Contradiction in Valuation

The ant has made himself illustrious
Through constant industry industrious.
So what?
Would you be calm and placid
If you were full of formic acid?
--The Ant, Ogden Nash
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Last Wednesday the Pentagon released an analysis showing that behind combat death, more U.S. servicemembers die of suicide than any other form of death (Suicides #2 Cause of Death in the Military). The Army has the highest number, which is commensurate with the civilian rate.

Army Colonel Carl Castro, lead researcher into suicide prevention and treatment, said the Army was slow off the mark to respond to the need:

"We were slow to react (at first) because we weren't sure if it was an anomaly or it was a real trend," Castro said. "Then it just takes time to program the money and get the studies up and going."

Military suicide is not a new problem.

The U.S. Army has been in the kill business for 235 years. Ranger remembers a high suicide rate when he was at Fort Benning -- home of the Infantry -- in the early-mid 1970's, a rate probably exacerbated by the Reduction in Forces (RIFs) following the Army's drawdown in personnel following the Vietnam War.

If the suicides were broken down by MOS (military occupational specialty), the deaths would probably cluster around the combat arms, meaning more than 25% of non-combat deaths in the combat arms would be due to suicide, and that rate would exceed the rate in the general public. Suicide is probably not correlated to military service, per se, but rather to combat military experience. This is the crux of the matter. (The Navy had the lowest suicide rate, supporting Ranger's contention.)

Any organization that requires its personnel to willingly sacrifice their lives for the mission will suffer this problem of improper valuation of life. How to convince soldiers that we care about their individual lives during suicide prevention programs while at the same time training them for their next deployment, a mission that may violently end their lives or make them incapacitated for life. The two missions are in contradiction.

How can one conceive of his life as valuable when you know you are an asset easily replaced? We in the combat arms know that we may be killed doing our soldierly duty; that's part of the deal -- we know we are sacrificial lambs. But we all fear dying needlessly for concepts that have nothing to do with American or soldierly values.

The disconnect is that no organization can claim to value the individual lives of its members while making them swear allegiance to a (soldier - Ranger - Special Forces) creed that commits them to a doctrinally-required self sacrifice for the mission.

Suicide is a by-product of war. A soldier need not be a constitutional law scholar to understand the real message coming from the head shed.

World Wide Suicide

Medals on a wooden mantle. Next to a handsome face.
That the president took for granted.
Writing checks that others pay.

And in all the madness. Thought becomes numb and naive.
So much to talk about. Nothing for to say.

It's the same everyday and the wave won't break
Tell you to pray, while the devils on their shoulder

Laying claim to the take that our soldiers save
Does not equate, and the truth's already out there
--World Wide Suicide, Pearl Jam
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Navy Times reports ''5,000 Troubled Veterans a Year Kill Themselves.'' You see, it's the troublemakers; untroubled vets don't have this problem (''More Help Sought for Suicidal Veterans,'' Navy Times, 5/07/07.)

''Each (suicide) hints at the reasons: undiagnosed or untreated post-traumatic stress disorder, calls for help that were pushed off for lack of resources, a feeling that no one else understands what a combat vet knows.''

This story is getting coverage because of the particularly graphic case of Army Spc. Joshua Omvig, who ''fatally shot himself in front of his mother after returning from Iraq in November.'' And of course, an aunt who was willing to publicize the case and the larger problem.

''Omvig did not go to counseling, out of fear that he would be unable to get a job as a civilian police officer if he had PTSD on his record.''

Marine Justin Bailey, who killed himself while being treated at the West Los Angeles VA Hospital, is another sad case.

"Apathy and complacency — that's what I ran into at the VA," (father) Tony Bailey said. "I'm sure there are people who do care, but I didn't run across that."

"Nobody talked to us, nobody cared. . . (b)ut they sure cared when I talked to ABC [News]. We got a call that night. Without the media, my son's story wouldn't have gotten out."

So now the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee is rallying around the issue to ''draft legislation to help the thousands of returning veterans who desperately need mental health care.''

''Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said VA is falling behind in its mission to take care of returning troops, with waiting lists that make 'mental health care virtually inaccessible.''

That's all fine and well--politicians are never ones to miss the spotlight--but the suicide problem faces veterans across the board.

It is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because the symptoms can arise at any time following the traumatic exposure. This is not a problem that faces only the newly returning veteran, and the problems of older vets are often ignored or dismissed as spurious. However, PTSD is a condition that can worsen over time.

''Randall Omvig said that his son had no contact with other soldiers in his unit after he returned; he was back at his civilian job within two weeks of returning and couldn't talk of what he'd seen be-cause it was classified.''

Presently, the policy is to send Reserve forces soldiers to combat and then dump them back into their civilian world, which is devoid of a military social support network. The isolation of combat-stressed reserve soldiers is palpable. The case of Randall Omvig is instructive.

Ranger is against the use of Reserves in this Phony War on Terror. However, if these forces are going to be deployed, they should be ordered to active duty for the duration, or keeping them out of combat. A soldier cannot shift his brain properly from combat to civilian status without transition.

Soldiers are not light bulbs to be switched on or off.