In Unit Stalked By Suicide, Veterans Try To Save One Another?

Suicide is an unpleasant outcome from war. The Veterans Hospital is designed to assist in these situations effecting veterans from war, but it is often referred to as inadequate. Majority of data relating to suicidal deaths regarding veterans often refers to an increase since 2008. How can statistics derive this association when the Department of Defense began tracking veteran suicides in 2008? Dave Phillips expresses the frustrations of veterans in his article, “In Unit Stalked by Suicide, Veterans Try to Save One Another” in the NY Times. Phillips references how most of the veterans feel like the VA is not there to support them. Phillips also refers to a situation when a veteran called for an appointment and was told they were too

All trained professionals associating with possible suicidal veterans need additional training, so they are capable of handling the situations and noticing the signs of suicide. Mazza, Giuliana, and Puskar emphasize the idea of evaluating the safety of every patient during each encounter is very important (4). Trained professionals should never miss an opportunity to prevent suicide from occurring. There is also a need for professionals to understand what the soldier went through during active duty, but they must also fight the stigma that a soldier asking for help is a sign of weakness. In an article John McCarthy et al. agrees that professionals have to be capable of reviewing patients risk for suicide, but it requires a high level of clinical skill, and the ability to give soldiers a reason to trust (1935). Bossarte, Claassen, and Knox add that both the psychological and physical trauma connected to combat increases the risk for suicide (460). When soldiers are injured in war they are often medicated on the battlefield with drugs so they can return to the war as quickly as possible (McCarl 409). This can led to veteran’s dependency on drugs, or the idea that they need to suppress feelings and emotions and it is easier than dealing with them. The veteran coming home needs access to trained assistance at all times, but those assisting have to truly care and want to prevent anything bad from happening to the new veteran. McCarl mentions the situations when Randen, a soldier, seeks help numerous times from the VA, but he is sent home repeatedly without any help. Continuously seeking assistance is a cry for help and signifies the severity of the situation for that soldier (Mazza, Guiliana, and