“Combat” deaths at home

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/military-matters/2014/01/combat-deaths-at-home/

“Combat” deaths at home
Posted on January 14, 2014 | By Wayne Wright

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Last week, the Department of Veterans Affairs released a report that said the suicide rate among young veterans rose dramatically between 2009 and 2011. A report on www.stripes.com contained all the grim numbers. The article quotes a VA official who says those who seek mental health services from her agency have lower suicide rates than those who don’t.

But the accident rate among these young veterans is sky high too. On December 19, 2013, The Los Angeles Times carried an in-depth report profiling young vets who died violently after heavy drinking or drug use – one riding a motorcycle at more than 100 mph, one overdosing on heroin in a restaurant bathroom, another shooting himself in the head in front of a friend and another, Mark Tyree, who was electrocuted after he “slammed his truck into a power pole” at a high rate of speed. It was Tyree’s third high speed accident.

The LA Times article began with a short sentence that tells the whole story about young, suicidal vets. “Mark Tyree,” it said, “was chasing death.”

The latest source for statistics and theories about these young veteran death rates is the San Antonio Express News. A Sunday, January 12 article – “GIs’ suicides fall while vets rise”- has eye opening details that chronicle the shift in suicides from young active duty troops to young veterans.