By Penny Coleman, AlterNet
Posted on November 26, 2007,
Printed on November 26, 2007
Earlier this year, using the clout that only major broadcast networks seem capable of mustering, CBS News contacted the governments of all 50 states requesting their official records of death by suicide going back 12 years. They heard back from 45 of the 50. From the mountains of gathered information, they sifted out the suicides of those Americans who had served in the armed forces. What they discovered is that in 2005 alone -- and remember, this is just in 45 states -- there were at least 6,256 veteran suicides, 120 every week for a year and an average of 17 every day.
As the widow of a Vietnam vet who killed himself after coming home, and as the author of a book for which I interviewed dozens of other women who had also lost husbands (or sons or fathers) to PTSD and suicide in the aftermath of the war in Vietnam, I am deeply grateful to CBS for undertaking this long overdue investigation. I am also heartbroken that the numbers are so astonishingly high and tentatively optimistic that perhaps now that there are hard numbers to attest to the magnitude of the problem, it will finally be taken seriously. I say tentatively because this is an administration that melts hard numbers on their tongues like communion wafers.
Since these new wars began, and in spite of a continuous flood of alarming reports, the Department of Defense has managed to keep what has clearly become an epidemic of death beneath the radar of public awareness by systematically concealing statistics about soldier suicides. They have done everything from burying them on official casualty lists in a category they call "accidental noncombat deaths" to outright lying to the parents of dead soldiers. And the Department of Veterans Affairs has rubber-stamped their disinformation, continuing to insist that their studies indicate that soldiers are killing themselves, not because of their combat experiences, but because they have "personal problems."
Active-duty soldiers, however, are only part of the story. One of the well-known characteristics of post-traumatic stress injuries is that the onset of symptoms is often delayed, sometimes for decades. Veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam are still taking their own lives because new PTSD symptoms have been triggered, or old ones retriggered, by stories and images from these new wars. Their deaths, like the deaths of more recent veterans, are written up in hometown newspapers; they are locally mourned, but officially ignored. The VA doesn't track or count them. It never has. Both the VA and the Pentagon deny that the problem exists and sanctimoniously point to a lack of evidence they have refused to gather.
They have managed this smoke and mirrors trick for decades in large part because suicide makes people so uncomfortable. It has often been called "that most secret death" because no one wants to talk about it. Over time, in different parts of the world, attitudes have fluctuated between the belief that the act is a sin, a right, a crime, a romantic gesture, an act of consummate bravery or a symptom of mental illness. It has never, however, been an emotionally neutral issue.
In the United States, the rationalism of our legal system has acknowledged for 300 years that the act is almost always symptomatic of a mental illness. For those same 300 years, organized religions have stubbornly maintained that it's a sin. In fact, the very worst sin. The one that is never forgiven because it's too late to say you're sorry.
The contradiction between religious doctrine and secular law has left suicide in some kind of nether space in which the fundamentals of our systems of justice and belief are disrupted. A terrible crime has been committed, a murder, and yet there can be no restitution, no punishment. As sin or as mental illness, the origins of suicide live in the mind, illusive, invisible, associated with the mysterious, the secretive and the undisciplined, a kind of omnipresent Orange Alert. Beware the abnormal. Beware the Other.
For years now, this administration has been blasting us with high-decibel, righteous posturing about suicide bombers, those subhuman dastards who do the unthinkable, using their own bodies as lethal weapons. "Those people, they aren't like us; they don't value life the way we do," runs the familiar xenophobic subtext: And sometimes the text isn't even sub-: "Many terrorists who kill innocent men, women, and children on the streets of Baghdad are followers of the same murderous ideology that took the lives of our citizens in New York, in Washington and Pennsylvania," proclaimed W, glibly conflating Sept. 11, the invasion of Iraq, Islam, fanatic fundamentalism and human bombs.
Bush has also expressed the opinion that suicide bombers are motivated by despair, neglect and poverty. The demographic statistics on suicide bombers suggest that this isn't the necessarily the case. Most of the Sept. 11 terrorists came from comfortable middle- to upper-middle-class families and were well-educated. Ironically, despair, neglect and poverty may be far more significant factors in the deaths of American soldiers and veterans who are taking their own lives.
Consider the 25 percent of enlistees and the 50 percent of reservists who have come back from the war with serious mental health issues. Despair seems an entirely appropriate response to the realization that the nightmares and flashbacks may never go away, that your ability to function in society and to manage relationships, work schedules or crowds will never be reliable. How not to despair if your prognosis is: Suck it up, soldier. This may never stop!
Neglect? The VA's current backlog is 800,000 cases. Aside from the appalling conditions in many VA hospitals, in 2004, the last year for which statistics are available, almost 6 million veterans and their families were without any healthcare at all. Most of them are working people -- too poor to afford private coverage, but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care. Soldiers and veterans need help now, the help isn't there, and the conversations about what needs to be done are only just now beginning.
Poverty? The symptoms of post-traumatic stress injuries or traumatic brain injuries often make getting and keeping a job an insurmountable challenge. The New York Times reported last week that though veterans make up only 11 percent of the adult population, they make up 26 percent of the homeless. If that doesn't translate into despair, neglect and poverty, well, I'm not sure the distinction is one worth quibbling about.
There is a particularly terrible irony in the relationship between suicide bombers and the suicides of American soldiers and veterans. With the possible exception of some few sadists and psychopaths, Americans don't enlist in the military because they want to kill civilians. And they don't sign up with the expectation of killing themselves. How incredibly sad that so many end up dying of remorse for having performed acts that so disturb their sense of moral selfhood that they sentence themselves to death.
There is something so smugly superior in the way we talk about suicide bombers and the cultures that produce them. But here is an unsettling thought. In 2005, 6,256 American veterans took their own lives. That same year, there were about 130 documented deaths of suicide bombers in Iraq.* Do the math. That's a ratio of 50-to-1. So who is it that is most effectively creating a culture of suicide and martyrdom? If George Bush is right, that it is despair, neglect and poverty that drive people to such acts, then isn't it worth pointing out that we are doing a far better job?
*I say "about" because in the aftermath of a suicide bombing, it is often very difficult for observers to determine how many individual bodies have been blown to pieces.
Penny Coleman is the widow of a Vietnam veteran who took his own life after coming home. Her latest book, Flashback: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Suicide and the Lessons of War, was released on Memorial Day, 2006. Her blog is Flashback.
--contributed by Patti Woodard
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
US pays British troops for Iraq crash injuries
In a groundbreaking move, the Pentagon is compensating servicemen seriously hurt when an American tank convoy forced them off the road
Mark Townsend, defence correspondent
Sunday November 4, 2007 The Observer
The Pentagon has agreed to pay more than £300,000 in compensation to British soldiers who were seriously injured when their vehicle was in a collision with a US tank convoy on an Iraqi road.
The landmark decision is the first time that the US military has offered money to British troops injured by US forces after admitting liability. The decision could, say lawyers, pave the way for more payouts to British servicemen accidentally injured in Iraq and Afghanistan by the Americans.
Corporal Jane McLauchlan, Staff Sergeant James Rogerson, Corporal Stephen Smith and their interpreter, Khalid Allahou, have been told they will receive collective compensation of £320,000 from the US authorities after the accident more than four years ago.
Initially, the American military denied it had any record of the incident. Later it emerged that the collision had been officially recorded at the time. Lawyers for the British troops have accused the US authorities of attempting to 'dump' their inquiry in a move to block the compensation claim, the first private action involving coalition allies in Iraq.
Michael Doyle, a personal injury lawyer for Houston-based firm Doyle Raizner which took the case against the Pentagon, said the claimants were relieved their ordeal was over. 'They only ever wanted the US to admit fault. After years of denying such an incident even occurred, they have now admitted liability for what happened. As far as we can tell, this is the first and only time the US has paid out to British troops.'
The decision, a rare admission of liability from the Pentagon, increases the likelihood that more British troops injured by US forces could receive compensation. However, legal sources said that 'friendly-fire' incidents were unlikely to be affected by the ruling. Doyle said that in those cases the US authorities were protected by 'combat immunity' and that he had secured the £320,000 payout by using the US Foreign Claims Act, which provides compensation for death or injuries caused by non-combat activities of US military personnel.
The Pentagon has refused to compensate the family of ITN journalist Terry Lloyd, despite claims that US Marines 'almost certainly' fired the shots that killed him and his interpreter, Hussein Osman, near the Shatt al-Basra bridge in 2003.
A number of British troops have also been accidentally killed by US fighter planes in Iraq and Afghanistan, including three men from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment in northern Helmand province, Afghanistan, last August. 'This was a unique case. This was always a case where there was a wrong, but we were never sure that we could find a right,' Doyle said.
In the incident a Royal Military Police Land Rover was struck twice from behind by a US tank transporter. Corporal McLauchlan, who was at the wheel of the Land Rover, was unable to keep control and crashed off the road. Initially, the Royal Military Police launched a detailed inquiry into the incident and named the US unit and driver involved, before the Pentagon said it would take over the investigation.
Only after substantial pressure did the Pentagon admit the existence of a three-page statement by the US National Guard convoy involved in the incident, which mentioned that they 'had run some guys off the road'.
McLauchlan, 35, sustained multiple skull fractures, brain damage and punctured internal organs. She also claims she has suffered personality changes. She was assigned a non-combat role after the collision, but decided to leave the army last year.
Staff Sergeant Rogerson suffered head and spinal injuries. Allahou, who lives in Folkestone, Kent, with his British wife and had volunteered to work as a translator for the army, is said to be suffering long-term effects. Corporal Smith has made a good recovery and is now serving in Afghanistan.
Mark Townsend, defence correspondent
Sunday November 4, 2007 The Observer
The Pentagon has agreed to pay more than £300,000 in compensation to British soldiers who were seriously injured when their vehicle was in a collision with a US tank convoy on an Iraqi road.
The landmark decision is the first time that the US military has offered money to British troops injured by US forces after admitting liability. The decision could, say lawyers, pave the way for more payouts to British servicemen accidentally injured in Iraq and Afghanistan by the Americans.
Corporal Jane McLauchlan, Staff Sergeant James Rogerson, Corporal Stephen Smith and their interpreter, Khalid Allahou, have been told they will receive collective compensation of £320,000 from the US authorities after the accident more than four years ago.
Initially, the American military denied it had any record of the incident. Later it emerged that the collision had been officially recorded at the time. Lawyers for the British troops have accused the US authorities of attempting to 'dump' their inquiry in a move to block the compensation claim, the first private action involving coalition allies in Iraq.
Michael Doyle, a personal injury lawyer for Houston-based firm Doyle Raizner which took the case against the Pentagon, said the claimants were relieved their ordeal was over. 'They only ever wanted the US to admit fault. After years of denying such an incident even occurred, they have now admitted liability for what happened. As far as we can tell, this is the first and only time the US has paid out to British troops.'
The decision, a rare admission of liability from the Pentagon, increases the likelihood that more British troops injured by US forces could receive compensation. However, legal sources said that 'friendly-fire' incidents were unlikely to be affected by the ruling. Doyle said that in those cases the US authorities were protected by 'combat immunity' and that he had secured the £320,000 payout by using the US Foreign Claims Act, which provides compensation for death or injuries caused by non-combat activities of US military personnel.
The Pentagon has refused to compensate the family of ITN journalist Terry Lloyd, despite claims that US Marines 'almost certainly' fired the shots that killed him and his interpreter, Hussein Osman, near the Shatt al-Basra bridge in 2003.
A number of British troops have also been accidentally killed by US fighter planes in Iraq and Afghanistan, including three men from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment in northern Helmand province, Afghanistan, last August. 'This was a unique case. This was always a case where there was a wrong, but we were never sure that we could find a right,' Doyle said.
In the incident a Royal Military Police Land Rover was struck twice from behind by a US tank transporter. Corporal McLauchlan, who was at the wheel of the Land Rover, was unable to keep control and crashed off the road. Initially, the Royal Military Police launched a detailed inquiry into the incident and named the US unit and driver involved, before the Pentagon said it would take over the investigation.
Only after substantial pressure did the Pentagon admit the existence of a three-page statement by the US National Guard convoy involved in the incident, which mentioned that they 'had run some guys off the road'.
McLauchlan, 35, sustained multiple skull fractures, brain damage and punctured internal organs. She also claims she has suffered personality changes. She was assigned a non-combat role after the collision, but decided to leave the army last year.
Staff Sergeant Rogerson suffered head and spinal injuries. Allahou, who lives in Folkestone, Kent, with his British wife and had volunteered to work as a translator for the army, is said to be suffering long-term effects. Corporal Smith has made a good recovery and is now serving in Afghanistan.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Quincy soldier threatened: Before she was slain, Durkin wrote that a soldier pointed a gun at her
By SUE SCHEIBLE
The Patriot Ledger
QUINCY - Three months before she was found dead with a single gunshot wound to the head, Cpl. Ciara Durkin wrote to a friend that another soldier had pointed a 9mm handgun at her.
Durkin, who was stationed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, wrote that the soldier had been jailed and asked her friend not to tell others about the incident, Durkin family spokesman Douglas Bailey confirmed.‘‘That remains another thing to be tracked down,’’ Bailey said Sunday, referring to the military investigation of Durkin’s death.
Her body was found Sept. 28 near a church on the base, her M-16 rifle nearby. The death was initially reported as combat-related but Durkin’s family back in Quincy immediately suspected something else, since during her last visit home in September, she talked about ‘‘making enemies’’ because of things she learned working in a finance unit on the base.
The military has since called the death a non-combat fatality.Bailey confirmed that there are ‘‘third-hand’’ reports that Durkin was shot in the mouth, indicating suicide. ‘‘Someone in the military may have told a family member who told another family member’’ that the fatal gunshot was in the mouth, he said.
But family members have discounted the suicide theory, saying Durkin had plans for the future and appeared happy during her visit home.
The military is investigating the death but has released no information including whether there is any connection between it and Durkin’s report about having a gun pointed at her in June.
The Durkin family hopes to hear ‘‘any day now’’ about the military’s autopsy results, Bailey said. ‘‘The autopsy won’t be the end of the investigation,’’ he added. ‘‘There are a lot of leads that still need to be followed up on, more people to be interviewed.’’
The results of a separate autopsy are expected soon, Bailey said.
Meanwhile, the Durkin family is anxious for the investigation to move forward, he said. ‘‘They don’t expect closure soon but would like to start getting some better information. It could still take a year or more for the military to conclude more about the cause of death and the final report could reach no finding,’’ he said.
Durkin enlisted in the Army National Guard in 2005 and was assigned to the 726th Finance Batallion based in West Newton. She was deployed to Afghanistan in February.
Sue Scheible may be reached at sscheible@ledger.com .
Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Monday, November 19, 2007
The Patriot Ledger
QUINCY - Three months before she was found dead with a single gunshot wound to the head, Cpl. Ciara Durkin wrote to a friend that another soldier had pointed a 9mm handgun at her.
Durkin, who was stationed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, wrote that the soldier had been jailed and asked her friend not to tell others about the incident, Durkin family spokesman Douglas Bailey confirmed.‘‘That remains another thing to be tracked down,’’ Bailey said Sunday, referring to the military investigation of Durkin’s death.
Her body was found Sept. 28 near a church on the base, her M-16 rifle nearby. The death was initially reported as combat-related but Durkin’s family back in Quincy immediately suspected something else, since during her last visit home in September, she talked about ‘‘making enemies’’ because of things she learned working in a finance unit on the base.
The military has since called the death a non-combat fatality.Bailey confirmed that there are ‘‘third-hand’’ reports that Durkin was shot in the mouth, indicating suicide. ‘‘Someone in the military may have told a family member who told another family member’’ that the fatal gunshot was in the mouth, he said.
But family members have discounted the suicide theory, saying Durkin had plans for the future and appeared happy during her visit home.
The military is investigating the death but has released no information including whether there is any connection between it and Durkin’s report about having a gun pointed at her in June.
The Durkin family hopes to hear ‘‘any day now’’ about the military’s autopsy results, Bailey said. ‘‘The autopsy won’t be the end of the investigation,’’ he added. ‘‘There are a lot of leads that still need to be followed up on, more people to be interviewed.’’
The results of a separate autopsy are expected soon, Bailey said.
Meanwhile, the Durkin family is anxious for the investigation to move forward, he said. ‘‘They don’t expect closure soon but would like to start getting some better information. It could still take a year or more for the military to conclude more about the cause of death and the final report could reach no finding,’’ he said.
Durkin enlisted in the Army National Guard in 2005 and was assigned to the 726th Finance Batallion based in West Newton. She was deployed to Afghanistan in February.
Sue Scheible may be reached at sscheible@ledger.com .
Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Monday, November 19, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Pentagon Cover Up: 15,000 or more US casualties in Iraq War
By Mike Whitney
11/17/07 "ICH" -- -- The Pentagon has been concealing the true number of American casualties in the Iraq War. The real number exceeds 15,000 and CBS News can prove it.
CBS’s Investigative Unit wanted to do a report on the number of suicides in the military and “submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense”. After 4 months they received a document which showed--that between 1995 and 2007--there were 2,200 suicides among “active duty” soldiers.
Baloney.
The Pentagon was covering up the real magnitude of the “suicide epidemic”. Following an exhaustive investigation of veterans’ suicide data collected from 45 states; CBS discovered that in 2005 alone “THERE WERE AT LEAST 6,256 AMONG THOSE WHO SERVED IN THE ARMED FORCES. THAT’S 120 EACH AND EVERY WEEK IN JUST ONE YEAR.”
That is not a typo. Active and retired military personnel, mostly young veterans between the ages of 20 to 24, are returning from combat and killing themselves in record numbers. We can assume that "multiple-tours of duty" in a war-zone have precipitated a mental health crisis of which the public is entirely unaware and which the Pentagon is in total denial.
If we add the 6,256 suicide victims from 2005 to the “official” 3,865 reported combat casualties; we get a sum of 10,121. Even a low-ball estimate of similar 2004 and 2006 suicide figures, would mean that the total number of US casualties from the Iraq war now exceed 15,000.
That’s right; 15,000 dead US servicemen and women in a war that--as yet--has no legal or moral justification.
CBS interviewed Dr. Ira Katz, the head of mental health at the Department of Veteran Affairs. Katz attempted to minimize the surge in veteran suicides saying, “There is no epidemic of suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem.”
Maybe Katz right. Maybe there is no epidemic. Maybe it’s perfectly normal for young men and women to return from combat, sink into inconsolable depression, and kill themselves at greater rates than they were dying on the battlefield. Maybe it’s normal for the Pentagon to abandon them as soon as soon they return from their mission so they can blow their brains out or hang themselves with a garden hose in their basement. Maybe it's normal for politicians to keep funding wholesale slaughter while they brush aside the casualties they have produced by their callousness and lack of courage. Maybe it is normal for the president to persist with the same, bland lies that perpetuate the occupation and continue to kill scores of young soldiers who put themselves in harm’s-way for their country.
It’s not normal; it’s is a pandemic---an outbreak of despair which is the natural corollary of living in constant fear; of seeing one’s friends being dismembered by roadside bombs or children being blasted to bits at military checkpoints or finding battered bodies dumped on the side of a riverbed like a bag of garbage.
&nsp; The rash of suicides is the logical upshot of Bush’s war. Returning soldiers are traumatized by their experience and now they are killing themselves in droves. Maybe we should have thought about that before we invaded.
Check it out the video at: CBS News “Suicide Epidemic among Veterans” http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml
--contributed by Patti Woodard
11/17/07 "ICH" -- -- The Pentagon has been concealing the true number of American casualties in the Iraq War. The real number exceeds 15,000 and CBS News can prove it.
CBS’s Investigative Unit wanted to do a report on the number of suicides in the military and “submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense”. After 4 months they received a document which showed--that between 1995 and 2007--there were 2,200 suicides among “active duty” soldiers.
Baloney.
The Pentagon was covering up the real magnitude of the “suicide epidemic”. Following an exhaustive investigation of veterans’ suicide data collected from 45 states; CBS discovered that in 2005 alone “THERE WERE AT LEAST 6,256 AMONG THOSE WHO SERVED IN THE ARMED FORCES. THAT’S 120 EACH AND EVERY WEEK IN JUST ONE YEAR.”
That is not a typo. Active and retired military personnel, mostly young veterans between the ages of 20 to 24, are returning from combat and killing themselves in record numbers. We can assume that "multiple-tours of duty" in a war-zone have precipitated a mental health crisis of which the public is entirely unaware and which the Pentagon is in total denial.
If we add the 6,256 suicide victims from 2005 to the “official” 3,865 reported combat casualties; we get a sum of 10,121. Even a low-ball estimate of similar 2004 and 2006 suicide figures, would mean that the total number of US casualties from the Iraq war now exceed 15,000.
That’s right; 15,000 dead US servicemen and women in a war that--as yet--has no legal or moral justification.
CBS interviewed Dr. Ira Katz, the head of mental health at the Department of Veteran Affairs. Katz attempted to minimize the surge in veteran suicides saying, “There is no epidemic of suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem.”
Maybe Katz right. Maybe there is no epidemic. Maybe it’s perfectly normal for young men and women to return from combat, sink into inconsolable depression, and kill themselves at greater rates than they were dying on the battlefield. Maybe it’s normal for the Pentagon to abandon them as soon as soon they return from their mission so they can blow their brains out or hang themselves with a garden hose in their basement. Maybe it's normal for politicians to keep funding wholesale slaughter while they brush aside the casualties they have produced by their callousness and lack of courage. Maybe it is normal for the president to persist with the same, bland lies that perpetuate the occupation and continue to kill scores of young soldiers who put themselves in harm’s-way for their country.
It’s not normal; it’s is a pandemic---an outbreak of despair which is the natural corollary of living in constant fear; of seeing one’s friends being dismembered by roadside bombs or children being blasted to bits at military checkpoints or finding battered bodies dumped on the side of a riverbed like a bag of garbage.
&nsp; The rash of suicides is the logical upshot of Bush’s war. Returning soldiers are traumatized by their experience and now they are killing themselves in droves. Maybe we should have thought about that before we invaded.
Check it out the video at: CBS News “Suicide Epidemic among Veterans” http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml
--contributed by Patti Woodard
Friday, November 16, 2007
120 US war veteran suicides a week
From correspondents in New York
November 15, 2007 09:47am
THE US military is experiencing a "suicide epidemic" with veterans killing themselves at the rate of 120 a week, according to an investigation by US television network CBS.
At least 6256 US veterans committed suicide in 2005 - an average of 17 a day - the network reported, with veterans overall more than twice as likely to take their own lives as the rest of the general population.
While the suicide rate among the general population was 8.9 per 100,000, the level among veterans was between 18.7 and 20.8 per 100,000.
That figure rose to 22.9 to 31.9 suicides per 100,000 among veterans aged 20 to 24 - almost four times the non-veteran average for the age group.
"Those numbers clearly show an epidemic of mental health problems,'' CBS quoted veterans' rights advocate Paul Sullivan as saying.
CBS quoted the father of a 23-year-old soldier who shot himself in 2005 as saying the military did not want the true scale of the problem to be known.
"Nobody wants to tally it up in the form of a government total,'' Mike Bowman said.
"They don't want the true numbers of casualties to really be known.''
There are 25 million veterans in the United States, 1.6 million of whom served in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to CBS.
"Not everyone comes home from the war wounded, but the bottom line is nobody comes home unchanged,'' Paul Rieckhoff, a former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America said on CBS.
The network said it was the first time that a nationwide count of veteran suicides had been conducted.
The tally was reached by collating suicide data from individual states for both veterans and the general population from 1995.
November 15, 2007 09:47am
THE US military is experiencing a "suicide epidemic" with veterans killing themselves at the rate of 120 a week, according to an investigation by US television network CBS.
At least 6256 US veterans committed suicide in 2005 - an average of 17 a day - the network reported, with veterans overall more than twice as likely to take their own lives as the rest of the general population.
While the suicide rate among the general population was 8.9 per 100,000, the level among veterans was between 18.7 and 20.8 per 100,000.
That figure rose to 22.9 to 31.9 suicides per 100,000 among veterans aged 20 to 24 - almost four times the non-veteran average for the age group.
"Those numbers clearly show an epidemic of mental health problems,'' CBS quoted veterans' rights advocate Paul Sullivan as saying.
CBS quoted the father of a 23-year-old soldier who shot himself in 2005 as saying the military did not want the true scale of the problem to be known.
"Nobody wants to tally it up in the form of a government total,'' Mike Bowman said.
"They don't want the true numbers of casualties to really be known.''
There are 25 million veterans in the United States, 1.6 million of whom served in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to CBS.
"Not everyone comes home from the war wounded, but the bottom line is nobody comes home unchanged,'' Paul Rieckhoff, a former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America said on CBS.
The network said it was the first time that a nationwide count of veteran suicides had been conducted.
The tally was reached by collating suicide data from individual states for both veterans and the general population from 1995.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Soldier who took overdose on eve of Iraq trip 'feared having to shoot children'
A young soldier was so traumatised by the prospect of his first Iraqi posting, he took an overdose which killed him.
Private Jason Chelsea couldn't come to terms with the thought that he might have to "shoot children" carrying suicide bombs.
He was so afraid, on the eve of the tour of duty with the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment he took a lethal quantity of paracetamol and iron tablets.
Unknown to Jason, they were a particularly destructive combination and he died from multi-organ failure following severe damage to his liver.
But as he lay dying, he repeatedly told medical staff: "I never wanted to die."
A donor organ had been found - despite the national shortage - as he battled for life in the renal unit at St James' Hospital, in Leeds, but he was by then too ill to face surgery.
Following the 19-year-old's death in August 2006, a Ministry of Defence Board of Inquiry was held into the circumstances behind his death.
And although the hearing remains confidential, it has been discovered it makes several recommendations about changes to Army procedure.
Jason, who was dyslexic, had also complained about bullying by some soldiers during his five and half year training.
He had been angry and insulted after hearing some say they wouldn't want to get into battle with him "in case he got them killed."
And he had self harmed, "superficially" slashing his wrists on two earlier occasions, after heavy drinking sessions, while on service.
An inquest was told he died after taking a fatal overdose of prescription drugs but Coroner Jennifer Leeming recorded a verdict of accidental death after hearing he had phoned for an emergency ambulance himself immediately after ingesting the pills at the family home in Wigan, Lancashire.
"Within a very short period of time after taking the tablets Jason had summoned the ambulance himself to take him to hospital and this was clearly not the action of someone who wanted to end his life," Mrs Leeming told Bolton Coroner's Court.
"This act could more consistently be described as a cry for help from a fragile young man about to serve in Iraq and faced with some financial problems and clearly finding it difficult to cope with these matters.
"Due to the fact that he had been drunk, perhaps these were out of proportion in his mind."
His mother, Kerry, told the hearing that her son originally wanted to be a chef but had joined the armed forces - against her wishes - after a recruitment road show landed at his school.
Jason, she said, was always the first to comfort neighbours in distress and was always there when anybody had problems.
But he was increasingly concerned about his impending tour of duty and what may be expected of him in Iraq.
She said this showed itself in his heavy drinking which, with his father Tony, she had tried her best to control.
She said: "Before he joined the army Jason didn't drink and his dad doesn't drink at all and I am only a very light drinker on social occasions.
"But when I asked him why he did drink so much now he said that that was army life and you would be the odd one out if you didn't do it - he didn't want to be left behind.
"He told me he used to drink vodka and gin because it wouldn't show on his breath so much and after he died we found empty spirits bottles hidden in the garage.
"After the overdose, when he came around the next morning, he told me that he really didn't want to go to Iraq and he was scared at having to maybe shoot children or adults because he said he didn't want to kill anybody.
"Basically I think he had just got himself in a state over it all.
"He also said that some boys had been nasty to him because he took a while to pick up the things he had to learn because he was dyslexic.
"He used to do the ironing and polishing the boots of friends and they would then help teach him the marching and the academic side of things in return."
Army company second in command Captain Steven Caldwell said that Kingsman Chelsea hadn't done anything "to raise the alarm" with his behaviour because a lot of young soldiers were "socially undeveloped" before they progressed.
He pointed out that operationally not every soldier was called upon to kill, and said the media had to shoulder some of the blame for "focussing on the negative" which, he acknowledged, had left some soldiers feeling "doomed."
He insisted their training did adequately prepare young soldiers for the psychological side of battle theatre situations.
Private Jason Chelsea couldn't come to terms with the thought that he might have to "shoot children" carrying suicide bombs.
He was so afraid, on the eve of the tour of duty with the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment he took a lethal quantity of paracetamol and iron tablets.
Unknown to Jason, they were a particularly destructive combination and he died from multi-organ failure following severe damage to his liver.
But as he lay dying, he repeatedly told medical staff: "I never wanted to die."
A donor organ had been found - despite the national shortage - as he battled for life in the renal unit at St James' Hospital, in Leeds, but he was by then too ill to face surgery.
Following the 19-year-old's death in August 2006, a Ministry of Defence Board of Inquiry was held into the circumstances behind his death.
And although the hearing remains confidential, it has been discovered it makes several recommendations about changes to Army procedure.
Jason, who was dyslexic, had also complained about bullying by some soldiers during his five and half year training.
He had been angry and insulted after hearing some say they wouldn't want to get into battle with him "in case he got them killed."
And he had self harmed, "superficially" slashing his wrists on two earlier occasions, after heavy drinking sessions, while on service.
An inquest was told he died after taking a fatal overdose of prescription drugs but Coroner Jennifer Leeming recorded a verdict of accidental death after hearing he had phoned for an emergency ambulance himself immediately after ingesting the pills at the family home in Wigan, Lancashire.
"Within a very short period of time after taking the tablets Jason had summoned the ambulance himself to take him to hospital and this was clearly not the action of someone who wanted to end his life," Mrs Leeming told Bolton Coroner's Court.
"This act could more consistently be described as a cry for help from a fragile young man about to serve in Iraq and faced with some financial problems and clearly finding it difficult to cope with these matters.
"Due to the fact that he had been drunk, perhaps these were out of proportion in his mind."
His mother, Kerry, told the hearing that her son originally wanted to be a chef but had joined the armed forces - against her wishes - after a recruitment road show landed at his school.
Jason, she said, was always the first to comfort neighbours in distress and was always there when anybody had problems.
But he was increasingly concerned about his impending tour of duty and what may be expected of him in Iraq.
She said this showed itself in his heavy drinking which, with his father Tony, she had tried her best to control.
She said: "Before he joined the army Jason didn't drink and his dad doesn't drink at all and I am only a very light drinker on social occasions.
"But when I asked him why he did drink so much now he said that that was army life and you would be the odd one out if you didn't do it - he didn't want to be left behind.
"He told me he used to drink vodka and gin because it wouldn't show on his breath so much and after he died we found empty spirits bottles hidden in the garage.
"After the overdose, when he came around the next morning, he told me that he really didn't want to go to Iraq and he was scared at having to maybe shoot children or adults because he said he didn't want to kill anybody.
"Basically I think he had just got himself in a state over it all.
"He also said that some boys had been nasty to him because he took a while to pick up the things he had to learn because he was dyslexic.
"He used to do the ironing and polishing the boots of friends and they would then help teach him the marching and the academic side of things in return."
Army company second in command Captain Steven Caldwell said that Kingsman Chelsea hadn't done anything "to raise the alarm" with his behaviour because a lot of young soldiers were "socially undeveloped" before they progressed.
He pointed out that operationally not every soldier was called upon to kill, and said the media had to shoulder some of the blame for "focussing on the negative" which, he acknowledged, had left some soldiers feeling "doomed."
He insisted their training did adequately prepare young soldiers for the psychological side of battle theatre situations.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Who Will Probe 'Noncombat' Deaths in Iraq?
About 20% of the U.S. deaths in Iraq are officially labeled "noncombat," and that number has been surging. This includes accidents, friendly fire and well over 120 suicides. But the government, and the media, seem reluctant to expose the tragedy, argues vets leader Paul Rieckhoff.
By Greg Mitchell NEW YORK (November 06, 2007)
-- Pretty much alone in the media, E&P for weeks had been charting a troubling increase in non-combat deaths among U.S. troops in Iraq.
So it came as no surprise recently when the Pentagon announced that it would probe the perplexing trend. Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, operations director of the Joint Staff, said commanders in Iraq were concerned enough about the spike in non-combat deaths -- from accidents, illness, friendly-fire or suicide -- that it had asked for an assessment by an Army team.
According to Pentagon figures, 29 soldiers lost their lives in August for non-hostile reasons, and another 23 died of non-combat causes in September. Compare that with the average for the first seven months of this year: fewer than nine per month.
The spike has coincided with extended 15-month deployments, one senior military official said. The military officially counts about 20% of the nearly 3900 U.S. fatalities in Iraq as "noncombat." It has officially confirmed 128 suicides in Iraq since 2003, with many others under investigation (and still more taking place on the return home).
Lt. Gen. Ham said morale remains high, but added, "I think there is a general consensus ... that for the Army, 15 months is a long hard tour. It's hard on the soldiers."
As I've noted repeatedly, the military releases little news to the press when a service member dies from a non-hostile cause, beyond saying it is "under investigation."
When that probe ends, many months later, the military normally does not tell anyone but family members of the deceased.
For more than four years, however, E&P has kept close tabs on non-combat deaths, and nearly every day lately I have combed the Web for details on new cases. Sometimes local newspapers find out about preliminary determinations -- including suicides -- passed along to families. So I checked again today on October casualties Vincent Kamka, Dr. Roselle Hoffmaster, and others.
In doing that a few days ago, I discovered what happened to Cpt. Erik T. Garoutte of Santee, Ca. He was a Marine who died last month at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune he "was exercising when he collapsed. He never regained consciousness."
More tragedy followed: His mother, Donna Stone, also of Santee, had a heart attack after hearing about his death. The Union-Tribune related that "the family hopes an autopsy will explain what caused Garoutte to die."
But why has the press given this so little attention to noncombat deaths, going back to the early days of the war?
Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq vet and now leader of the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, has long shared my concerns and frustration. Rieckhoff, author of the memoir "Chasing Ghosts," calls this "one of the most under- reported stories of the war.
I've been pitching the story to people for over two years. A lot of deaths are taking place under questionable circumstances -- the number would surprise you -- and no one looks at them, in theater or at home. It's a broad research project, and maybe it is not sexy, but it needs to be done."
The Veterans Administration doesn't track the deaths, Rieckhoff says. "I'd like to see a study of how many Iraq vets have died under any circumstance back in this country," he declares.
"We have suicide rates tracked in the military, but once they leave it is untraced. We have argued for a national registry, if you have been in the war."
Nobody has ever taken the step of pulling it all together. I know it would be expensive, time-consuming, and difficult for the media, but it is their responsibility. They did it with body armor, with corruption, now with Blackwater. You could at least do a clustering, like around Fort Bragg -- look at the deaths of all veterans within a 100-mile radius. If we could fund it, we would, but our group is too small."
What is his theory about the recent spike? "We know that our people are under tremendous stress," he replies.
"The operational tempo is unprecedented. I met a guy in a bar who has been there eight times. He said, 'Thank God I am young and single.' "We can push them harder, but is it smart? I don't think it is smart, or is right."
The surge in non-hostile deaths does not mean just suicides, but accidents due to overwork. Soldiers don't have a union like police and firemen, Rieckhoff points out. Federal agencies "would have a field day with working conditions," he adds. Why has there been so little coverage?
"I know access to the battle zone is an issue," he admits. "And dealing with families is delicate, but you can still handle it sensitively."
But he also cites what he calls a cultural issue: "After World War II, a lot of vets went into media and could navigate the system. Now so few reporters have served. Many don't know the difference between a brigade and a battalion. Also there is fear of how it is going to play in the pro- or anti-war debate. But this is not a partisan issue. Either way -- get to the bottom of this."
American people don't know a lot about these issues. People abroad ask me, are Americans stupid? I say, 'No, they just aren't told enough.'"
***UPDATE: I received the following two letters in response to the above.
*Thank you for addressing the non-combat deaths issue. I’ve been struck by the number of people killed when vehicles drove into canals (Michael Kelly of the Washington Post being the best known of these). Another mystery you should call attention to is the medivacs of people for non-combat injuries and illnesses, which far exceed those for combat injuries.
Icasualties.org reports 24,912 non-hostile medivacs, which means the people were flown out or Iraq and to Germany (or perhaps other military hospitals). Some 18,741 of the patients suffer from disease/other (as opposed to the 6,171 for non-combat related injuries, presumably trauma).
Disease? Three times as many of our troops are being flown out of Iraq for disease than wounds in battle (6,354), and yet we hear nothing about this epidemic, or whatever it is.
Soldiers are selected for their good health to begin with and most troops deployed are in their 20s and almost all, other than the National Guard duffers who have been sent over, are under 40. These diseases are serious enough that the soldiers have been flown out of the country, so we’re not talking about colds or even the clap, which can be treated with antibiotics. And Iraq seems a little short on prostitutes and brothels serving the U.S. forces anyway, unless they among the “contractors” being flown in from Thailand and other countries to provide services.
So we have a situation where thousands of certifiably healthy young men and women are coming down with diseases of some sort that are serious enough to get them flown out of the country on an emergency basis. What’s going on over there? Also, as for stress levels, the U.S. Army concluded in WWII that 24 weeks of combat was about all anyone could take and still be able to function as reasonably effective soldiers. That is about a third of the current tours of duty in Iraq.
Edward Furey New York, N.Y.*
*I would defy anyone to say with any assurance that they know what the Iraq combat casualties are (under the traditional definition) or that they know of a way to calculate them. The media has made it a practice to show only the number of deaths. On the rare occasion that they show deaths and wounded they are hit with a barrage of letters accusing them of being anti-war. Lord help them if they ever reported a total casualties figure. Even the dead reported may be under counted. We just have no way of knowing from official figures.
No one can sit there in Dover and count the airplanes and the caskets. Its verboten.
Has anyone ever attempted to use Nexis-Lexis to count the dead in news stories from around the country? I t is obscene to count as a non-combat death a death that occurs when a military vehicle overturns in a combat zone-- and all of Iraq is a combat zone. If I had a son or daughter killed in Iraq in that manner I would feel that that son or daughter had some how been denigrated, that their death was not as "worthy" as that of someone shot by an Iraqi.
The media now controlled by conglomerates involved with the defense industries or dependent on favorable governmental rulings no longer serves a higher purpose (if it ever did). It is all too ready to go along to get along.
Bob Reynolds Orange Park, Fla.
--reprinted with permission
By Greg Mitchell NEW YORK (November 06, 2007)
-- Pretty much alone in the media, E&P for weeks had been charting a troubling increase in non-combat deaths among U.S. troops in Iraq.
So it came as no surprise recently when the Pentagon announced that it would probe the perplexing trend. Lt. Gen. Carter Ham, operations director of the Joint Staff, said commanders in Iraq were concerned enough about the spike in non-combat deaths -- from accidents, illness, friendly-fire or suicide -- that it had asked for an assessment by an Army team.
According to Pentagon figures, 29 soldiers lost their lives in August for non-hostile reasons, and another 23 died of non-combat causes in September. Compare that with the average for the first seven months of this year: fewer than nine per month.
The spike has coincided with extended 15-month deployments, one senior military official said. The military officially counts about 20% of the nearly 3900 U.S. fatalities in Iraq as "noncombat." It has officially confirmed 128 suicides in Iraq since 2003, with many others under investigation (and still more taking place on the return home).
Lt. Gen. Ham said morale remains high, but added, "I think there is a general consensus ... that for the Army, 15 months is a long hard tour. It's hard on the soldiers."
As I've noted repeatedly, the military releases little news to the press when a service member dies from a non-hostile cause, beyond saying it is "under investigation."
When that probe ends, many months later, the military normally does not tell anyone but family members of the deceased.
For more than four years, however, E&P has kept close tabs on non-combat deaths, and nearly every day lately I have combed the Web for details on new cases. Sometimes local newspapers find out about preliminary determinations -- including suicides -- passed along to families. So I checked again today on October casualties Vincent Kamka, Dr. Roselle Hoffmaster, and others.
In doing that a few days ago, I discovered what happened to Cpt. Erik T. Garoutte of Santee, Ca. He was a Marine who died last month at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune he "was exercising when he collapsed. He never regained consciousness."
More tragedy followed: His mother, Donna Stone, also of Santee, had a heart attack after hearing about his death. The Union-Tribune related that "the family hopes an autopsy will explain what caused Garoutte to die."
But why has the press given this so little attention to noncombat deaths, going back to the early days of the war?
Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq vet and now leader of the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, has long shared my concerns and frustration. Rieckhoff, author of the memoir "Chasing Ghosts," calls this "one of the most under- reported stories of the war.
I've been pitching the story to people for over two years. A lot of deaths are taking place under questionable circumstances -- the number would surprise you -- and no one looks at them, in theater or at home. It's a broad research project, and maybe it is not sexy, but it needs to be done."
The Veterans Administration doesn't track the deaths, Rieckhoff says. "I'd like to see a study of how many Iraq vets have died under any circumstance back in this country," he declares.
"We have suicide rates tracked in the military, but once they leave it is untraced. We have argued for a national registry, if you have been in the war."
Nobody has ever taken the step of pulling it all together. I know it would be expensive, time-consuming, and difficult for the media, but it is their responsibility. They did it with body armor, with corruption, now with Blackwater. You could at least do a clustering, like around Fort Bragg -- look at the deaths of all veterans within a 100-mile radius. If we could fund it, we would, but our group is too small."
What is his theory about the recent spike? "We know that our people are under tremendous stress," he replies.
"The operational tempo is unprecedented. I met a guy in a bar who has been there eight times. He said, 'Thank God I am young and single.' "We can push them harder, but is it smart? I don't think it is smart, or is right."
The surge in non-hostile deaths does not mean just suicides, but accidents due to overwork. Soldiers don't have a union like police and firemen, Rieckhoff points out. Federal agencies "would have a field day with working conditions," he adds. Why has there been so little coverage?
"I know access to the battle zone is an issue," he admits. "And dealing with families is delicate, but you can still handle it sensitively."
But he also cites what he calls a cultural issue: "After World War II, a lot of vets went into media and could navigate the system. Now so few reporters have served. Many don't know the difference between a brigade and a battalion. Also there is fear of how it is going to play in the pro- or anti-war debate. But this is not a partisan issue. Either way -- get to the bottom of this."
American people don't know a lot about these issues. People abroad ask me, are Americans stupid? I say, 'No, they just aren't told enough.'"
***UPDATE: I received the following two letters in response to the above.
*Thank you for addressing the non-combat deaths issue. I’ve been struck by the number of people killed when vehicles drove into canals (Michael Kelly of the Washington Post being the best known of these). Another mystery you should call attention to is the medivacs of people for non-combat injuries and illnesses, which far exceed those for combat injuries.
Icasualties.org reports 24,912 non-hostile medivacs, which means the people were flown out or Iraq and to Germany (or perhaps other military hospitals). Some 18,741 of the patients suffer from disease/other (as opposed to the 6,171 for non-combat related injuries, presumably trauma).
Disease? Three times as many of our troops are being flown out of Iraq for disease than wounds in battle (6,354), and yet we hear nothing about this epidemic, or whatever it is.
Soldiers are selected for their good health to begin with and most troops deployed are in their 20s and almost all, other than the National Guard duffers who have been sent over, are under 40. These diseases are serious enough that the soldiers have been flown out of the country, so we’re not talking about colds or even the clap, which can be treated with antibiotics. And Iraq seems a little short on prostitutes and brothels serving the U.S. forces anyway, unless they among the “contractors” being flown in from Thailand and other countries to provide services.
So we have a situation where thousands of certifiably healthy young men and women are coming down with diseases of some sort that are serious enough to get them flown out of the country on an emergency basis. What’s going on over there? Also, as for stress levels, the U.S. Army concluded in WWII that 24 weeks of combat was about all anyone could take and still be able to function as reasonably effective soldiers. That is about a third of the current tours of duty in Iraq.
Edward Furey New York, N.Y.*
*I would defy anyone to say with any assurance that they know what the Iraq combat casualties are (under the traditional definition) or that they know of a way to calculate them. The media has made it a practice to show only the number of deaths. On the rare occasion that they show deaths and wounded they are hit with a barrage of letters accusing them of being anti-war. Lord help them if they ever reported a total casualties figure. Even the dead reported may be under counted. We just have no way of knowing from official figures.
No one can sit there in Dover and count the airplanes and the caskets. Its verboten.
Has anyone ever attempted to use Nexis-Lexis to count the dead in news stories from around the country? I t is obscene to count as a non-combat death a death that occurs when a military vehicle overturns in a combat zone-- and all of Iraq is a combat zone. If I had a son or daughter killed in Iraq in that manner I would feel that that son or daughter had some how been denigrated, that their death was not as "worthy" as that of someone shot by an Iraqi.
The media now controlled by conglomerates involved with the defense industries or dependent on favorable governmental rulings no longer serves a higher purpose (if it ever did). It is all too ready to go along to get along.
Bob Reynolds Orange Park, Fla.
--reprinted with permission
Sunday, November 04, 2007
US pays British troops for Iraq crash injuries
In a groundbreaking move, the Pentagon is compensating servicemen seriously hurt when an American tank convoy forced them off the road
Mark Townsend, defence correspondent
Sunday November 4, 2007
The Observer
The Pentagon has agreed to pay more than £300,000 in compensation to British soldiers who were seriously injured when their vehicle was in a collision with a US tank convoy on an Iraqi road. The landmark decision is the first time that the US military has offered money to British troops injured by US forces after admitting liability. The decision could, say lawyers, pave the way for more payouts to British servicemen accidentally injured in Iraq and Afghanistan by the Americans.
Corporal Jane McLauchlan, Staff Sergeant James Rogerson, Corporal Stephen Smith and their interpreter, Khalid Allahou, have been told they will receive collective compensation of £320,000 from the US authorities after the accident more than four years ago. Initially, the American military denied it had any record of the incident. Later it emerged that the collision had been officially recorded at the time. Lawyers for the British troops have accused the US authorities of attempting to 'dump' their inquiry in a move to block the compensation claim, the first private action involving coalition allies in Iraq.
Michael Doyle, a personal injury lawyer for Houston-based firm Doyle Raizner which took the case against the Pentagon, said the claimants were relieved their ordeal was over. 'They only ever wanted the US to admit fault. After years of denying such an incident even occurred, they have now admitted liability for what happened. As far as we can tell, this is the first and only time the US has paid out to British troops.'
The decision, a rare admission of liability from the Pentagon, increases the likelihood that more British troops injured by US forces could receive compensation. However, legal sources said that 'friendly-fire' incidents were unlikely to be affected by the ruling. Doyle said that in those cases the US authorities were protected by 'combat immunity' and that he had secured the £320,000 payout by using the US Foreign Claims Act, which provides compensation for death or injuries caused by non-combat activities of US military personnel.
The Pentagon has refused to compensate the family of ITN journalist Terry Lloyd, despite claims that US Marines 'almost certainly' fired the shots that killed him and his interpreter, Hussein Osman, near the Shatt al-Basra bridge in 2003. A number of British troops have also been accidentally killed by US fighter planes in Iraq and Afghanistan, including three men from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment in northern Helmand province, Afghanistan, last August. 'This was a unique case. This was always a case where there was a wrong, but we were never sure that we could find a right,' Doyle said.
In the incident a Royal Military Police Land Rover was struck twice from behind by a US tank transporter. Corporal McLauchlan, who was at the wheel of the Land Rover, was unable to keep control and crashed off the road. Initially, the Royal Military Police launched a detailed inquiry into the incident and named the US unit and driver involved, before the Pentagon said it would take over the investigation. Only after substantial pressure did the Pentagon admit the existence of a three-page statement by the US National Guard convoy involved in the incident, which mentioned that they 'had run some guys off the road'.
McLauchlan, 35, sustained multiple skull fractures, brain damage and punctured internal organs. She also claims she has suffered personality changes. She was assigned a non-combat role after the collision, but decided to leave the army last year.
Staff Sergeant Rogerson suffered head and spinal injuries. Allahou, who lives in Folkestone, Kent, with his British wife and had volunteered to work as a translator for the army, is said to be suffering long-term effects. Corporal Smith has made a good recovery and is now serving in Afghanistan.
Mark Townsend, defence correspondent
Sunday November 4, 2007
The Observer
The Pentagon has agreed to pay more than £300,000 in compensation to British soldiers who were seriously injured when their vehicle was in a collision with a US tank convoy on an Iraqi road. The landmark decision is the first time that the US military has offered money to British troops injured by US forces after admitting liability. The decision could, say lawyers, pave the way for more payouts to British servicemen accidentally injured in Iraq and Afghanistan by the Americans.
Corporal Jane McLauchlan, Staff Sergeant James Rogerson, Corporal Stephen Smith and their interpreter, Khalid Allahou, have been told they will receive collective compensation of £320,000 from the US authorities after the accident more than four years ago. Initially, the American military denied it had any record of the incident. Later it emerged that the collision had been officially recorded at the time. Lawyers for the British troops have accused the US authorities of attempting to 'dump' their inquiry in a move to block the compensation claim, the first private action involving coalition allies in Iraq.
Michael Doyle, a personal injury lawyer for Houston-based firm Doyle Raizner which took the case against the Pentagon, said the claimants were relieved their ordeal was over. 'They only ever wanted the US to admit fault. After years of denying such an incident even occurred, they have now admitted liability for what happened. As far as we can tell, this is the first and only time the US has paid out to British troops.'
The decision, a rare admission of liability from the Pentagon, increases the likelihood that more British troops injured by US forces could receive compensation. However, legal sources said that 'friendly-fire' incidents were unlikely to be affected by the ruling. Doyle said that in those cases the US authorities were protected by 'combat immunity' and that he had secured the £320,000 payout by using the US Foreign Claims Act, which provides compensation for death or injuries caused by non-combat activities of US military personnel.
The Pentagon has refused to compensate the family of ITN journalist Terry Lloyd, despite claims that US Marines 'almost certainly' fired the shots that killed him and his interpreter, Hussein Osman, near the Shatt al-Basra bridge in 2003. A number of British troops have also been accidentally killed by US fighter planes in Iraq and Afghanistan, including three men from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment in northern Helmand province, Afghanistan, last August. 'This was a unique case. This was always a case where there was a wrong, but we were never sure that we could find a right,' Doyle said.
In the incident a Royal Military Police Land Rover was struck twice from behind by a US tank transporter. Corporal McLauchlan, who was at the wheel of the Land Rover, was unable to keep control and crashed off the road. Initially, the Royal Military Police launched a detailed inquiry into the incident and named the US unit and driver involved, before the Pentagon said it would take over the investigation. Only after substantial pressure did the Pentagon admit the existence of a three-page statement by the US National Guard convoy involved in the incident, which mentioned that they 'had run some guys off the road'.
McLauchlan, 35, sustained multiple skull fractures, brain damage and punctured internal organs. She also claims she has suffered personality changes. She was assigned a non-combat role after the collision, but decided to leave the army last year.
Staff Sergeant Rogerson suffered head and spinal injuries. Allahou, who lives in Folkestone, Kent, with his British wife and had volunteered to work as a translator for the army, is said to be suffering long-term effects. Corporal Smith has made a good recovery and is now serving in Afghanistan.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Iraq, Afghan Vets at Risk for Suicides
By Kimberly Hefling
The Associated Press
Wednesday 31 October 2007
Washington - Mary Gallagher did not get a knock at the door from a military chaplain with news of her Marine husband's death in a faraway place. Instead, the Iraq war veteran committed suicide eight months after returning home.
She is left wondering why.
It's a question shared by hundreds of families of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have taken their own lives in a homecoming suicide pattern of a magnitude that is just starting to emerge.
Preliminary Veterans Affairs Department research obtained by The Associated Press reveals for the first time that there were at least 283 suicides among veterans who left the military between the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001 and the end of 2005.
The numbers, while not dramatically different from society as a whole, provide the first quantitative look at the toll on today's combat veterans and are reminiscent of the increased suicide risk among returning soldiers in the Vietnam era.
Today's homefront suicide tally is running at least double the number of troop suicides in the war zones as thousands of men and women return with disabling injuries and mental health disorders that put them at higher risk.
A total of 147 troops have killed themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of the wars, according to the Defense Manpower Data Center, which tracks casualties for the Pentagon.
Add the number of returning veterans and the finding is that at least 430 of the 1.5 million troops who have fought in the two wars have killed themselves over the past six years. And that doesn't include people like Gallagher's husband who committed suicide after their combat tours and while still in the military - a number the Pentagon says it doesn't track.
That compares with at least 4,227 U.S. military deaths overall since the wars started - 3,840 in Iraq and 387 in and around Afghanistan.
In response, the VA is ramping up suicide prevention programs.
Research suggests that combat trauma increases the risk of suicide, according to the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Difficulty dealing with failed relationships, financial and legal troubles, and substance abuse also are risk factors among troops, said Cynthia O. Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Families see the effects first hand.
"None of them come back without being touched a little," said Gallagher, a mother of three whose husband, Marine Gunnery Sgt. James Gallagher, took his own life in 2006 inside their home at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
He was proud of his Iraq service, but she wonders whether he was bothered by the death of his captain in Iraq or an incident in which he helped rescue a soldier who was in a fire and later died. Shortly before his death, her husband was distraught over an assignment change he saw as an insult, she said.
"His death contradicts the very person he was. It's very confusing and difficult to understand," said Gallagher of Lynbrook, N.Y.
The family of another Iraq veteran who committed suicide, Jeffrey Lucey, 23, of Belchertown, Mass., filed suit against the former VA secretary, alleging that bad care at the VA was to blame.
And the family of Joshua Omvig, a 22-year-old Iraq war veteran from Davenport, Iowa, who also committed suicide, successfully pushed Congress to pass a bill that President Bush is expected to sign that requires the VA to improve suicide prevention care.
Suicides in Iraq have occurred since the early days of the war, but awareness was heightened when the Army said its suicide rate in 2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops - the highest in 26 years of record-keeping.
That compares with 9.3 per 100,000 for all military services combined in 2006 and 11.1 per 100,000 for the general U.S. population in 2004, the latest year statistics were available. The Army has said the civilian rate for the same age and gender mix as in the Army is 19 to 20 per 100,000 people.
Just looking at the VA's early numbers, Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's deputy chief patient care service officer for mental health, said there does not appear to be an epidemic of suicides among those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan who left the military.
Katz said post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and problem drinking increase a person's suicide risk by two or three times, but the rate of suicide among those with those conditions "is still very, very low."
Katz acknowledged, however, that it is too early to know the long-term ramifications for those who served in the wars and said the VA "is very intensely involved in increasing suicide prevention."
"We're not doing it because there's an epidemic in returning veterans, though each death of a returning veteran is a tragedy and it's important to prevent it," Katz said.
The VA and Defense Department have hired more counselors and made other improvements in mental health care, including creation of a veterans suicide prevention hotline.
At the VA's national suicide hotline center based in Canandaigua, N.Y., counselors have taken more than 9,000 calls since July. Some callers are just looking for someone to talk to. Others are concerned family members. Callers who choose to give their names can opt to be met at a local VA center by a suicide prevention counselor; more than 120 callers have been rescued by emergency personnel - some after swallowing pills or with a gun nearby, according to the center.
"It's sad, but I think in the other way it's very exciting because already we've seen really sort of people being able to change their lives around because of the access to resources they've been able to get," said Jan Kemp, who oversees the call center.
Penny Coleman, whose ex-husband committed suicide after returning from Vietnam, said she doesn't buy what she calls the "we didn't expect this" mentality about suicide.
"If you'd chosen to pay attention after Vietnam you would have and should have anticipated it would happen again," said Coleman, who published a book on the subject last year.
One government study of Army veterans from Vietnam found they were more likely to die from suicide than other veterans in the first five years after leaving the military, although the study found that the likelihood dissipated over time. There is still heated debate, however, over the total number of suicides by Vietnam veterans; the extent to which it continues even today is unknown.
One major hurdle in stopping suicide is getting people to ask for help. From 20 percent to 50 percent of active duty troops and reservists who returned from war reported psychological problems, relationship problems, depression and symptoms of stress reactions, but most report that they have not sought help, according to a report from a military mental health task force.
"It's only when it becomes painful will someone seek counseling," said Chris Ayres, manager of the combat stress recovery program at the Wounded Warrior Project, a private veterans' assistance group based in Jacksonville, Fla. "That's usually how it happens. Nobody just walks in, because it's the hardest thing for a male, a Marine, a type-A personality figure to just go in there and say, 'Hey, I need some help.'"
While not suicidal, Ayres, 37, a former Marine captain from the Houston area who had the back of his right leg blown off in Iraq, has experienced episodes related to his post-traumatic stress disorder and said he worried about being stigmatized if he got help.
He's since learned to manage through counseling, and he's encouraging other veterans to get help.
Ayres is among 28,000 Americans injured in the war, more than 3,000 seriously.
In a study published earlier this year, researchers at Portland State University found that veterans were twice as likely to commit suicide as male nonveterans. High gun ownership rates, along with debilitating injuries and mental health disorders, were all risk factors that seemed to put the veterans at greater risk, said Mark Kaplan, one of the researchers.
While veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan were not included in the study, Kaplan said that given the nature of the injuries of the recent wars and the strain of long and repeated deployments, the newer generation of veterans could be at risk for suicide.
Kaplan said primary care physicians should ask patients whether they are veterans, and if the answer is yes, inquire about their mental health.
"This is war unlike other wars and we don't know the long-term implications and the hidden injuries of war," Kaplan said.
Dr. Dan Blazer, a professor of psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center who served this year on the military's mental health task force, said improvements in care will likely help some veterans, but he's concerned about this generation. He said he treats World War II veterans still struggling mentally with their military experience.
"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 said.
Suicide, Blazer said, "is a cost of war. It's a big one."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Net: Veterans Affairs Department: http://www.va.gov/
Suicide Prevention Network USA: http://www.spanusa.org/
Wounded Warrior Project: http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/
The toll free Veterans Affairs Department suicide hotline number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
--submitted by Patti Woodard
The Associated Press
Wednesday 31 October 2007
Washington - Mary Gallagher did not get a knock at the door from a military chaplain with news of her Marine husband's death in a faraway place. Instead, the Iraq war veteran committed suicide eight months after returning home.
She is left wondering why.
It's a question shared by hundreds of families of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have taken their own lives in a homecoming suicide pattern of a magnitude that is just starting to emerge.
Preliminary Veterans Affairs Department research obtained by The Associated Press reveals for the first time that there were at least 283 suicides among veterans who left the military between the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001 and the end of 2005.
The numbers, while not dramatically different from society as a whole, provide the first quantitative look at the toll on today's combat veterans and are reminiscent of the increased suicide risk among returning soldiers in the Vietnam era.
Today's homefront suicide tally is running at least double the number of troop suicides in the war zones as thousands of men and women return with disabling injuries and mental health disorders that put them at higher risk.
A total of 147 troops have killed themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of the wars, according to the Defense Manpower Data Center, which tracks casualties for the Pentagon.
Add the number of returning veterans and the finding is that at least 430 of the 1.5 million troops who have fought in the two wars have killed themselves over the past six years. And that doesn't include people like Gallagher's husband who committed suicide after their combat tours and while still in the military - a number the Pentagon says it doesn't track.
That compares with at least 4,227 U.S. military deaths overall since the wars started - 3,840 in Iraq and 387 in and around Afghanistan.
In response, the VA is ramping up suicide prevention programs.
Research suggests that combat trauma increases the risk of suicide, according to the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Difficulty dealing with failed relationships, financial and legal troubles, and substance abuse also are risk factors among troops, said Cynthia O. Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Families see the effects first hand.
"None of them come back without being touched a little," said Gallagher, a mother of three whose husband, Marine Gunnery Sgt. James Gallagher, took his own life in 2006 inside their home at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
He was proud of his Iraq service, but she wonders whether he was bothered by the death of his captain in Iraq or an incident in which he helped rescue a soldier who was in a fire and later died. Shortly before his death, her husband was distraught over an assignment change he saw as an insult, she said.
"His death contradicts the very person he was. It's very confusing and difficult to understand," said Gallagher of Lynbrook, N.Y.
The family of another Iraq veteran who committed suicide, Jeffrey Lucey, 23, of Belchertown, Mass., filed suit against the former VA secretary, alleging that bad care at the VA was to blame.
And the family of Joshua Omvig, a 22-year-old Iraq war veteran from Davenport, Iowa, who also committed suicide, successfully pushed Congress to pass a bill that President Bush is expected to sign that requires the VA to improve suicide prevention care.
Suicides in Iraq have occurred since the early days of the war, but awareness was heightened when the Army said its suicide rate in 2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops - the highest in 26 years of record-keeping.
That compares with 9.3 per 100,000 for all military services combined in 2006 and 11.1 per 100,000 for the general U.S. population in 2004, the latest year statistics were available. The Army has said the civilian rate for the same age and gender mix as in the Army is 19 to 20 per 100,000 people.
Just looking at the VA's early numbers, Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's deputy chief patient care service officer for mental health, said there does not appear to be an epidemic of suicides among those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan who left the military.
Katz said post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and problem drinking increase a person's suicide risk by two or three times, but the rate of suicide among those with those conditions "is still very, very low."
Katz acknowledged, however, that it is too early to know the long-term ramifications for those who served in the wars and said the VA "is very intensely involved in increasing suicide prevention."
"We're not doing it because there's an epidemic in returning veterans, though each death of a returning veteran is a tragedy and it's important to prevent it," Katz said.
The VA and Defense Department have hired more counselors and made other improvements in mental health care, including creation of a veterans suicide prevention hotline.
At the VA's national suicide hotline center based in Canandaigua, N.Y., counselors have taken more than 9,000 calls since July. Some callers are just looking for someone to talk to. Others are concerned family members. Callers who choose to give their names can opt to be met at a local VA center by a suicide prevention counselor; more than 120 callers have been rescued by emergency personnel - some after swallowing pills or with a gun nearby, according to the center.
"It's sad, but I think in the other way it's very exciting because already we've seen really sort of people being able to change their lives around because of the access to resources they've been able to get," said Jan Kemp, who oversees the call center.
Penny Coleman, whose ex-husband committed suicide after returning from Vietnam, said she doesn't buy what she calls the "we didn't expect this" mentality about suicide.
"If you'd chosen to pay attention after Vietnam you would have and should have anticipated it would happen again," said Coleman, who published a book on the subject last year.
One government study of Army veterans from Vietnam found they were more likely to die from suicide than other veterans in the first five years after leaving the military, although the study found that the likelihood dissipated over time. There is still heated debate, however, over the total number of suicides by Vietnam veterans; the extent to which it continues even today is unknown.
One major hurdle in stopping suicide is getting people to ask for help. From 20 percent to 50 percent of active duty troops and reservists who returned from war reported psychological problems, relationship problems, depression and symptoms of stress reactions, but most report that they have not sought help, according to a report from a military mental health task force.
"It's only when it becomes painful will someone seek counseling," said Chris Ayres, manager of the combat stress recovery program at the Wounded Warrior Project, a private veterans' assistance group based in Jacksonville, Fla. "That's usually how it happens. Nobody just walks in, because it's the hardest thing for a male, a Marine, a type-A personality figure to just go in there and say, 'Hey, I need some help.'"
While not suicidal, Ayres, 37, a former Marine captain from the Houston area who had the back of his right leg blown off in Iraq, has experienced episodes related to his post-traumatic stress disorder and said he worried about being stigmatized if he got help.
He's since learned to manage through counseling, and he's encouraging other veterans to get help.
Ayres is among 28,000 Americans injured in the war, more than 3,000 seriously.
In a study published earlier this year, researchers at Portland State University found that veterans were twice as likely to commit suicide as male nonveterans. High gun ownership rates, along with debilitating injuries and mental health disorders, were all risk factors that seemed to put the veterans at greater risk, said Mark Kaplan, one of the researchers.
While veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan were not included in the study, Kaplan said that given the nature of the injuries of the recent wars and the strain of long and repeated deployments, the newer generation of veterans could be at risk for suicide.
Kaplan said primary care physicians should ask patients whether they are veterans, and if the answer is yes, inquire about their mental health.
"This is war unlike other wars and we don't know the long-term implications and the hidden injuries of war," Kaplan said.
Dr. Dan Blazer, a professor of psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center who served this year on the military's mental health task force, said improvements in care will likely help some veterans, but he's concerned about this generation. He said he treats World War II veterans still struggling mentally with their military experience.
"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 said.
Suicide, Blazer said, "is a cost of war. It's a big one."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Net: Veterans Affairs Department: http://www.va.gov/
Suicide Prevention Network USA: http://www.spanusa.org/
Wounded Warrior Project: http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/
The toll free Veterans Affairs Department suicide hotline number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
--submitted by Patti Woodard
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)