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Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
America suffers an epidemic of suicides among traumatised army veterans
More American military veterans have been committing suicide than US soldiers have been dying in Iraq, it was claimed yesterday.
At least 6,256 US veterans took their lives in 2005, at an average of 17 a day, according to figures broadcast last night. Former servicemen are more than twice as likely than the rest of the population to commit suicide.
As a military veteran myself, I can state that almost all of us recognize the extreme stress and trauma of being in a situation where people die violently all around us (that's what war is all about). The toll on the "psyche" is extreme, even in a "good", necessary war, for good, coherent reasons, with the moral backing of the "folks back home"..
But it must be many times more traumatic to go through all this "hell" when the REASON for it is becoming less and less clear--when it seems that NO ONE is benefitting from your sacrifices, the folks you're "liberating" are rapidly coming to hate you, your Commander-in-Chief seems to have lost his way, and the "folks back home" don't know why you're fighting anymore than YOU do. Even the media, I believe, is guilty in this, for their massively slanted coverage.....concentrating 97% on "bad" news. This is a perfect recipe for psychological problems if I ever heard one.
Good lesson for the future--if you want to "take out" a dictator, and feel you must, then by all means, take him out....then GO HOME. But don't get "snookered" into some sort of fantasy about "bringing democracy" to people who are neither familiar with it, nor trust it, nor want it. If someone wants democracy, let them institute it among themselves by mutual agreement. If they need help, let them ask for it. Otherwise, "butt out"....
Just another clear indicator that it's time to bring our men & women back home. And granting more money to this war is NOT going to do anything to improve moral
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