MILITARY OFFICIALS REPORT RECORD SUICIDE RATE EVEN WITH NEW PREVENTION PROGRAMS IN PLACE
VA OFFICIALS, OFF THE RECORD, ALLUDE TO VET SUICDE COVERUP -BIG NUMBERS
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER
Visit a military base. Turn on the TV. Cheney is gone, no longer honoring the troops he didn’t join in Vietnam when he had the chance. Now all you see, all day, every day, public service announcements about suicide and depression counseling. Seek treatment yourself, report others with symptoms, over and over, all day, all night.
Yet the numbers climb, even when combat is at an all time low. Suicide deaths may now actually outpace combat deaths.
The military keeps numbers. However, the VA does not. Once a soldier comes home, back on reserve status, back to his National Guard unit or off active duty, he becomes a vet. This is where the big numbers come from, the really high suicide rate. The reasons are obvious, no job, family problems and the onset of PTSD, always 10 times worse when you leave service.
Suicide hotlines are there. Millions are spent but: NO ATTEMPT TO TRACK VETERAN SUICIDES IS MADE, NOBODY IS ASKING THE QUESTIONS. THE VA’S "DON’T ASK/DON’T TELL" POLICY, SAME AS WITH AGENT ORANGE, GULF WAR SYNDOME, PTSD AND DOZENS OF OTHER SERVICE RELATED ILLNESSES IS THE RULE OF THE DAY.
The old game, deny, deny, coverup, coverup, is in full swing.
When asked, years ago, to supply information on veterans for the Westmoreland/CBS lawsuit, the VA supplied phony data supporting the idea that vets weren’t killing themselves by the thousands, that PTSD didn’t exist, that vet homelessness wasn’t a problem, that vet’s didn’t have problems with incarceration, drugs….no problems at all.
These lies have been spread for 40 years, service organizations still publish them and send them across the internet. Vets had no health problems. Treatment of vets, all now dead, was excellent. Vets all got good jobs and weren’t, as we now know, boycotted by hundreds of corporations.
Not asking the questions, lying to cover up problems, is disinformation.
It is a tactic best used by the CIA or USAID to destabilize our enemies, not to use to kill our soldiers and veterans.
The lies started then. You could tell a lie enough, the same lie, over and over (Goebbels) and it would be accepted as truth.
This lie became the tool of conservative groups wanting to deny employment preferences, PTSD treatment and veteran funding.
It cost the lives of thousands, tens of thousands and more. It became the standard methodology of, not only the Department of Veterans Affairs, but of news organizations, conservative groups and groups like the Bush Administration, that tried to save money during wartime by cutting VA funding.
Lies kill soldiers and vets like bullets and disease. Suicide is caused, as much by government lies and denialism as by depression and PTSD.
A rotten culture within the military of lies, coverup, deploying the sick and silencing critics is joined by a Veterans Affairs culture of never asking questions when the answers will prove you have been failing miserably in your mission for decades.
Childish games.
Gordon Duff is a Marine Vietnam veteran and regular contributor on political and social issues.
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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