Study Indicates More National Guard Vets Commit Suicide

A Department of Veterans Affairs analysis finds that guard soldiers are more likely to kill themselves as war veterans.

Image by: Tim King Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - New analysis released by the Department of Veterans Affairs indicates that members of the national guard who serve in war are more likely to commit suicide from post traumatic combat stress.

The report states, "National Guard and Reserve troops who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan make up more than half of veterans who committed suicide after returning home from those wars."

It was established in 2006 that the U.S. Army’s suicide rate was at the highest level in 26 years, with a rate of 17.3 suicides per 100,000 troops.

The report says the U.S. military is seriously deficient in meeting "the threat of Islamist insurgencies" and states that "U.S. military intervention and occupation in the Muslim world" is "at best inadequate, at worst counter-productive, and, on the whole, infeasible."

It also details how many obstacles face returning veterans in a war where a President orders his troops to complete one combat tour after another in one combat theater he declared victory in years ago; Iraq, and another place where the whole "War on Terrorism" began; Afghanistan.

One of those problems affecting veterans everywhere involves the nation's sagging economy. The report states that, "As home prices fall and banks tighten lending standards, people with good, or prime, credit histories are falling behind on their payments for home loans, auto loans and credit cards at a quickening pace, according to industry data and economists."

The news is not good for Americans overall, but vets in particular are affected after having their lives totally displaced by long deployments to the Middle East.

So now a number of banks have banded together to launch "Project Lifeline," which they say will give homeowners an extra 30 days to renegotiate their mortgage payments.

The participating U.S. banks are Bank of America, Citigroup, Countrywide Financial, JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual, and Wells Fargo.

Perhaps this will bring some relief to those who are suffering from the stress of war in an unsure economy and a country that has in the opinion of many, turned its backs on our veterans. Or maybe the banks banding together is little more than a band-aid and a temporary solution.

National Guard soldiers in a combat environment are often visibly different from their regular Army counterparts. In war there is no difference in the mission they perform, but the guard soldier is likely a person with a civilian career who understands civilian life very well because it is what they normally experience.

Full-time Army soldiers on the other hand, are often people for whom the military is a professional career and they take on a military perspective. And there are always droves of young men from around the country who saw no better alternative for their lives than the military service.

The Oregon National Guard soldiers I spent time with in Afghanistan while covering the war there over the winter of 2006/07 were extremely professional people, and they were far more conscientious and well mannered than the average active duty soldier.

I can't honestly correlate the information from this study with what I saw there, but you only have a limited view of a war over two months, which is how long I stayed in country. I know there were a number of Oregon Guard soldiers who were under the impression that changes in the government's disbursement of pay was going to affect them adversely, and I knew guard soldiers in Afghanistan who were worried about losing their homes to foreclosure.

If you know an Oregon Guard soldier who served in Iraq or Afghanistan who could use this information, tell them to visit Oregon National Guard Reintegration and Service Member Support on the Web or call 1-800 24 Hour Toll-Free Number: NW Human Services Suicide Prevention 24/7 1-800-560-5535. This is a real number with real people answering the phone who can help a veteran. In fact they say they are gearing up for an increase in contact from veterans.

We appreciate and commend the state of Oregon for maintaining this service for those who need it.

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with almost twenty years experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist and reporter. Today, in addition to his role as a war correspondent in Afghanistan where he spent the winter of 2006/07, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated only with Google News. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com