Soldiers & Suicide

A flag waves over the Pacific shoreline in Malibu, California, expressing someone's patriotism.

It's easy to fly the red, white, and blue, but here's a high cost to serving in the Armed Forces, even if you don't lose your life, an arm, or a leg.

An on-going tragedy is the number of suicides among our military each year as a result of trauma: 325 active-duty persons in 2018.  That doesn't count the veterans who take their own lives.  See this report from the Defense Suicide Prevention Office.

Recruiters don't mention the higher rate of suicide among active-duty and veteran soldiers.

Beach homes in Malibu, California

A recent analysis found a suicide rate among veterans of about 30 per 100,000 population per year, compared with the civilian rate of 14 per 100,000, according to Wikipedia.

"War is not healthy for children and other living things" says the bumper sticker popular during the Vietnam War protest era.

In 2012 alone, an estimated 7,500 former military personnel died by suicide. More active duty veterans, 177, succumbed to suicide that year than were killed in combat.

We need to stop romanticizing combat in film, video games, and political rhetoric.  

Instead, we must care about these men and women who are suffering, being injured in combat or training, and taking their own lives.  We must pray for them and do our best to prevent US military intervention around the world.