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    PorcupineEeyoreKelly Faircloth
    6/10/15 3:16pm

    suicide rate is so high that it approaches that of male veterans, a finding that surprised researchers because men generally are far more likely than women to commit suicide

    The answer to people’s questions about why this is particularly noteworthy or is being investigated specifically outside the framework of all veteran suicides. All things being equal, you expect all things to be equal, proportinally, so if there’s an outlier like this it certainly seems to me that it could use some more in depth investigation.

    Which is not to say that we shouldn’t be doing all we can to investigate and deal with the overall obscene suicide rate of all our veterans. We should.

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      Kelly FairclothPorcupineEeyore
      6/10/15 4:00pm

      The LA Times also notes that vet suicide has been a big focus for the Pentagon in recent years, so I think this study is probably an element of their digging deeper into the problem.

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      PorcupineEeyoreKelly Faircloth
      6/10/15 4:14pm

      Thanks Kelly. It just seemed like there was a lot of “but male veterans kill themselves too how can this be obscene” popping up in the comments raising red flags for me. Don’t think it should be a competition.

      And I think you’re correct on how you’re interpreting the Pentagon’s response. As phenomena get investigated digging deeper into particular subsets of data would seem to be the logical evolution.

      Now if you could do something about me misspelling proportionally and not seeing it until now... :^(

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    goddessoftransitoryKelly Faircloth
    6/10/15 7:49pm

    I saw that in the paper this morning and my first thought was “the lack of respect/sexual harassment/assault is probably a big factor.”

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      BrandonKelly Faircloth
      6/10/15 3:24pm

      “reporting on eleven years’ worth of data”

      coincidentally, eleven years is also the same wait time for a vet to get an appointment at the VA hospital.

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        IlikefactsKelly Faircloth
        6/10/15 3:10pm

        It makes sense. Men commit much more suicides because they chose more effective ways of killing themselves, the rate of trying to commit suicides is quite close it’s the success rate that is drastically different.

        Naturally a person with military training even if she is a woman is bound to know how to effectively kill.

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          jlfforalwaysKelly Faircloth
          6/10/15 3:03pm

          :( Today sucks.

          I would say we need more funds and ways to address all these problems. Then, I remember that we have the shittiest Congress in the world and the most corrupt Supreme Court since slavery. RBG excepted, of course.

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            A Stranger in the AlpsKelly Faircloth
            6/10/15 3:04pm

            Suicide rates for veterans in general appear to be obscenely high.

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              MayotonillaKelly Faircloth
              6/10/15 3:26pm

              I recently watched The Invisible War in Netflix about sexual abuse in the military. It’s scary but worth watching.

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                Snacktastic Part II: the Snack AwakensKelly Faircloth
                6/10/15 3:11pm

                There are a lot of reasons, if for nothing, we have this endless war supported by a relatively small military, where people in power send young people for tour after tour and then give them inadequate help when they return. And in part, because of budgetary realities, they use relatively strict guidelines around PTSD diagnoses that exclude many veterans from getting this help.

                War is a horror show for so many involved and yet, b/c the children of those in power aren’t being sacrificed, so they keep being sent over. I think the war is winding down but I’d be surprised if we pull out soon.

                TBH, I think the class issues are at least as relevant as the gender issue here, in terms of how awful the suicide rate is among veterans.

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