four years. They are, in fact, held in involuntary bondage, slaves if you will, to keep our troop strength up. More than a few of these individuals kill themselves as a way out.
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