I belong to a Vets group on Facebook where many current/younger soldiers hang out with the old salts for support. Too many of these guys are on numerous drugs prescribed by the VA. I always make myself available to talk to guys who are getting too far out on the ledge. A few say they want to get themselves out of their heads and understand how so many turn to a bullet to do just that.
I personally do not use or believe in using drugs, either prescription or illicit, but that is the personal choice I made many years ago. What anyone else does is likewise their choice-but they deserve to be informed of any possible side effects and all alternative treatments-an informed choice can not be made without all the info...
Too many of my husband’s fellow Nam Vets-and our friends-have used a gun or some other method of suicide as a way out of their emotional torment-drugs are no substitute for psychotherapy, and in many cases do more harm than good. Even out here in BFE I have friends and neighbors who are vets and use mind altering drugs they get from the VA-it doesn’t seem to help-three of those who took them also took their own lives just in the past 1 1/2 years. Something is very, very wrong with that...