Suicides in Iraq

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

verte76

Blue Crack Addict
Joined
May 22, 2002
Messages
23,331
Location
hoping for changes
I just read in the paper that many U.S. troops in Iraq have committed suicide. I do not have the numbers, but an investigation is going on because it's disturbing, to say the least. The report said that they are having to send many troops who are having severe emotional difficulties back to the States because they don't have enough people to treat all of the illnesses in Iraq. This bothers me. Suicide is such a drastic thing. Most people who threaten to commit suicide are trying to get attention and don't do it. Last year one of my co-workers at the library committed suicide. It was a nightmare, and only the second time in my whole life I've actually been around someone who did it. This is really sad. :sad: :sad: :sad:
 
Yes indeed it is very sad

I read about one soldier who shot himself right after using the phone, it seemed like he did it in front of everyone who was in the line waiting to use the phone, though I'm not sure about that.

I wish they could all come home, and the ones who need counseling would get it. This is a sad disgrace :(
 
They need to do an investigation and get all of the people who are at risk out of there. Now. I cannot imagine how their families feel. There aren't many things in life as sad as suicide. This needs to be stopped.
 
Unfortunately, this is a problem that the military deals with outside of Iraq as well. It even happens to new young recruits going through their first training back in the USA.
 
STING2 said:
Unfortunately, this is a problem that the military deals with outside of Iraq as well. It even happens to new young recruits going through their first training back in the USA.
And 22 terror attacks every day don`t make it easy, the constant presure must be hard to cope with.
 
STING2 said:
Unfortunately, this is a problem that the military deals with outside of Iraq as well. It even happens to new young recruits going through their first training back in the USA.

Sting, I'm sure they do a good job looking for problems. This is starting to scare the pants off of the responsible people. It sucks and it's really upsetting to read this stuff in the newspapers.
 
13 people killed themselfs, well that is what the dutch television said. The reason is that those people failed to hurt themself because they want to be send home. So, instead going home in a wheelchiar, they end op in a box.
 
The number of suicides are double the expected amount. There have also been over 140 US soldiers sent home for psychiatric reasons, mostly reservists.
 
I'd like to know more too Harper. What is the "expected" number? Do they really expect anyone to commit suicide? I would hope that the recruiters screen for this and not admit anyone judged at risk for suicide.
 
STING2 and verte76,

I read this last month in a couple of UK dailies, but can only find the article in the Mirror. The site won't let me post the URL until I've made 15 posts, so here's the whole thing!

US TROOPS SUICIDE TOLL HITS RECORD

Oct 14 2003

By Mark Ellis


American soldiers are committing suicide in record numbers as their deployment in Iraq takes its toll, it was revealed yesterday.

Eleven soldiers and three Marines have killed themselves in seven months, double the average for the military.

And the Army has sent home 478 soldiers for mental health problems.

Army chiefs sent a mental health team to Iraq last month to investigate.

Lt Col Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a US army psychiatrist, said: "The team are looking at the stresses on the troops, how well they are coping and how well the basic principles of battlefield psychiatry are working."

Health experts say harsh and dangerous living conditions and long deployments can worsen depression.

Meanwhile two US soldiers were killed in attacks, bringing to 96 the number killed since May.

One died in Baiji, 110 miles north of Baghdad, when his armoured car hit a landmine. The other was killed by a rocket grenade in Tikrit.


The only thing I can add is that my daughter's fiance came back from Iraq last week and he's not at all surprised by this. He was in Basra ( the "coalition friendly" part of the country) and says he was shot at on a regular basis and there are explosions occuring there all the time, which are just not being reported in our media. It's much worse in the North where the US troops are based.
 
I can't imagine how difficult a job it is for the military services to prepare these young men and women for what they will face in situations like this one in Iraq. I'm sure STING has more than my baseless ponderings to say on this and I've no doubt every effort is made to help them ready for it all. Once there though, it would seem like an entirely different picture to some. They are brave no doubt. They are still though, just ordinary men and women. It's awfully sad.
 
US military personal have mental problems and commit suicide when being based in Southern California. This is not something that is unique to service in Iraq. Considering that over 250,000 Men and Women have served in Iraq over the past 7 months, I would consider the number of suicides to be low. The "Mirror" does not site any source for the "doubling of the Suicide rate". It does not say weather the rate is double the overall peacetime rate or double the rate for US troops deployed in a unstable region.
 
Suicide is such an extreme thing. It's rare in psychiatric patients, believe it or not. Want proof? I'd rather not mention how long I've been seeing shrinks and other therapists but I've only been exposed to one suicide among other patients, plus a suicide in my workplace. Most of the time when someone threatens suicide they are asking for attention, they get the attention and don't actually kill themselves. I can see how suicide rates would be high in any high stress environment. I don't like news about suicide, to put it mildly. It sucks and steps should be taken to stop it or prevent it. It probably can't be completely stopped. I wish to heck it could. It is so awful. :sad: :sad:
 
Army's suicide rate has outside experts alarmed
Most died serving in Iraq after major combat phase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Michael Martinez
Chicago Tribune
Originally published December 28, 2003



LUFKIN, Texas - Army Spc. Joseph Suell had been distressed before. He missed his wife and their daughters so badly last year that he was granted a short visit home from his yearlong assignment in South Korea.
It was a different story this year. In March, five months after completing his Korean tour and right after re-enlisting, the 24-year-old was sent to Kuwait and then Iraq.

The day after Father's Day, Suell died in Iraq, reportedly after taking a bottle of Tylenol. His death was classified as "nonhostile," but a military chaplain told Suell's wife, Rebecca, it was a suicide.

http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationw...,3097719.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
Army's suicide rate has outside experts alarmed
Most died serving in Iraq after major combat phase
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Michael Martinez
Chicago Tribune
Originally published December 28, 2003



LUFKIN, Texas - Army Spc. Joseph Suell had been distressed before. He missed his wife and their daughters so badly last year that he was granted a short visit home from his yearlong assignment in South Korea.
It was a different story this year. In March, five months after completing his Korean tour and right after re-enlisting, the 24-year-old was sent to Kuwait and then Iraq.

The day after Father's Day, Suell died in Iraq, reportedly after taking a bottle of Tylenol. His death was classified as "nonhostile," but a military chaplain told Suell's wife, Rebecca, it was a suicide.

http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationw...,3097719.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

Damn.:censored: :censored: :censored:
 
Back
Top Bottom