Source of original graphic (blue). Red added by Phi Beta Iota. Sources for suicide below. The US Government lies to the public with deliberate manipulation of government statistics. The actual unemployment rate in the USA today is closer to 25%, and from this we speculate that the actual unemployment rate in the USA for veterans, including veterans under disability care for post-combat mental issues, is as high as 50%. This is only going to get worse–much worse. This is the truest cost of war–elective wars on the basis of lies and incurred debt, with our young men and women as the casualties on the home front. In Iraq for the past few years, more veterans have committed suicide in-country than have been killed in combat. The US Government generally, and the US military specifically, is OUT OF CONTROL.
Tip of the Hat to John Robb.
Veteran's Day: Knocking on Heaven's Door (11 Nov 2011)
Pick the statistic that makes it mean the most to you: between 2005 to 2010, active duty service members took their own lives at a rate of approximately one every 36 hours. The Veteran's Administration estimates that a vet at home dies by suicide every 80 minutes. The Army reported a record number of suicides in a single month for June 2010, thirty- one soldiers in all, more than one a day for the whole month. For July 2011, it was thirty-two, a dubious new record.
Together We Stand – Benefit Concert to End Veteran Suicide (5 Sep 2011)
According to the 2008 VA statistic, more than 18 veterans committed suicide per day, which is one every 80 minutes or over 6,500 per year. In 2011, the number of active duty and veteran suicides continues to climb.
Military veterans: Soldier suicides now at epidemic rate (10 Aug 2011)
With Veteran Suicides Rising, The VA Must Improve its Mental-Health Services (10 Jun 2011)
Senators tell VA to reduce veteran suicides (25 May 2011)
18 veterans commit suicide each day (22 Apr 2010)
VA’s suicide hotline has been receiving about 10,000 calls a month from current and former service members.
