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Combat not linked to rise in military suicides
"A tour of duty in Afghanistan or Iraq — even one involving combat — does not increase a service member's risk of suicide, according to a study that tracked more than 150,000 troops for up to eight years.
The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., challenges the common assumption that the stresses of being in a war zone and exposure to the horrors of battle are behind a sharp increase in the military's suicide rate over the last decade.
The study found that those most likely to take their own lives were men who had reported a history of mental health troubles."
STORY
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I guess I have to give it some weight given where it comes from but still I hesitate to do so.
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Interesting, all we have been hearing for the last 5 or 6 years is the increase in suicide among our soldiers and that it is due to the deployments and what they go through.
Now it appears not so much.
This part:
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Other experts have suggested that people who volunteer for service during war may be more likely to have preexisting mental illness.
A recent Times article looking at suicides among service members who never deployed to war zones found several cases in which recruits were struggling with the direction of their lives and joined the military in search of purpose.
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Lines up with what I remember about service time. You could spot the ones that were going to do something colossally stupid, they were squirrily on day 1 for the most part. Not all, but most of them. I knew or knew of several that capped their self, or someone else, or tried to.
One guy, nice as could be, completely harmless lopro kind of guy. Won a raffle in the shop and the prize was a half gallon of Jack. That was Friday, I was off base all weekend. Monday I am in the shop 6am and heard he broke off a broom handle, beat on one of the other guys door in the barracks and then stabbed him in the chest with the broom handle, claimed he was the Black Jesus Christ. I talked to him a couple times while he was in the nuthatch, claimed he didn't know anything.
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Are they trying to say that post traumatic stress disorder alone cannot drive someone to suicide?
If they are I personally think that's a crock of shit.
In theatre or on tour a soldier doesn't have time to think about the things he's seen and done but when he gets home and has more than enough time to sit and think that's when the problems start.
We need to punish the French, ignore the Germans and forgive the Russians - Condoleezza Rice.
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(08-07-2013, 10:58 AM)Cynical Ninja Wrote: In theatre or on tour a soldier doesn't have time to think about the things he's seen and done but when he gets home and has more than enough time to sit and think that's when the problems start.
"The things we see associated with suicide outside the military are the same things we see associated with suicide in the military," he said.
That suggests that identifying and treating depression and alcohol abuse could prevent suicides, he and others said.
Golly!
You think that combat
might cause depression and start someone on a course of self-medication?
Bloody hell!
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I think a huge percentage of men that go into the military are already mentally unstable/weak. That's the reason they joined in the first place. Little do they know it's adding insult to injury. The recruiters don't tell them that.
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(08-07-2013, 07:26 PM)BlueTiki Wrote: "The things we see associated with suicide outside the military are the same things we see associated with suicide in the military," he said.
That suggests that identifying and treating depression and alcohol abuse could prevent suicides, he and others said.
Golly!
You think that combat might cause depression and start someone on a course of self-medication?
Bloody hell!
Uh huh and what causes the alcohol abuse and depression? Post traumatic stress disorder! and what causes post traumatic stress disorder? Combat!
As easy as 1, 2, 3!
We need to punish the French, ignore the Germans and forgive the Russians - Condoleezza Rice.
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Like pissing on corpses, in Helmand at the time a real laugh with your mates!
Six months later at 3 am? Not so funny anymore! Time for a drink the first one of many no doubt.
We need to punish the French, ignore the Germans and forgive the Russians - Condoleezza Rice.
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Well, when I kill an enemy on going to piss on it too! Count on it.
![[Image: Zy3rKpW.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Zy3rKpW.png)
