Why are you assuming that everyone hates Bush? Please stop generalizing. I do not hate Bush, he is a human being just like you and I. Being president of the U.S. is a difficult task, and any individual in that position cannot make everyone happy all the time. Besides this is not about Bush this is about advocating for our soldiers who sacrifice their lives and serve out country.

Those blogging about PSTD are using personal experiences and statistics to justify a call to action and not a feeling of hatred for our president.

I understand that service is being provided to some soldiers; however too many are falling through the cracks. It is time to provide better service to those who have so greatly served us.

As I stated above I look forward to the next part of your series. I do agree that the problem could be much worse; however my point is that rates are rising and that’s bad by itself, so why let it get worse? It’s time to be proactive not reactive.

And as I noted in my article, this is part one of a series on post traumatic stress. If you bother to read the series, you’ll find the problem could be a lot worse.

I am not quite sure why you belittle suicides among soldiers. Just because it is “nothing new” doesn’t make it any less of an issue. In your attempt to provide history on stress and suicide with a quote from the article provided, you left out the part that said, “The stress of combat, and how to deal with it, has been a hot research topic since World War II. But the war on terror is unique because it is sending more troops into combat, for longer periods, than ever before. As expected, from past experience, the more time troops spend in combat, the more likely they are to suffer from stress.”

More troops, longer time, and more stress mean a higher probability for increased suicide among the soldier population (men and women included). This is not a spin on statistics, this is logical deductive reasoning.

I find it interesting that you did not provide any statistics or independent references from the VA or military for readers to see. You only say that “rates remain low”. What is this compared to? How did you arrive at this conclusion? Without a source, this is only an opinion.

You also claim that “The press is spinning the numbers to fit into the “Evil Iraq war is killing soldiers” and “the Military doesn’t care about the soldiers” meme (to fit the ultimate meme: Evil Bush’s war and evil Republicans don’t care).” After reading the articles provided, I did not see any language to the effect of “Evil Iraq War”, “Bush’s war” or “evil Republicans don’t care”. It seems like these are delusions coming from the depths of your imagination. This is not about evil republicans not caring; this is about the grave issue of suicide rates increasing among the military population.

You say “it’s not like nothing is being done…” If there is an increase in suicide rates then obviously more needs to be done. The last article you provided from the Harvard Gazette is discussing female physician suicide rates. I am not quite sure how this relates to your conclusion. I also noticed that you cite a program in 2001 that reduced suicide rates. In case you haven’t noticed we are quickly approaching the end of 2008. What programs and resources are in place now to reduce suicides? Much has changed since 2001.

I look forward to part two of your suicide rate blog; perhaps there, you will provide us with logical conclusions.

The replies that Mrs. Picard and Lansdale01 have provided should already be enough to make you feel ashamed to have posted this blog. Nevertheless, I think I should probe you a bit more. What is your problem with helping our soldiers? What possible good can you derive from minimizing the psychological impact that war has on those fighting it? Even if you were in favor of the war in Iraq or the ridiculous notion of a “War on Terror”, what do you gain by turning your back on the problems faced by returning veterans?

“One of the results of this is, alas, suicide.”

Go ahead: write it off. Downplay suicide, and the road of horrors that leads to it. Use flippant, dismissive, language to make it seem that suicide is just the unfortunate consequence of some poor, unbalanced fool’s isolated experience in a personal war. Because you’ve never survived anything close to this, you are of the opinion that you can judge those who have.

Servicemen with PTSD have, throughout American history, received sub-par treatment. But of course, based on your in-depth analysis of military history, you should already know this. Have you ever even spoken to someone who has been blown out of a tank and captured by the Nazis during WWII, or had to crawl through Viet-Cong tunnels with only a flashlight and a .45? If you are so lucky, ask these men and women what kind of dreams they had after they returned to their families. Maybe they’ll talk about why they slept with fighting knives and ate out of their steel helmets even after getting home. Ask them how much that Army-appointed psychologist really helped them. And today, war still leaves the same mental trauma in its wake; little has changed. You can write of the many wonderful programs in place to help our soldiers, but just once you should try to sit down with a veteran and see what he or she has to say. Listen to opinions other than your own elitist, self-righteous delusions. You should try putting statistics and politics aside, and looking at the human aspect of it.

“Doctor”, if your husband is a combat veteran of WWII and your son-in-law has seen fighting in Iraq (Persian Gulf or current), maybe you should start with them. You should have more respect for their service. Something tells me, that if they gazed upon the tempestuous maw of battle, they wouldn’t appreciate your denial of support to their fellow comrades in arms.

Lansdale01’s statement that “If 1 soldier commits suicide, that’s 1 too many.” couldn’t sum up my argument more. For someone who has supposedly devoted their life to service, you have a remarkable disdain for human feeling and experience. For a doctor, you possess an astonishing knack for trivializing the loss of human life. Before you post another politically-charged blog, gather your facts about war from those who lived it. Until you do this, every word you type merely exposes more of your ignorance.

My husband is a World War II veteran.
My son in law has been to Iraq.

Spinning PTSS to bash Bush is politicizing medicine, and ignoring the reality of a war on terror that is world wide in scope, where the successes are rarely publicized.

Minimizing the tragedy in THAT with allegations of “political spin” against those who are trying to raise awareness so that CONGRESS can better fund post-deployment mental health care IS political spin–except it is your own as opposed to someone else’s.