Worse than Combat

I was in Iraq at a time when there were on average 3 to 4 combat deaths each day.  One day in particular there was over 20 KIAs.  January 20, 2007 is one of my darkest memories from Iraq.  On that day one of the Black Hawks from my unit was shot done and 18 were killed.  And this was, without a doubt one of the saddest and most distressing moments of my time in the Army.  But my fellow soldiers and I came to expect that death in this way was somehow, if not acceptable, at least  not unexpected.  This was war and war was serious business.  Bad things happen in war.  As the war in Iraq has ended and the war in Afghanistan winding down, there are days that go by when there are no deaths in combat.  In 2012 we lost 313 servicemembers during Operation Enduring Freedom.  But during that same time we lost 325 soldiers to their own hand.  Suicide rates have been going up in the military in recent years and the number of military suicides have approached or exceeded the numbers of those killed in combat.  In the veteran community, those number are even more staggering.  The VA estimates that 22 veterans kill themselves each day.  That is nearly one an hour.  Over 8000 per year! This is unbelievable to me.  And unacceptable.  Just this month, I have attended two funerals of soldiers and former soldiers who have taken their lives.  One was a fellow soldier from the NY Army National Guard and another was a former member of the Guard who I tried to help a couple of years ago.  At least two other members of the Guard took their lives in the last six weeks.  I expect death at an early age in the Army --- due to combat --- but I would never think that the day would come that we would have more deaths to suicide then at the hands of the enemy.  It's inconceivable.  In fact, why would the enemy even try to kill us when we are doing a better job doing it ourselves.  We need to figure out whats going on here.  I don't have the answer right now, but I do want to do something about it.  We can't count on the VA to do this alone.  Suicide hotlines won't solve the problem.  Veterans need to get more involved.  I believe we can change this story.  I am committed to doing just that.