My son texted us from his base in Lousiana. Another Airman committed sucide today. I think this is literally second person to do so since he has been there in November. When he was at Vance AFB, several Airman did the same. I dont understand what is going on with these people. Its not like the Air Force ignores the situation. Everytime this happens, the base basically stop what is doing on and go out of their way to talk to the Airman and plead with them to ask for help when they need it. It is so tragic. I dont know if its military related or has to do with the personal life or a combination of both. Its a shame. NOt that age has to do with anything but these are all young men who have their whole lives in front of them.
Why are people in the military are committing suicide?
- Thread starter Humey
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I’ve been a military wife for 22 yrs so I had heard these stories so many times. Makes me so sad. I don’t have the answers but I know PTSD plays a huge part, poor leadership is another issue
I want to start by saying that I have never understood suicide and that I am not in the psychology profession.
My boss and I were talking about the suicide rates of people in our profession (construction) which by the way has the highest rate of suicide than any other profession, and it got me thinking.
I do believe, that as a society we push our kids to succeed, not to accept failure. From a very young age thru high school they are pushed to be the best in academics and athletics. Then we these young adults get to college many may experience failure for the first time, in school and maybe their personal lives, and many of them do not know how to handle it and cannot accept the fact that maybe they are failing school. Instead of disappointing someone they do consider suicide.
In my opinion the military is no different, and is also not the only place with a suicide issue. Young cadets/soldiers get into a time commitment that part way thru maybe they cannot bear. Maybe they just cannot succeed at what they are doing. Maybe they just get depressed from not being able to handle the pressure or isolation from their family or other family issues.
Depression and suicide is not just a military problem, it is a society problem. Mental health/depression issues are hard to identify and even harder to convince the people that have them they need help.
I do not know the numbers, but am guessing that suicide rates are rising because they are being reported more and that society is recognizing that it is a big issue. Also the fact that there are just more people in the world. Suicide used to be embarrassing to those around the person that committed it so it was never reported.
I am certainly not trying to diminish the issue of suicide in the military, however it is not just a military issue.
My boss and I were talking about the suicide rates of people in our profession (construction) which by the way has the highest rate of suicide than any other profession, and it got me thinking.
I do believe, that as a society we push our kids to succeed, not to accept failure. From a very young age thru high school they are pushed to be the best in academics and athletics. Then we these young adults get to college many may experience failure for the first time, in school and maybe their personal lives, and many of them do not know how to handle it and cannot accept the fact that maybe they are failing school. Instead of disappointing someone they do consider suicide.
In my opinion the military is no different, and is also not the only place with a suicide issue. Young cadets/soldiers get into a time commitment that part way thru maybe they cannot bear. Maybe they just cannot succeed at what they are doing. Maybe they just get depressed from not being able to handle the pressure or isolation from their family or other family issues.
Depression and suicide is not just a military problem, it is a society problem. Mental health/depression issues are hard to identify and even harder to convince the people that have them they need help.
I do not know the numbers, but am guessing that suicide rates are rising because they are being reported more and that society is recognizing that it is a big issue. Also the fact that there are just more people in the world. Suicide used to be embarrassing to those around the person that committed it so it was never reported.
I am certainly not trying to diminish the issue of suicide in the military, however it is not just a military issue.
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“Poor leadership”? What do you base that on? That is one heck of a load to lay on leaders and bluntly- I’ve never heard anyone say that the leadership has been the cause of suicide. As a retired Soldier, husband of a retired Soldier and father of a current one- I doubt that very much. Personally I would be begging to retract that statement as you just made it the leaders fault for someone in a unit killing themself.
The US suicide rate has increased 24 % in the last 15 years.
I believe in the US this is an across the board societal problem and primarily a male problem, and the highest rates occur in small rural states- not coincidentally the military is predominantly composed of 18-30 year old men. So the rise in military suicides coincides with the same rise in the overall US population. It may be exacerbated by PTSD amongst those who have deployed, but the military is far more cognizant of that than the general population - and the comment above to the contrary- the military demonstrates a lot more concern about Soldiers personal lives than on the outside so blaming it on leaders is just unfair and unjustified.
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Completely agree with @QA1517 , this is much larger than military. It's fire and police too, but I recently heard a news story about veterinarians, for example, so it's not limited to specific professions. Many parts of American life are very visible these days, and pairing that exhanced external expectation with the diminished control over their lives that many people feel, plus stressful work lives, sometimes difficult scheduling, limited common experience with anyone outside their work and a perilously shrinking public square where folks actually interact, well it's a toxic cocktail of solitude and stress. Not easily solved.