U.S. need to address soldier suicides better

Ellen Weinberg, Paths to Peace

Published Friday, August 29, 2008

Soldier’s heart — a Civil War term.

Shell shock — the World War I term.

Battle fatigue. Post-traumatic stress disorder.

All of these describe the emotional and psychological effects that some soldiers and veterans suffer as a result of their experiences in combat. In its severest forms, it can result in alcoholism, drug addiction, violence and other criminal behavior, relationship problems, homelessness and suicide. And too many soldiers and veterans are going without the treatment they need to cope with this devastating problem.

The United States sends its young men and women into battle to defend what our leaders claim is in the national interest. Regardless of your beliefs or mine about the propriety of this war, I think we can agree that the military people we send to fight it deserve the best we can give them. There is enough suffering associated with combat; our soldiers should not have to suffer additional problems that we can prevent or alleviate.

In 2007, CBS News conducted an investigation of soldier and veteran suicides. Forty-five states responded to CBS’s request for suicide statistics. The investigation revealed that in those states, 6,256 veterans committed suicide in 2005: an average of 120 per week. The survey also showed that veterans were about twice as likely to kill themselves as non-veterans. The highest suicide rate was among veterans aged 20 to 24 — people who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In December 2007 and May 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held hearings on the problem of suicides among veterans. Dr. Ira Katz, the Veterans Administration’s deputy chief patient care services officer for mental health, stated in an internal e-mail in February 2008 that the Veterans Administration saw about 1,000 suicide attempts per month.

The e-mail did, of course, come to the attention of the committee, as well as CBS News, and during the hearing, Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the committee, accused the VA of denying and covering up the problem.

Our soldiers face many stresses. They are surrounded by violence. Their lives are in constant danger. Some come home with hideous wounds. Even those who do not personally suffer injury bring home the memory of watching their fellow soldiers suffer and die. It has been known since the beginning of our invasion of Iraq that we sent our soldiers into battle inadequately equipped. The first waves of soldiers suffered extreme thirst in Iraq’s blistering heat because not enough water was supplied to them. Our soldiers have lacked the body armor they needed, and their lightly armored Humvees have been ripped apart by roadside bombs. It is no wonder that some of these soldiers develop overwhelming psychological problems.

Veterans who recognize that they need help are not always able to get it. The March 26, 2008, edition of City Pages, a Twin Cities alternative newspaper, featured the story of a 25-year-old Iraq veteran named Jonathan Schulze whose post-traumatic stress disorder — often called PTSD — caused him to become suicidal.

In January 2007, after being told that he would have to wait until March for admission to the residential treatment program at the Minneapolis VA hospital, he went to the VA hospital in St. Cloud. The social worker who did screening was not available to meet with him, and he was turned away. Five days later, he killed himself. He had been 26th on the hospital’s waiting list for admission.

Pvt. Jonathan Schulze was not alone. Do an Internet search on “soldier suicides” or “veteran suicides.” You will find numerous articles about soldiers and veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts who have committed suicide. Some could not bring themselves to ask for help; others asked, but the help was not there.

The City Pages article cites tragic statistics on military suicides and suicide attempts. One hundred twenty-one soldiers committed suicide in 2006; self-inflicted injuries, including suicide attempts, rose from 500 in 2002 to 2,100 in 2007. In Minnesota, at least 13 servicemen or veterans under the age of 30 had killed themselves since Jan. 1, 2003. As of February 2007, the Minnesota VA hospitals had only 10 beds for patients with combat PTSD.

A final statistic from the City Pages article: The national VA expected 2,900 new PTSD cases in 2006, but actually got about 17,800.

We are failing our soldiers and veterans. It is tragic enough that we send them into harm’s way, sometimes in multiple tours of duty. The lack of facilities and staff to treat those who need intensive help is a national disgrace. Assuring our soldiers and veterans that it is all right to ask for help, and making sure that that help is available, will benefit them and their families directly, and will benefit our society as a whole by reducing the danger that violence, substance abuse, and other PTSD-related behaviors pose.

War is by definition inhumane. Let us at least deal with the after-effects humanely.

Ellen Weinberg is an Albert Lea lawyer and a member of Paths to Peace.