TRAGEDY: VETERAN SUICIDES AFTER A WAR

Reported deaths in a war are a minimum number in the first place.  For one thing, once you are airborne out of the war zone, you are not counted as a death from the war even if you die on the plane or in the hospital where they take you.  Then there are the deaths from suicide occurring for decades after the war.  Although getting the proper statistics is impossible, it seems clear that more Vietnam veterans have died from suicide than the 58,000 killed in the war.*

Now consider the case of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars where the same military people have had even more than one tour in these wars and four tours are common.  So say you have had a tour and escaped any IED or suicide bomber attacks or a supposedly friendly-Afghan-trainee shooting.  No doubt you feel, "Whew!"  Then you are sent back again and maybe again and again.  The accumulative effect must be unbearable for many.  The maximum number of tours for someone in the Army seems to be four because of the length of the tours.  We should remember that there are no front lines in these wars and an IED or suicide bombing or supposedly friendly-Afghan-shooting can occur almost anywhere.  The number of suicides from these conflicts should eventually dwarf the official number killed in the conflicts.  The talk show Morning Joe accepts the number of  veteran suicides  to be 22 a day.  Another study indicates this figure of 22 suicides a day is most likely a minimum.**

So we should remember in going to war that the total human costs of the war will be at least twice those killed in the war itself.  In the case of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, it may well be several times more.

Also worth mention are life changing injuries that are many more than in previous wars because of perfected medical treatments that save the lives of many severely injured combatants (e.g. loss of limbs, defiguration, etc.).  One psychologist has said that many who survive an IED or suicide bomb, have had their brains shook and are "walking zombies."

* http://www.alternet.org/story/68713/120_war_vets_commit_suicide_each_week; http://www.alternet.org/story/68713/120_war_vets_commit_suicide_each_wee http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_died_in_war_in_Vietnam#slide=6
** http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/21/us/22-veteran-suicides-a-day/