1/11/2008
Veterans’ Affairs
American Soldier says,
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This documentary looks very promising. I encourage anyone who is interested in helping veterans to visit this site and become informed or see where you can help. The reality is that more than 120 veterans between 20-24 are killing themselves weekly. Over 200,000 men and women who once wore the uniform are sleeping under bridges and streets at night. I could go on and on but I think this documentary is covering it all.
Ask yourself this before you click off the site, what are you truly doing to support veterans other than a yellow ribbon on your car? Now click away.
Filed under: General, News from home
9 Responses to “Veterans’ Affairs”
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OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why is this happening? Why are they killing themselves? Don’t they know there are people who care about them and want to help them? Aren’t there any places for them to go when they feel like this?
I don’t know what to do for them.
-Jennifer
Jennifer, if you can watch the video, you’ll find some answers to your questions.
They kill themselves because the images and memories are too intense and painful, and they just won’t go away. Knowing they are loved or cared about really isn’t the issue.
How would they know there are people who want to/can help them if the people they go to for help tell them to come back in 6 weeks??? Families and friends can try as they might, but unfortunately the help that the veteran needs is often beyond what family (if there is one) can do on their own.
I think a great way to start fixing this (without counting on the gov’t) is for the folks at the VA mental health offices to actually give a $#&*!! That they go above and beyond the call of duty when a serious situation arises. Is that really asking too much?? I think not!
Working with the assumption that the VA in some cities is indeed overloaded (or perhaps the veteran has been denied benefits for whatever idiotic reason), perhaps they could have some sort of agreement with the VFW, DAV or other veterans organization so that when these types of calls come in, that they immediately get refered to one of these organizations. I’m sure the organizations could train select members to be ready to intervene until the VA has availability. Maybe this already exists, but just not taken advantage of..I don’t know.
Luckily not all VA hospitals will blow these calls off. I emailed with an infantry Marine who lived on the other side of the country, and away from his family. Many a night (and day) his 9mm sat next to his keyboard as we emailed or IM’d. There were several times that he told me he wanted to use it. I was a nervous wreck until the day he finally decided to make the call. He was seen the next morning!! (And he’s doing much better now)
One way you can help is to see if your local VA has a transportation program through which volunteers provide transportation for veterans to and from their appointments at the VA. Many veterans can not drive because of seizures or injuries. Families are not always available. Without this service, some may have to go without treatment.
WEEKLY? oh my god!
If you don’t know what to do …..do this….Go help at your VA hospital(let your vets know you care), go get a degree in Social Work or Psychology, go to your local base and help with any type of support that is needed. Go enlist the help of your friends and write your congressmen women whoever….Just do something…..It is not going to go away. It is only getting worse.
My husband did the same thing. They are killing themselves because they cannot adjust to being back home. They see it over and over and relive it over and over in their minds. They cannot help it….they want to escape the pain, the thoughts….They cannot relax, they cannot sleep, they cannot even express the hell that they have endured. They don’t want a damn thing in their lives to remind them of what they have seen and experienced and yet, that is the very thing that will help…They MUST get into group therapy with other vets who have experienced the same things.
Do somethng people. Just try to donate some time even if it is to just educate yourself on this messed up disorder that isn’t just affecting these vets but their wives and their children.
If you don’t know what to do …..do this….Go help at your VA hospital(let your vets know you care), go get a degree in Social Work or Psychology, go to your local base and help with any type of support that is needed. Go enlist the help of your friends and write your congressmen women whoever….Just do something…..It is not going to go away. It is only getting worse.
My husband did the same thing. They are killing themselves because they cannot adjust to being back home. They see it over and over and relive it over and over in their minds. They cannot help it….they want to escape the pain, the thoughts….They cannot relax, they cannot sleep, they cannot even express the hell that they have endured. They don’t want a damn thing in their lives to remind them of what they have seen and experienced and yet, that is the very thing that will help…They MUST get into group therapy with other vets who have experienced the same things.
Do somethng people. Just try to donate some time even if it is to just educate yourself on this messed up disorder that isn’t just affecting these vets but their wives and their children.
Hi friends,
I am writing a book about a life of a veteran after he fought and got wounded severly physically as well as psychologically and morally.
I am a man who never participated in war and I would refuse to participate in it. I live far away from any possible war and i do not have any family member who got involved in it neither. What urged me to write a book about this? This question did not bother me so much because another question absorbed all my senses and made me brooding years and years long: what makes a man gamble with his life and go into hell to kill his fellow human beings? What is the reason? What reason for war? I’ve been hunting for a single reason for war and I found nothing but elusive bigotries and thick illusions. May be veterans who experienced fighting could find their truthul reasons; who knows? Can any veteran tell me the reason? I defy any single existing human being to find any convincing reason for war. I am sure that even God doesn’t have the reason for it. WAR HAS NO REASON.
What help can you do to them? even if you give them all the fortunes of the world, they will not recover because something inside has been smashed. What is that thing? No body will understand because only that who touches fire feels burned.
I am a OIF vet and can relate to this where i was tunred down by the VA during their after houurs, it had to come where the ptsd started to take over and my wife had to call the local Police who in return put me on 24 hour hold which turned into 72 hours. The va thinks if they medicate you it will go away but that is not the case.
What is the source for the 120 a week in that age group? I saw a claim that it was 120 a week for all vets, but could only find a VA stat for an estimate of 5000 a year for ALL vets, which puts it at 96 a week, if the estimate is accurate.