Suicide rate of female military veterans is called 'staggering'

Los Angeles Times ^ | 08 June 2015 | By Alan Zarembo

[zeestephen]

I haven’t read the study, but one thought instantly jumps to mind.

Male suicide attempts typically involve irreversible fatal injuries by guns, hanging, plastic bags taped around the head after drug consumption, etc.

Female suicide often fails because it involves just drug overdose, wrist slashing, etc.

I will guess that female veterans are much more comfortable using firearms and have a much higher death rate than non-veterans.

[zeestephen]

Suicide by healthy adults can almost always be classified in one of three areas.

(1) Drug or alcohol abuse.

(2) Clinical Depression or Schizophrenia.

(3) Family history of suicide.

Since age 18-25 are the prime years for onset of Schizophrenia, it seems like that issue should be carefully analyzed.

[longtermmemmory]

I wonder how much of this is “eliminating evidence”

IOW what if the woman who self terminates accidentally found out something about another woman that would be career limiting?

OR

WORSE she was a victim and some other person made it look self terminating.

[mosaicwolf]

I think it is always very stressful when a woman is (made, forced, duped, deceived, etc) to believe she can function outside of her normal role. Don’t bother please. You and I both know the females normal role. Think about it.

[kenmcg]

Its unfortunate that so many female vets are committing suicide. It would be interesting to see how many of them are lesbians.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Female veterans commit suicide at about the same rate as male veterans?

Duh...

[blueunicorn6]

Our society is laying out unhealthy and nearly impossible expectations for everyone.

A hundred years ago, a young woman was considered to be doing good if she married Steve from the farm down the road and lived life as a farmer’s wife.

Now look at it. She has to marry a Prince Charming who makes at least $250,000 a year. She has to have a Mercedes SUV and an 8,000 square foot house on a beach. Needs to look like a rake with arms. Job? Should be at least a VP.

[Vigilanteman]

Gee, who ever would have thunk that the masculization of women would've led to suicide rates and other health problems similar to males?

[Teacher317]

Their suicide rate is so high that it approaches that of male veterans

It is STAGGERING.... and yet isn't as high as men... Hmmmm.

What does that say about the expectations of the author? If females can approach males in some rate, it is "staggering".

[LambSlave]

So as women in the military experience the true horrors of war, they are scarred by it as much as their male counterparts.

The majority of suicides for both sexes are those who have never been on a combat deployment, so that's not it. Age/economic background adjusted the rates for males are not that much higher than civilian population; epidemiologists, other analysts have been looking at this data for years, no easy answer. Maybe a significant subset of people in the military are more prone to suicide when facing difficult situations, maybe the toll of a very disciplined, yet unpredictable life, who knows. But it does not seem to be tied to combat.

[kosciusko51]

Thanks! I clearly did not know that, and I appreciate the insight.

[elcid1970]

In my last years in the military 2009-2011 we were inundated with “suicide prevention” classes after death stats from 2008 showed more suicides than combat related fatalities. Thus began the assumption that suicide & exposure to combat went together.

It grudually emerged that indeed there were more suicides among nondeployed & reservist personnel than among combat soldiers. Overprescription of psychotropic medications is a suspected direct link.

And nowhere but nowhere in all the laundry list of preventive measures was there any mention of the chaplain’s office, or any other sources of spiritual support.

IMO, knowing that there is Someone out there Who loves you is one of the best encouragements to go on living.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

+1
Insanity runs these days and people are dying by the thousands because of it.

[theBuckwheat]

My thoughts are that Scripture time and time tells us that women are the “weaker vessel”, and that was not to patronize or justify discrimination but it was the physical and emotional reality. It is a crime to think that women are no different from men. Yet, our secular Utopians see that society must be improved by forcing women to have the same emotions as a man. We see the fruits of this ideological decision. Women are paying for it with their lives.

Secular progressives will say that this suicide rate can be mitigated by various means, but nothing can change what a woman is. At best education or indoctrination can hide or divert the stress that women experience that is so much more overwhelming than a man would experience, on average.

Because after all, the data this article talks about is that on average, a higher percent of women veterans commit suicide than do male veterans. Those stats are hard to game, spin, or ignore.

And I speak as a man whose wife has her own DD214.

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[sean327]

After reading many of the comments on this thread I want to puke. The issue isn’t whether or not females should be in combat roles. The issue is the fact that Uncle Sam is failing to take care of those that he sends into harms way. News flash people, military males are killing themselves at alarming rate also! The VA has completely failed the republic and it’s warriors. Male and female!

[TalonDJ]

Are you trying to imply that females might not be able to handle combat stresses?!
No?
OK, then, I will.

Did you miss the part were male veterans still kill themselves at a higher rate? So if suicide rate is the only thing that makes women unsuited for combat then men are even less suited. This article does not prove what you want it to prove.

[TalonDJ]

Well said!

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

I didn’t try to prove anything. I said I was implying it. If the suicide rates are equal, why is it shocking? Why would women have lower suicide rates than men?

No, I disbelieve their statistics. They should not be shocked at all at equal rates. Something is fishy here.