[Stop the Poisons] 120 VETERAN SUICIDES PER WEEK!

March 26, 2008

120 Veteran Suicides Per Week: " The

Unknown Fallen "

Posted by: " Fernwoods "

Fernwoods

fernwoods7

Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:24 am (PDT)

Estimate: 120 Veteran Suicides Per Week

Institute for Public Accuracy

915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 *

_http://www.accuracy.org_

(http://www.accuracy.org/)

* _ipa_

(ipa) _

PM Monday, March 24, 2008

Veteran and Soldier Suicides: " The Unknown Fallen "

Late last year, a CBS News investigation found that in 2005

" there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces.

That's 120 each and every week, in just one year. "

Last week, CBS News reported on data it had just obtained from the government on veterans who were recently treated by the Veterans

Administration. In this limited sample, " two age groups stood out between 2000 and 2007. First, ages 20-24 -- those likely to have served

during the Iraq-Afghan wars. Suicide attempts rose from 11 to 47. And for vets

ages 55 to 59, suicide attempts jumped from 19 to 117. "

JOYCE and KEVIN LUCEY,

_kjlucey_

(kjlucey)

Joyce and Kevin Lucey are the parents of Jeffrey Lucey, who committed suicide

after being in Iraq for five months in 2004. Joyce Lucey said today:

" My son was betrayed first by a government who sent him to war and then by the

Veterans Administration for not giving him the treatment he needed.

He and others died from this war but their names will never be on a

memorial wall. " The letters we received from him were brief and

sanitized. But to his girlfriend of six years, he said in April of 2003 he felt he had done immoral things and that he wanted to erase the last month of his

life. 'There are things I wouldn't want to tell you or my parents, because I don't

want you to be worried. Even if I did tell you, you'd probably think I was just exaggerating. I would never want to fight in a war again. I've seen

and done enough horrible things to last me a lifetime.' "

Kevin Lucey said today: " Jeffrey had Post-Traumatic Stress

Disorder, but PTSD is not so much a mental dysfunction as a normal response to an

abnormal situation. Jeffrey refused to go to the VA due to the stigma

associated with it. We finally got him to the VA, but after he committed suicide, the VA

wouldn't give us all his medical records, claiming a Freedom of Information

Act exemption. We finally managed to get the records -- Jeffrey had told

them how he was thinking of committing suicide and they put him down as a

moderate risk "

Joyce and Kevin Lucey testified at the recent Winter Soldier

conference. Audio of their testimony is at

_http://warcomeshome.org/taxonomy/term/62_ (http://warcomeshome.org/taxonomy/term/62)

; video of various testimony is at <_http://ivaworg/wintersoldier/testimony/video_ (http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier/testimony/video)

..

CLOY RICHARDS,

_cloy_ (cloy)

,

_http://grassrootsamerica4us.org_ (http://grassrootsamerica4us.org/)

Cpl. Cloy Richards served two tours in Iraq as a Marine, including a siege of Fallujah. He returned home suicidal and fought with the VA

for almost two years trying to obtain help for his traumatic brain injury and

PTSD. Ultimately, his mother had to go to Congress to obtain the help he

needed. Richards contributed several poems to " Warrior Writers: Re-Making

Sense, " a collection of creative writing and art by members of Iraq Veterans

Against the War. One of his poems, " Survivor's Guilt, " is available at: _http://www.robkall.com/articles/life_a_allen_l__070521_poems_from_a__p_t_s_.htm_ (http://www.robkall.com/articles/life_a_allen_l__070521_poems_from_a__p_t_s_.htm)

MIKE BOWMAN,

_mikebowman_

(mikebowman)

, _http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/Testimony.aspx?TID=11136_ (http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/Testimony.aspx?TID=11136) Bowman testified before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs in December. He said: " As my family was preparing for our 2005

Thanksgiving meal, our son Timothy was lying on the floor of my shop office, slowly bleeding

to death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His war was now over, his demons

were gone. Tim was laid to rest in a combination military, firefighter

funeral that was a tribute to the man he was. " Tim was the life of a party,

happy-go-lucky young man that joined the National Guard in 2003 to earn money for

college and get a little structure in his life.

On March 19 of 2005 when Specialist Timothy Noble Bowman got off the

bus with the other National Guard soldiers of Foxtrot 202 that were

returning from Iraq he was a different man. He had a glaze in his eyes and a

1,000-yard stare, always looking for an insurgent. ... " [My son] was not counted

in any VA statistics of any kind. He had not made it into the VA system because

of the stigma of reporting mental problems, he was National Guard, and he

was not on a drill weekend when he took his life. The only statistical study that

he was counted in was the CBS study. And there are many more just like him.

We call them KBA's, killed because of action. The unknown fallen. "

YANIA PADILLA,

_empressyania_ (empressyania)

Sister of Walter Padilla, Yania said today: " My brother committed

suicide on April 1, 2007. He was about to become engaged, they'd bought

rings, they had gone house-hunting the day before. He'd been discharged with PTSD

in February of 2005. He'd gone to the VA, but they just gave him some

pills. He was withdrawn and introspective. " See " Vet's war continued at

home " at: _http://www.csindy.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A20523_ (http://www.csindy.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid:20523)

..

For background, see:

" Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans " Nov. 13, 2007 _http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml_ (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml)

" Suicides Seen Among Vets Treated By VA " March 20, 2008 _http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/20/cbsnews_investigates/main3956210.shtml_ (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/20/cbsnews_investigates/main3956210.shtml)

CNN reported Feb. 3, 2008 that according to the military's own

statistics: " Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves. Before

the Iraq war began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day. " _http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/01/military.suicides/index.html_ (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/01/military.suicides/index.html)

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:

David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on

AOL Home. (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15?ncid=aolhom00030000000001)

e-iAt 05:27 PM 3/25/08, you wrote:

120 Veteran Suicides Per

Week: " The Unknown Fallen "

Posted by: " Fernwoods " Fernwoods

fernwoods7

Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:24 am (PDT)

Estimate: 120 Veteran Suicides Per Week

Institute for Public Accuracy

915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045

(202) 347-0020 *

_http://www.accuracy.org_

(http://www.accuracy.org/)

*

_ipa_

(ipa)

_

PM Monday, March 24, 2008

Veteran and Soldier Suicides: " The Unknown Fallen "

Late last year, a CBS News investigation found that in 2005 " there

were at

least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That's

120

each and every week, in just one year. "

Last week, CBS News reported on data it had just obtained from the

government on veterans who were recently treated by the Veterans

Administration. In

this limited sample, " two age groups stood out between

2000 and 2007. First, ages 20-24 -- those likely to have served during

the

Iraq-Afghan wars. Suicide attempts rose from 11 to 47. And for vets ages

55 to

59, suicide attempts jumped from 19 to 117. "

JOYCE and KEVIN LUCEY, _kjlucey_

(kjlucey)

Joyce and

Kevin Lucey are the parents of Jeffrey Lucey, who committed suicide after

being in Iraq for five months in 2004. Joyce Lucey said today: " My

son was

betrayed first by a government who sent him to war and then by the

Veterans

Administration for not giving him the treatment he needed.

He and others died from this war but their names will never be on a

memorial

wall. " The letters we received from him were brief and sanitized.

But to his

girlfriend of six years, he said in April of 2003 he felt he had done

immoral things and that he wanted to erase the last month of his life.

'There are

things I wouldn't want to tell you or my parents, because I don't want

you to

be worried. Even if I did tell you, you'd probably think I was just

exaggerating. I would never want to fight in a war again. I've seen and

done enough

horrible things to last me a lifetime.' "

Kevin Lucey said today: " Jeffrey had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,

but

PTSD is not so much a mental dysfunction as a normal response to an

abnormal

situation. Jeffrey refused to go to the VA due to the stigma associated

with it.

We finally got him to the VA, but after he committed suicide, the VA

wouldn't

give us all his medical records, claiming a Freedom of Information Act

exemption. We finally managed to get the records -- Jeffrey had told them

how he

was thinking of committing suicide and they put him down as a moderate

risk "

Joyce and Kevin Lucey testified at the recent Winter Soldier conference.

Audio of their testimony is at

_http://warcomeshome.org/taxonomy/term/62_

(http://warcomeshome.org/taxonomy/term/62)

; video of various testimony is at

<_http://ivaworg/wintersoldier/testimony/video_

(http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier/testimony/video)

..

CLOY RICHARDS, _cloy_

(cloy)

,

_http://grassrootsamerica4us.org_

(http://grassrootsamerica4us.org/)

Cpl. Cloy Richards served two tours in Iraq as a Marine, including a

siege of Fallujah. He returned home suicidal and fought with the VA for

almost

two years trying to obtain help for his traumatic brain injury and PTSD.

Ultimately, his mother had to go to Congress to obtain the help he

needed. Richards

contributed several poems to " Warrior Writers: Re-Making

Sense, " a

collection of creative writing and art by members of Iraq Veterans

Against the War.

One of his poems, " Survivor's Guilt, " is available at:

_http://www.robkall.com/articles/life_a_allen_l__070521_poems_from_a__p_t_s_.htm_

(http://www.robkall.com/articles/life_a_allen_l__070521_poems_from_a__p_t_s_.htm)

MIKE BOWMAN, _mikebowman_

(mikebowman)

,

_http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/Testimony.aspx?TID=11136_

(http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/Testimony.aspx?TID=11136)

Bowman testified before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs in

December. He said: " As my family was preparing for our 2005

Thanksgiving meal, our

son Timothy was lying on the floor of my shop office, slowly bleeding to

death

from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His war was now over, his demons

were

gone. Tim was laid to rest in a combination military, firefighter funeral

that

was a tribute to the man he was. " Tim was the life of a party,

happy-go-lucky

young man that joined the National Guard in 2003 to earn money for

college

and get a little structure in his life.

On March 19 of 2005 when Specialist Timothy Noble Bowman got off the bus

with the other National Guard soldiers of Foxtrot 202 that were returning

from

Iraq he was a different man. He had a glaze in his eyes and a 1,000-yard

stare,

always looking for an insurgent. ... " [My son] was not counted in

any VA

statistics of any kind. He had not made it into the VA system because of

the

stigma of reporting mental problems, he was National Guard, and he was

not on a

drill weekend when he took his life. The only statistical study that he

was

counted in was the CBS study. And there are many more just like him. We

call

them KBA's, killed because of action. The unknown fallen. "

YANIA PADILLA, _empressyania_

(empressyania)

Sister of Walter Padilla, Yania said today: " My brother committed

suicide

on April 1, 2007. He was about to become engaged, they'd bought rings,

they

had gone house-hunting the day before. He'd been discharged with PTSD in

February of 2005. He'd gone to the VA, but they just gave him some pills.

He was

withdrawn and introspective. " See " Vet's war continued at

home " at:

_http://www.csindy.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A20523_

(http://www.csindy.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid:20523)

..

For background, see:

" Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans " Nov. 13, 2007

_http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml_

(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml)

" Suicides Seen Among Vets Treated By VA " March 20, 2008

_http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/20/cbsnews_investigates/main3956210.shtml_

(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/20/cbsnews_investigates/main3956210.shtml)

CNN reported Feb. 3, 2008 that according to the military's own

statistics:

" Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves. Before the

Iraq war

began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day. "

_http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/01/military.suicides/index.html_

(http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/01/military.suicides/index.html)

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: David

Zupan, (541) 484-9167

**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL

Home.

(http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15?ncid=aolhom00030000000001)

******

Kraig and Shirley Carroll ... in the woods of SE Kentucky

http://www.thehavens.com/

thehavens

606-376-3363

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March 26, 2008

At 07:24 PM 3/25/2008, you wrote:

The VA is horrible. It always has been. They are underfunded and

understaffed - even though funding for veterans has gone up twice as fast

under Bush as it did under Clinton. As long as I have known about it, the

VA has always been lousy. After the Vietnam war, I knew some guys that

would rather have died in the street than go back to the VA.

Thing is, there has never been any conflict where people have not done or

seen things they felt were horrible. It also seems to me, the less

popular the conflict, the worse emotionally for those who

served.

120 Veteran Suicides Per Week: " The

Unknown Fallen "

Posted by: " Fernwoods "

Fernwoods

fernwoods7

Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:24 am (PDT)

Estimate: 120 Veteran Suicides Per Week

Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 *

_http://www.accuracy.org_

(

http://www.accuracy.org/) * _ipa_

(

ipa) _ PM Monday, March 24, 2008 Veteran and Soldier Suicides: " The Unknown Fallen " Late last year, a CBS News investigation found that in 2005

" there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces.

That's 120 each and every week, in just one year. " Last week, CBS News reported on data it had just obtained from the government on veterans who were recently treated by the Veterans

Administration. In this limited sample, " two age groups stood out between 2000 and 2007. First, ages 20-24 -- those likely to have served

during the Iraq-Afghan wars. Suicide attempts rose from 11 to 47. And for vets

ages 55 to 59, suicide attempts jumped from 19 to 117. " JOYCE and KEVIN LUCEY,

_kjlucey_

(

kjlucey) Joyce and Kevin Lucey are the parents of Jeffrey Lucey, who committed suicide

after being in Iraq for five months in 2004. Joyce Lucey said today:

" My son was betrayed first by a government who sent him to war and then by the

Veterans Administration for not giving him the treatment he needed. He and others died from this war but their names will never be on a

memorial wall. " The letters we received from him were brief and

sanitized. But to his girlfriend of six years, he said in April of 2003 he felt he had done immoral things and that he wanted to erase the last month of his

life. 'There are things I wouldn't want to tell you or my parents, because I don't

want you to be worried. Even if I did tell you, you'd probably think I was just exaggerating. I would never want to fight in a war again. I've seen

and done enough horrible things to last me a lifetime.' " Kevin Lucey said today: " Jeffrey had Post-Traumatic Stress

Disorder, but PTSD is not so much a mental dysfunction as a normal response to an

abnormal situation. Jeffrey refused to go to the VA due to the stigma

associated with it. We finally got him to the VA, but after he committed suicide, the VA

wouldn't give us all his medical records, claiming a Freedom of Information

Act exemption. We finally managed to get the records -- Jeffrey had told

them how he was thinking of committing suicide and they put him down as a

moderate risk " Joyce and Kevin Lucey testified at the recent Winter Soldier

conference. Audio of their testimony is at

_

http://warcomeshome.org/taxonomy/term/62_ (

http://warcomeshome.org/taxonomy/term/62) ; video of various

testimony is at <_

http://ivaworg/wintersoldier/testimony/video_

(

http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier/testimony/video) . CLOY RICHARDS,

_cloy_ (

cloy) ,

_

http://grassrootsamerica4us.org_ (

http://grassrootsamerica4us.org/) Cpl. Cloy Richards served two tours

in Iraq as a Marine, including a siege of Fallujah. He returned home suicidal and fought with the VA

for almost two years trying to obtain help for his traumatic brain injury and

PTSD. Ultimately, his mother had to go to Congress to obtain the help he

needed. Richards contributed several poems to " Warrior Writers: Re-Making

Sense, " a collection of creative writing and art by members of Iraq Veterans

Against the War. One of his poems, " Survivor's Guilt, " is available at:

_

http://www.robkall.com/articles/life_a_allen_l__070521_poems_from_a__p_t_s_.htm_

(

http://www.robkall.com/articles/life_a_allen_l__070521_poems_from_a__p_t_s_.htm

) MIKE BOWMAN,

_mikebowman_

(

mikebowman) ,

_

http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/Testimony.aspx?TID=11136_

(

http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/Testimony.aspx?TID=11136) Bowman testified before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs in December. He said: " As my family was preparing for our 2005

Thanksgiving meal, our son Timothy was lying on the floor of my shop office, slowly bleeding

to death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His war was now over, his demons

were gone. Tim was laid to rest in a combination military, firefighter

funeral that was a tribute to the man he was. " Tim was the life of a party,

happy-go-lucky young man that joined the National Guard in 2003 to earn money for

college and get a little structure in his life. On March 19 of 2005 when Specialist Timothy Noble Bowman got off the