Joshua Van Wormer

English 1010
IEP Essay

Research Essay on Veteran Suicides

There is a problem in America. Every day approximately 22 United States veterans take their
lives. This has been a growing problem for years. In researching this subject I have come across a lot of
information about this. 22 veterans a day is unacceptable, why are the brave men and women who put
everything including their lives on the line for this country suffering to the point that they think suicide is
the only option? What is being done to stop this epidemic? Why in 2014 cant our brave men and women
get the help they need? These are some of the questions I plan on answering in this essay.
The military is struggling to stop the rise of suicide among its service members and veterans. In
2012 more service members died from suicide than in combat. The military has increased the training
they do on suicide prevention, and they let it be known that there is help, but they cant get control of
the suicide problem. In the article U.S Military struggling to stop suicide epidemic among war veterans,
journalist Ed Pilkington explores this issue. In 2012, for the first time in a generation, more active duty
soldiers committed suicide than died in combat. 177 soldiers committed suicide and 176 were killed in
the war zone. (Pilkington) In all branches of the military in 2012, 349 service members took their own
lives while 295 died in combat. (Pilkington)
Those are disturbing numbers. It is sad that we lose soldiers to combat, but it is even sadder that
more take their own lives. A person dying is never a good thing, but when a soldier goes to war, they
know that death is a possibility and it is a risk they are willing to take. What I cant wrap my head around
is why is the number of service members killing themselves higher than the number dying in combat?
Why are we losing more of our service members by their own hand than we are from combat? Lets
take a look at some numbers. In 2012 182 service members in the Army committed suicide, 60 from the

Joshua Van Wormer

English 1010
IEP Essay
Navy, and 59 from the Air Force, and 48 from the Marines. (Pilkington) Those numbers are disturbing,
but not as disturbing as this. In 2012 6,500 veterans killed themselves. That is one every 80 minutes.
(Pilkington) One veteran is taking their life every 80 minutes, lets just put that into perspective, during
an 8 hour work day, 6 veterans will commit suicide.
Could the way the military deals with its returning veterans be a reason that suicide is on the
rise? I know from personal experience that the post deployment evaluation isnt as thorough as it could
be. When I got back from Afghanistan is 2010 we had to go through a post deployment debriefing.
During this debriefing we were asked if we had any head injuries while deployed, took a memory test to
see if we sustained any brain damage while over there, and then had a psych evaluation. During this
evaluation the dr. asked how you were feeling and if you had any traumatic experiences. If you said you
were fine then that was that. No follow up, no talking to a therapist, just a good to go stamp on your
debriefing paperwork. If you said that you did need help or if you did want to talk to somebody about
your feelings, the therapist would set it up for you, but some soldiers would feel like they were weak or
maybe they would think they would be looked down on by others in their platoon. I know in my platoon,
we were told, if you need help get it, but we all went through the same stuff, and we are fine. When you
are told that it kind of makes you want to just suck it up and drive on, dont want to look like a sissy in
front of all of your fellow soldiers. Even if you do seek the help you may need for your problems, you will
probably just get prescribed a bunch of drugs and get told to make a follow up appointment. That was
what happened to me and a number of soldiers I knew. I went in to talk to a therapist to try to figure out
why I was feeling and thinking the way I was after deployment. I got prescribed Zoloft, valium, and told
to come back in three weeks. I wasnt feeling suicidal, but it made no sense to me to prescribe someone
who is coming in depressed, and maybe suicidal, a drug whose side effect is suicidal thoughts may not
be the best thing to be prescribing to people. Not just in the military but everywhere.

Joshua Van Wormer

English 1010
IEP Essay
That could be a reason that suicide among veterans and service members is on the rise. If a person
comes in telling you that they are thinking about committing suicide, or that they are depressed maybe
the best thing to do for them isnt pump them full of drugs and send them on their way. This could also
be a reason that drug abuse in the military is on the rise as well. In 2009 0ne third of the service
members who committed suicide were on some kind of substance. (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
Could there be another reason for the rise in suicide in the military? Could this generation of
soldiers be softer than other generations? An article by NBC News called why modern soldiers are
more susceptible to suicide talked about this. In 2001 the suicide rate was about nine out of every
100,000. In 2011 this number jumped to 23 per 100,000. That is a huge jump when compared to the
numbers from past wars. At the end of World War 2 the number of suicides didnt budge above 10 per
every 100,000. And during the Korean War in the 1950s the rate of suicide in the military was 11 per
every 100,000. (NBC NEWS) The article says that the reason for this jump could have to do with the life
styles in the present military and the mind set of todays 20 year-olds compared to past generations.
(NBC NEWS) The article also hits on another subject I know all too well. When a soldier comes back from
war, they are never really off duty. Sure they get a couple weeks off to go spend with their families, but
after that its back to training and getting ready for the next deployment. I have experienced this first
hand. Get home, debrief, get 3 weeks of leave then come back to work and go train for 3 weeks. This
cycle of constantly training and prepping for another tour could take its tole on a person. This article
brings up a good point. The emotional strength of soldiers today may not be as good as it was for
soldiers in WW2. The soldiers from WW2 had to go through a lot more struggles and financial hardships,
than most people do today. (Barry Hull, Navy Retired) Mr. Hull has a good point, a person that has
suffered through the Great Depression, and endured all of the everyday hardships of life in the 1920s,
30s, and 40s may have more mental strength than a person growing up in todays world. Not saying

Joshua Van Wormer

English 1010
IEP Essay
that todays wars are more traumatic than past wars, but life today is a little more bearable than it was
during the depression.
During my research I also read an article about assisted suicide. Now I know this has nothing to
do with veteran suicides, but it could offer a different perspective. In the article they talk about how if a
person is suffering, has a terminal illness, or is depending on life support to keep them alive, they should
be able to decide whether they want to continue living life that way, or die on their own terms. I found
myself wondering if a veteran is suffering, and constantly losing the battle with depression or P.T.S.D
and they fell like they are a burden to their loved ones, shouldnt they have the right to choose to end
their lives on their own terms? Who are we to say that it is wrong for them to take their own lives when
most of us have no idea the struggle that they are going through? What if their nightmares or their pain
from wounds they received in combat are just too much to bear and they feel that suicide is the only
way out. If euthanasia is legal in some countries and states then maybe it should be ok for our veterans
to make the same decision. Who are we to judge?
In closing my opinion on this subject has not changed. I feel that the suicide rate among our
service members and veterans is on the rise and it is disturbing. More should be done to help the men
and women who so bravely risked their lives to defend our country. It is unacceptable that more service
members die from suicide than in combat, and the fact that we lose one veteran every 80 minutes is
disgusting. Suicide among veterans and service members needs to be handled. There are groups out
there bringing awareness to the issue, and I know in the Army suicide prevention training is a more
common thing. Something needs to be dont to stop the rise of veteran and active duty suicides. The
brave men and women who risk everything for us, shouldnt and dont deserve to die like that.

Joshua Van Wormer

English 1010
IEP Essay

Work Cited
Pilkington, Ed. "Us Military Struggling to Stop Suicide Epidemic among War Veterans."
Http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/01/us-military-suicide-epidemic-veteran. N.p., 1 Feb.
2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.
"DrugFacts: Substance Abuse in the Military."
Http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/substance-abuse-in-military. National Institute on
Drug Abuse, Mar. 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.

"Why Modern Soldiers Are More Susceptible to Suicide."

Http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/02/17148761-why-modern-soldiers-are-moresusceptible-to-suicide. Nbc News, 2 Mar. 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.

"Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide." Http://www.mccl.org/euthanasia-and-assisted-suicide.html.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.