In all, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, America
has more than
25 million living veterans including 8 million from
the Vietnam era. More than 4 million
World War II veterans survive as well as an
approximate 100 from
World War I.
The consensus estimate is that about 1.5 million men
and women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan with that
figure increasing by 100,000 annually.
Based on Pentagon projections that U.S. involvement
in the Middle East could continue another 8-12 years
that will bring the total uniformed personnel to about
2.5 million.
Like others, I wonder what the U. S. goal is in Iraq.
Last week, in a Washington Post op-ed piece,
twelve former Army captains called for either a
voluntary military to mount a more aggressive campaign
against the insurgents or an immediate withdrawal. [The
Real Iraq We Knew, Washington Post,
October 16, 2007]
But what may await veterans when they return home is
as frightening as what they encountered on the
battlefield.
According to the website maintained by
former E-5
Larry Scott
Veterans For Common Sense, and based on government
data reported by the Associated Press, at least
283 combat veterans who left the military between the
start of the war in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 and
the end of 2005 took their own lives. And an additional
147 troops killed themselves in Iraq or Afghanistan
since the wars began—total suicides, 430. [Iraq,
Afghan Vets At Risk For Suicide, By Kimberley
Hefling, Associated Press, October 31, 2007]
As appalling as that count is, it is incomplete.
Excluded are members of the military who returned from
Iraq and then killed themselves before being discharged
from the service – men like
Sgt Brian Rand who, after he returned from his
second Iraqi tour, shot himself in the head.
Also not included are the
deaths of people like Sgt. James Dean who was shot
by Maryland state troopers after he barricaded himself
in his father’s farmhouse. Observers call those deaths
"suicide by cop."
Because of a growing concern over veteran suicides,
President Bush signed the
Joshua Omvig suicide prevention bill on Monday,
providing improved screening and treatment for at-risk
veterans. Omvig was 22-year-old soldier from Iowa who,
in December 2005 after he returned from Iraq, killed
himself.
Suicides in Iraq have occurred since the early days
of the wars. But awareness was heightened when the Army
said its suicide rate in 2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000
troops—the highest level in 26 years of record keeping.
Dr. Dan Blazer, a
Duke University Medical Center psychiatry professor
who served this year on the military's mental health
task force, said improved treatment might help some.
But Blazer still treats World War II veterans for
post-traumatic shock. So his concern for the Iraq and
Afghanistan soldiers is high.
"There's still going to be individuals that just
totally slip through all of these safety nets that we
construct to try to help things in the aftermath,"
Blazer told the Associated Press.
Added Blazer: "Suicide is a cost of war. It's a
big one."
The thought that a young man or woman could enlist
and fight for their country in the Middle East, only to
die at their own hand, is another ugly chapter in an
increasingly senseless war.
The best thing that all of us can do for our veterans
is—in the words of Woodbridge (CA)’s Stacey Beintema
whose son
Army Sgt. Nicholas Beintema was
wounded in 2005 near Tal Afar during Operation Iraqi
Freedom—to "say a prayer for each and every one of
the brave men and women fighting oversees, and for their
families who are fighting right along with them—fighting
to bring them home safe and sound."
[JoeNote
To
VDARE.COM readers:
For those of you
interested in contacting veterans recently returned from
Iraq or reading their answers to questions posed by
other Americans, go to the New York Times
"Home Fires" blog. Five veterans will address your
comments. The link is
here.]
Joe Guzzardi [email
him], an instructor in English
at the Lodi Adult School, has been writing a weekly
column since 1988. It currently appears in the
Lodi News-Sentinel.
