Pfc. Christian J. Chandler, 20, left and Sgt. Shawn M. Farrell II, 24, were killed in separate locations, according to DoD announcements released Wednesday.Two soldiers from 10th Mountain Division were killed Monday in Afghanistan, the Defense Department has confirmed.
(Army)
Suicide Rise in Special Ops Spurs Call for Review
Tampa Tribune
By Howard Altman
Tribune Staff
Published: April 29, 2014
Concerned with the increase in commandos taking their own lives, a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee is calling for the Pentagon to review Department of Defense efforts regarding suicide prevention among members of the Special Operations Forces and their dependents.
The call for a review is included in proposals by the Military Personnel Subcommittee as part of the half-trillion dollar-plus military budget request for the fiscal year beginning in October. If the measure passes, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel would have three months after passage of the budget to report the findings to the House and Senate Armed Services committees.
“If the final bill calls for a report, we will work with the Department of Defense to ensure they have all the information they need to report to Congress,” said U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw.
The subcommittee is also calling for a look at the overall issue of troop suicides, as well as how the military is handling sexual assaults, military health care costs and other health and well-being issues.
Earlier this month, Socom commander Adm. William McRaven told a Tampa intelligence symposium that commandos are committing suicide at a record pace this year. Though he offered no figures, he was repeating a concern he first raised in February at a Congressional hearing on his budget.
“The last two years have been the highest rate of suicides we have had in the special operations community and this year I am afraid we are on the path to break that,” McRaven, whose headquarters is at MacDill Air Force Base, said at the GEOINT 2013* Symposium in Tampa earlier this month.
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U.S. special forces struggle with record suicides
MIND
They need to understand what PTSD is and why they have it. The cause is surviving traumatic events, even civilians suffer from but for veterans, it is a different type. They are not just survivors of traumatic events, they participate in them. They placed their lives on the line for the sake of someone else and that required a deeper ability to care. That same ability also allows them to feel things more than others. It has nothing to do with courage or Medal of Honor heroes would never experience it but more and more have come out and talked about their own struggles. It has nothing to do with training to "prevent it" and that has been proven over the years when the DOD tried to do it.
BODY
They had to teach their bodies to do what they were able to do in combat but then they have to train them to clam down and be able to rest again. Nothing happens automatically. It takes a lot of work to get a body in shape for fighting wars. The DOD needs to train them how to get into shape for fighting to find living in peace again.
SPIRIT
PTSD is a spiritual wound and needs to be treated where it lives. In the spirit. Smacking soldiers with a bible isn't the answer but helping them heal with love and understanding is key. They can heal if they take a look at everything a different way, forgive where needed and stop trying to "fit back in" with people who were never the same as them. Veterans hang out with other veterans because they understand each other.
Daniel Wassom, 31, Vilonia, Ark.
Wassom, a father of two daughters — Lorelei, 5, and Sydney, 7 — died Sunday sheltering his family from the tornado. The man who everybody called "Bud" was with his wife, Suzanne, and his girls in a hallway in the center of their home when a large beam came toward him, crushing him to death.
Wassom, who served in the Arkansas Air National Guard as a load master moving cargo in and out of planes and had been deployed to Iraq, died shielding Lorelei from the beam.
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Pizer is looking for relief from the felony conviction after he broke a man’s nose in a fight in Boscobel just days after he returned from Iraq in 2004. Pizer said the punch was a reflex that occurred after the victim came at him from the side — one he deeply regrets.
In the 10 years since he came home, Pizer has earned an associate’s degree in criminal justice with hopes of becoming a police officer. But as a felon, Pizer is prohibited from carrying a gun. He can’t be a cop. That goal is on hold while Pizer works as a piano mover and at Menards to support himself and his preschool son, Xander.
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Military, veteran suicides account for nearly one in every four in Florida ... but the numbers don't explain why
Rate is one of the nation's highest
Florida Times Union
By Clifford Davis
Apr 26, 2014
“Since its inception, the crisis line has had over 1,150,000 calls,” said Thompson of the VA’s suicide prevention program. “That’s pretty extraordinary. We’re so glad we’ve had that many calls, but of course it’s heartbreaking that people need to reach out that much.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class David Faithful dreamed of becoming a pilot but — with only a high school education — he knew that was not going to happen anytime soon.
Instead, he became a parachute rigger for ejection seats in Navy aircraft.
It wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but he did his job.
“He did OK with it for a while,” said his mother, Cindy Faithful.
She said her son battled bouts of depression since he was about 17. “He would go through spells where he was really good and then spells where he was not so good.”
Medication would help, but the 25-year-old Faithful knew if he agreed to take psychiatric drugs he would lose his security clearance and his job at Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
“He said his life was a tragedy, a bad movie,” Cindy Faithful said.
“The night before he died, he came up to me and hugged me,” said Cindy Faithful. “He told me, ‘Mom, I really love you and I appreciate everything you’ve been doing for me. I think everything is going to be OK.’ ”
The next day his father found him inside his car — wearing his dress white uniform — in their garage, dead from carbon monoxide poisoning.
STATE NUMBERS STAGGERING
In Florida, the numbers are staggering.
Although veterans make up only 8 percent of the state’s population, they accounted for more than 25 percent of its suicides, according to the report.
Between 1999 and 2011, 31,885 suicides were reported in the state, according to the Florida Department of Health. That would mean more than 8,000 Florida veterans took their lives during those 13 years, according to the VA.
The numbers put Florida among states with the highest percentage of veteran suicides — but the numbers don't explain why.
“We’re still trying to figure that out,” said Caitlin Thompson, the deputy director of Suicide Prevention at the VA.
With such daunting statistics, it’s easy to forget that behind every suicide is a circle of family and friends that will deal with the pain and the often-unanswered question of why.
Increasingly, veterans who commit suicide are not men in their 50s and 60s. Suicides for veterans of that age group have remained steady or declined.
Yet, suicides by veterans from 18 to 29 have jumped from 40.3 to 57.9 per 100,000 from 2009 to 2011, a 44 percent increase, the VA announced earlier this year.
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According to AFMES data as of 31 March 2013, there were 319 suicides among Active component Service members and 203 among Reserve component Services members (Reserve [n = 73]; National Guard [n = 130].
The suicide rate (per 100,000 Service members) for the Active component was 22.7 and for the Reserve component was 24.2 (Reserve – 19.3, National Guard – 28.1). Per policy, the DoDSER system collected data on suicides for all Service members in an Active status at the time of death, including Service members in the Reserve components (i.e., active or activated2 Reserve/National Guard).
The distribution of suicide DoDSERs across the four included Services was as follows: Air Force – 57 (17.9%), Army – 155 (48.7%), Marine Corps – 47 (14.8%), and Navy – 59 (18.6%).
These counts included reports for both confirmed suicides and probable suicides pending a final determination. Of these suicides, 259 were confirmed by AFMES as of 31 January 2013, the date used for the evaluation of DoDSER submission compliance. For 2012, all Services achieved 100% submission compliance.
A total of 841 Service members had one or more attempted suicides reported in DoDSER for CY 2012
The primary method for suicides was the use of a firearm (n = 207; 65.1%). The majority of firearms used were non-military issued firearms (n = 157; 75.8% of events involving a firearm). For suicide attempt DoDSERs, the use of drugs was the most frequently reported method (n = 476; 54.8%).
•A total of 91 suicide DoDSERS (28.6%) and 191 suicide attempt DoDSERs (22.0%) reported that the Service member had communicated potential for self-harm prior to the event.
•A total of 134 suicide DoDSERs (42.1%) and 452 suicide attempt DoDSERs (52.0%) indicated a history of a behavioral health diagnosis. The most frequently reported diagnosis among the suicide DoDSERs was adjustment disorder (n = 82; 61.2% of DoDSERs with a behavioral health diagnosis); among sui- cide attempt DoDSERs, the most common diagnostic category was mood disorder (n = 293; 64.8% of DoDSERs with a behavioral health diagnosis).
•A majority of DoDSERs for both suicides (n = 194; 61.0%) and suicide attempts (n = 588; 67.7%) specified that the Service member had accessed health and/or support services during the 90 days prior to the event. The most frequently used services for both event types were a military treatment fa- cility (MTF; suicides [n = 177; 91.2% of DoDSERs in which access was reported]; suicide attempts [n = 446; 75.9% of DoDSERs in which access was reported]) and outpatient behavioral health (suicides [n = 91; 46.9% of DoDSERs in which access was reported; suicide attempts [n = 399; 67.9% of DoD- SERs in which access was reported]).
•Family and relationship stressors during the 90 days prior to the event were the most common type of stressor reported among suicide DoDSERs (n = 129; 40.6%). This type of stressor was also the most frequently reported among suicide attempt DoDSERs (n = 377; 43.4%).
•A total of 151 suicide DoDSERs (47.5%) and 312 suicide attempt DoDSERs (35.9%) reported a his- tory of deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and/or Operation New Dawn (OND).
Sen. Sherrod Brown joins Lt. Col. William Meade of the Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Vietnam veteran Robert Towles, of Windham, Ohio.
(Office of Sherrod Brown)
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| (Photo: Courtesy of Richard Crawford) |
Man Suffers PTSD After Playing Call Of Duty: Ghosts, VA Denies Treatment
National Report
Posted about 8 hours ago
In a whirlwind of being denied treatment, fraught with crippling anxiety attacks, a 43 year old San Diego man says he has developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after months of playing the popular game, Call of Duty: Ghosts and complains of being neglected by the one group who could help — his government.
Peter Turk, who has reached the highest of ranks in the game, made the following statement on Myspace, last Friday evening: I leveled up to 10th Prestige, which is about equal to a Sergeant Major in the non-electric Army. I can barely function in my day-to-day life.
Speaking to the National Report, last Wednesday, Turk remarked, “I can’t focus on anything. If I hear a car backfire, I jump outta my skin.”
During a phone conversation with his cousin, Major Jim French, a double amputee, recipient of the Silver Star and inspiration for the Lifetime Movie, “I Wish I Had More Arms to Give to My Country,” Turk was shocked to learn he had been exhibiting many of the same traits as his comrade in the non-electric Army. “Jim also suffers from PTSD. He and I had the same experience, fought just as many belligerents, we’re both injured and were decorated by our respective leaders. Just because his leader is Barack Obama, and mine is Xbox Live, shouldn’t matter. We’re both heroes, yet he gets disability and I don’t.”
The game, which brings the horrors of war to average people in vibrant, nail-biting reality, matches up players in teams to fight against each other. Teammates and opponents can communicate through headsets, giving way to a myriad of shit talking and clowning. “There I was, hunkered down behind a tree in Prison Break, waiting for my relief and what happens? I get the shit blown out of me from a guy running around with a Kastet. He was on my team. He laughed and told me he tag-teamed my mom with Obama.” Turk believes friendly fire from shit talking teammates is the worst aspect and the hardest to overcome. “You know, these guys are there in the shiggy with you and they’ll blow you up for fun.”
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According to Air Force figures, 55 airmen died by suicide last year, a rate of 14 per 100,000 personnel. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh told a Senate panel in April that 32 airmen have died by suicide so far in 2014, a rate of more than 18 per 100,000 personnel.
The Army National Guard rate for 2012 reached 30.8 deaths per 100,000 with 110 suicides. The suicide rate for men in the Army National Guard was 34.2-per-100,000,Pentagon data shows. For full-time troops across the U.S. military, the suicide rate peaked at 22.7-per-100,000 in 2012 and fell to 19.1-per-100,000 last year, according to the Pentagon.
Pentagon Reports 474 Military Suicides in 2013 — 18% Drop from 2012 Toll
The suicide rate for active-duty military fell 18 percent in 2013, but the toll is still daunting — 474 troops killed themselves, according to a Pentagon report released Friday. The preliminary 2013 total deaths by suicide were 261 among active duty service members and 213 deaths in the reserve component, compared with a total 522 a year earlier.
“With an 18 percent drop in 2013, something is going right,” said Army Lt. Gen. Michael Linnington, military deputy at the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.
Military suicides fell last year, report findsThat report began with the "good news" followed by the bad on the suicides of National Guards and Reservists.
Suicides across the military dropped by more than 15 percent last year, but new detailed data reveal an increase in the number of Army National Guard and Reserve soldiers who took their own lives.
The overall totals provided by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps give some hope that prevention programs and increased efforts to identify troops at risk may be taking hold after several years of escalating suicides.
But the increase among Army National Guard and Reserve members raises questions about whether those programs are getting to the citizen soldiers who may not have the same access to support networks and help that their active duty comrades receive.
Military suicide rate increasing Increase among Army National Guard, Reserve members
"Some of it is just personal make-up. Intestinal fortitude. Mental toughness that ensures that people are able to deal with stressful situations."According to another General. But this one went on to blame the family as well.
"But it also has to do with where you come from. I came from a loving family, one who gave lots of positive reinforcement, who built up psychologically who I was, who I am, what I might want to do."General Raymond Odierno said that last year in an interview with Huffington Post.
War-years military suicide rate higher than believed
USA TODAY
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Gregg Zoroya
April 25, 2014
Rates of suicide in the military were slightly worse during the war years than what the Pentagon previously reported, according to new calculations released by Defense Department officials Friday.
The new arithmetic shows that from 2006 forward — during the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan — the true suicide rate across the U.S. military was actually several tenths of a percent to 1% or more higher than what was being reported.
"It took us time and effort to sit down and really just kind of figure out a better way to do the math," says Jacqueline Garrick, director of the Defense Suicide Prevention Office. She said the delay was a need to standardize how suicides are counted across the military.
The problem with the old, now-abandoned calculation, is that it relied partly on an estimated figure in determining a suicide rate rather than precise numbers, says Army Lt. Gen. Michael Linnington, the military deputy to the under secretary of Defense for personnel and readiness.
The old rates were calculated by the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, according to the Pentagon,
"It's jaw-dropping that the Pentagon would use this kind of crass calculation to measure the impact of the suicide epidemic within their ranks," says Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a senior member of the Veterans Affairs Committee. "If that recalculation in any way indicates a need for additional funding or new services, the Pentagon and Congress must respond to address a problem which is clearly worse than we had been led to believe."
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