Thread: The biggest price

There is not much I can find sadder in this world than the thought of young, otherwise healthy people taking their own life. Spare a thought for those that pay this awful price.


the military is facing an epidemic of suicides. In the year that ended Sept. 30, 2009, 160 active duty soldiers took their own lives — a record for the Army. The Marines set their own tragic record in 2009 with 52 suicides. And this past June, another record was set — 32 military suicides in just one month.

War is a meat grinder for service members and their families. It grinds people up without mercy, killing them and inflicting the worst kinds of wounds imaginable, physical and psychological. The Pentagon is trying to cope with the surge in suicides, but it is holding a bad hand: the desperate shortage of troops has forced military officials to lower the bar for enlistment, thus letting in people whose drug and alcohol abuse or other behavioral problems would previously have kept them out. And the multiple deployments (four, five and six tours in the war zones) have jacked up stress levels to the point where many just can’t take it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/op...me&ref=general


Then of course there are those killed in action, or maimed for life.

There are those- many, many of those- killed or maimed on the other side too, be they fighters or 'collateral damage'.

Suicide is just the visible edge, and very tragic. Then there will be those that live with long term psychological illness, that cannot fit back into society, because of what they have seen or endured from their military service. Those that take their life as a result are not counted above, either- they are no longer active service.

As Einstein said, "Why War?". Not my happiest thread.

From the same article-

This is warfare as it might have been waged by Laurel & Hardy. Absent the bloodshed, it would be hilarious. I’d give a lot to hear Dwight Eisenhower comment on the way these wars have been conducted...

The fantasy of democracy blossoming at the point of a gun in Iraq and spreading blithely throughout the Middle East has been obliterated. And it’s hard to believe that anyone buys the notion that the U.S. can install a successful society in the medieval madness of Afghanistan.


Yep.

As long as there are boys who are drawn to the military way of life or just plain want to hunt their fellow man, there will be wars...

It's the ones that send them on pointless wars I've got a problem with.
Can't see how any recent wars have solved any problems at all.

Well put commentary on this Sabang. I am curious how many deaths are caused by soldiers outside of combat each year. I mean how many wive's, family member's and others are victims of soldiers who have gone over the edge or are just ove the edge anyways. I would guess those numbers would be higher but maybe I am wrong about that.