Essay On Veterans Suicide

PROBLEM STATEMENT

With a suicide rate 50 percent higher than civilians, there are too many young veterans committing suicide in the U.S.. Once separated from military service, men and women become veterans and do not have as much support as they did while in the service. They have disparate needs than civilians, and the military culture of mental toughness, with its emphasis on obedience, selflessness, and duty does not protect these young people from mental illness. Nor do current health care treatments or resources provided for transition into civilian life. In order to successfully help these veterans, we must use prevention tactics like screenings, counseling, and education to help them transition into civilian life and enjoy mental wellness.

Mental health conditions, traumatic brain injury, and suicide risk are significantly higher in recent wartime veterans, especially when compared to veterans of the Vietnam and Gulf War periods. The “healthy soldier effect” used to mean that veterans had lower overall mortality rates compared to the general population. However, suicide risk is not included in this effect any longer. Veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn

are not enjoying the healthy soldier effect, and we are seeing a spike in suicides of 18-25 year olds who recently left the military. The statistics are alarming: in 2012 suicides outnumbered those killed in combat and one in two young veterans say they know a fellow veteran who has committed suicide.
There has been much research into suicide risk and young veterans, and there is good information on the “who, what, when, and where”. For example, a veteran who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan is 41 to 61 percent more at risk for a suicide attempt than the general population. However, the “why”, or the cause and reason, for the huge difference between suicide risks in veterans versus civilians is still not known for sure. However, important risk factors are there to focus on when obstructing veteran suicide. After leaving the military, the risk is highest for veterans in their first three years. The suicide rate in nondeployed veterans who never went to Afghanistan or Iraq is 16 percent higher than for those who did. Veteran male soldiers 23 years old and younger have a two to three times higher risk than citizens and active duty military. Unmarried and white men, military or not, are more at risk. Nondeployed service members with psychological or behavioral problems may receive less care than deployed. Female veterans kill themselves two times that of other women. Finally, those on their first month of antidepressants are also more at risk for suicide.
A statistic has been floating around since a report from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it: 22 veterans commit suicide every day. This statistic is an estimate death certificates, and is skewed towards older veterans: the average age of male veteran suicides is 59.6. The problem we want to focus on is young veterans, and the spike in suicides in veterans 18 to 24 years old. According to a DoD report, 443 service members took their own lives in 2014 and over 200 were lost in the first six months of 2015. The report also shows that for three years in a row, more service members were lost to suicide than in combat. According to a Washington Post poll, one in two veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars say they know a fellow service member who attempted or committed suicide. Therefore, there is a definite problem with military suicide, but the numbers for young veterans are less overwhelming than the 22 a day statistic. According to a February 2015 study, between 2001 and 2009, there were 1,868 suicides, equating to about one young veteran suicide per day over nine years. Suicide is still a concern among the young veteran population, but an easier and more effective challenge to tackle. Not only will focusing on young veterans decrease suicides now, it will hopefully make for healthier veterans in the long run.
BACKGROUND
It was in 1973 that conscription in the U.S., also known as the draft, was eliminated, as the Vietnam War drew to a close.

Ever since, the U.S. has managed an All-Volunteer Force (AVF) to provide the humanpower to support the interests of the U.S.. In 2001 and 2002 respectively, the U.S. started the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War. These wars have changed the success of the AVF, testing its effectiveness outside of peacetime. The US military slowly had more trouble recruiting enough volunteers to maintain the force required. In 2008, in order to combat this problem, the Department of Defense (DoD) created a directive that called for a long-term plan to increase the size, roles, and responsibilities of the Reserve Forces component of the military going

forward.
The reserve forces, also known as the Guard, are an organization, part of the U.S. Armed Forces, which includes citizens that combine a military career with a civilian one. Originally, upon the creation of the reserve in 1908, these citizen-soldiers were to augment the regular army in times of crisis. Now, they generally perform a minimum of 39 das of military duty per year. Also, the U.S. still has about 3,500 in Iraq, and just announced a raise in the force cap to 100 service members to conduct raids in Iraq and Syria. A recent article announced that approximately 65 Wisconsin Army National Guard Soldiers will mobilize in support of an upcoming deployment. This is the first initiative to integrate reservists into a multi-component unit beside active duty service members. The constant rotations over the past 14 years are starting to wear on active duty and reservists alike, and insufficient recovery time is almost certainly a factor in the increase in mental health conditions.
More time in the field has definitely increased the number of service members who return with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and more are surviving with injuries due to medical technology, which before would have killed them. These injuries are causing some of the unhealthiness in solders and veterans, but their biggest risk to life is mental illness. Death by suicide is much more likely than death by any other cause in soldiers, be they deployed or non-deployed, active or reservist, male or female.
OVERVIEW OF EXISTING POLICY
Veteran suicide prevention is important to the U.S., as shown by the multitude of charity organizations and governmental support. In 2011, a longstanding policy to deny presidential condolence letters to families of soldiers who killed themselves was reversed. Just in February of this year, the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act was passed, named for a Marine Corp veteran with PTSD who committed suicide in 2011. The act calls for a website about mental health services to give veterans information. Furthermore, the VA and DoD are to have independent reviews of current programs on suicide prevention, peer support, and community outreach. It also adds an incentive for psychiatry students to work in the VA health system and allows the VA to collaborate with suicide prevention nonprofits.
The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act was blocked in December of 2014 due to the cost, $22 million, which, the Washington Post points out, is less than the cost of a single new fighter jet. The block did not stop the Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act, which, one, requires an annual health assessment for all service members. Two, it ensures privacy for those who seek help. Three, it requires a report to evaluate existing military mental health practices and improvements. These acts, now passed, will tackle the two sides of mental health: prevention and treatment. However, veteran’s advocates are already saying that the legislation is not enough, and argue for more access to mental health care providers. Yet, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH), half of U.S. counties don’t have mental health professionals.