A few weeks ago I wrote about the growing problem of veteran suicide. I have since been asked to follow up and talk about ways in which the problem could be solved and the policies that are in place to help struggling vets. I have done a little bit more research and have found some interesting facts about vet suicide. According to a VA study vets are killing themselves at a rate of 22 per day, which equates to 8,000 deaths a year. Around 69 percent of these suicides are individuals over the age of 50, a statistic that surprised me at first read. What this tells us is, as our older veterans begin to age, the problems associated with their service do not simply go away. As the combat winds down in Afghanistan and with operations finished in Iraq the veteran population is going to continue to rise as incentives to stay active start to dwindle we will soon be dealing with much larger group of people, many of whom may suffer from mental problems.

 
The question obviously becomes “what to we do about it?” As I write this, I find myself thinking I am not sure there is a policy directive or program that can really make progress. Many programs are already in place. The VA has health clinics and a 24-hour hotline that is designed for veterans to be able to call and work through their problems. Stop Soldier Suicide (SSS) is a veteran-led nonprofit with a mission of reducing vet suicide. There are many of these organizations all throughout the country. SSS believes one of the major problems is identifying the actual reasons for suicidal thoughts. These reasons run the entire spectrum of emotional issues from disability, depression, joblessness, and PTSD. The problem with identifying these issues is one must first have a chance to evaluate the veteran, which means they (the veteran) actually have to call and ask for help. When vets seek mental help from the VA they can wait an average of 50 days before receiving treatment, which may be just too long to wait. Such is the case with many VA services; there are just simply too many veterans and not enough providers for care to be rendered quickly. One step the VA has taken to help with this problem is the added chat and text functions to the Veteran Crisis Line system which may aid in helping some vets talk out problems before its too late.

 
As I mentioned in my previous post about suicide I know several Marines that I served with who chose to end their own life. Some of these guys I knew pretty well, others not as much. But I cannot name a single reason why any of them actually followed through an committed suicide, which is perhaps why coming up with policies for prevention is almost impossible.

 
Some ideas include throwing money at the problem through congressional bills and legislation designed to help the VA and other programs. I am not going to sit here and say that’s not going to help; I just can’t reason exactly how it will. Another solution is to encourage more people to get involved but again, when a crisis line has answered nearly a million calls since 2007 adding a couple more phone lines isn’t going to make a huge of impact either. One of the better solutions is to do everything we can to reduce the stigma associated with asking for help. In the military and particularly the infantry feeling sad or depressed is a sign of weakness. We have an annual safety briefing in which we talk about suicide but most of us laugh it off and wait for our commander to release us for the weekend. When I was getting out we had to go through a program talking about the transition from military life to civilian life, but one thing that might have been helpful for those struggling is mandatory counseling session prior to leaving active service. Granted, having to this would have made me mad and wasted my time, but if there is a chance that a young military person can have some issues identified before they become civilians it might just be worth it.

 
For some further reading the Huffington Post has an ongoing series called “Invisible Casualties” that is worth checking out; this series will explain these issues with much more depth.