VA study finds more veterans committing suicide

Source: Washington Post

Every day about 22 veterans in the United States kill themselves, a rate that is about 20 percent higher than the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2007 estimate, according to two-year study by a VA researcher.

The VA study indicates that more than two-thirds of the veterans who commit suicide are 50 or older, suggesting that the increase in veterans’ suicides is not primarily driven by those returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“There is a perception that we have a veterans’ suicide epidemic on our hands. I don’t think that is true,” said Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist with the VA who did the study. “The rate is going up in the country, and veterans are a part of it.” The number of suicides overall in the United States increased by nearly 11 percent between 2007 and 2010, the study says.

As a result, the percentage of veterans who die by suicide has decreased slightly since 1999, even though the total number of veterans who kill themselves has gone up, the study says.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/va-study-finds-more-veterans-committing-suicide/2013/01/31/1092b330-5a68-11e2-9fa9-5fbdc9530eb9_singlePage.html

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Last week "pro-life" groups held "Marches for Life" nationwide and most prominently in DC to protest the Roe v. Wade decision. I wonder when the protests by Live Action, Americans United for Life, etc. at the Pentagon will be with all those "STOP OUR SOLDIERS FROM COMMITTING SUICIDE" signs? Right? Aren't those conservative patriots supposed to be standing up for their fellow patriots who sacrificed themselves to defend this great nation? But no, they're too busy listening to Lee Greenwood albums, heckling women at Planned Parenthood, and waving US flags that were manufactured in China.