http://saynotostigma.com/2013/02/veteran-suicides-drug-overdoses-and-other-causes-of-early-death-epidemic-or-not/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=veteran-suicides-drug-overdoses-and-other-causes-of-early-death-epidemic-or-not a blog of The Menninger Clinic Thu, 23 May 2013 13:17:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://saynotostigma.com/2013/02/veteran-suicides-drug-overdoses-and-other-causes-of-early-death-epidemic-or-not/comment-page-1/#comment-2693 Chris Frueh Sun, 24 Feb 2013 19:56:35 +0000 http://saynotostigma.com/?p=1958#comment-2693 Excellent comment. And you are correct, sir, that military suicides and drug abuse are not necessarily higher (or much higher) than in the matched civilian population. We do indeed do a disservice when we fail to understand this point. Excellent comment. And you are correct, sir, that military suicides and drug abuse are not necessarily higher (or much higher) than in the matched civilian population. We do indeed do a disservice when we fail to understand this point.

]]> http://saynotostigma.com/2013/02/veteran-suicides-drug-overdoses-and-other-causes-of-early-death-epidemic-or-not/comment-page-1/#comment-2692 Warren Sat, 23 Feb 2013 20:15:28 +0000 http://saynotostigma.com/?p=1958#comment-2692 Gen William Tecumseh Sherman said, 'War is Hell.' It's encouraging to see that the Civil [War Between The States] was included in the study. Although the average citizen may or may not be aware of the older generations 'Citizen/Soldier' concepts, they remain relatively unaware of the bonding that starts in basic training and continues throughout a military career--and in exceptional cases, retirement. WW II introduced heroin, which became morphine in Korea and was superceded by marijuana and amphetamines in Vietnam. Regardless of drugs of choice, those combatents that failed to form close bonds appeared to become the primary users of illegal drugs. The waivering of the draft requirements and later, volunter enlistment waivers, allowed marginal socializers to enter active duty. Inherent in buildups for armed conflict that allow waivers, draw downs seek to discharge those 'waiver enlistees' to equalize peacetime personnel components. In most cases, they do discharge and due to an increased inability to 'reassimilate into civilian life,' become some of the easily identified 'homeless vets' the media use for background stories. Leaving the historical/management reflective and returning to the impetus of this blog; drug usage and suicide rates, it becomes the reader to question whether military suicides are statistically higher than their civilian counterparts. Oxycoton misuse and abuse among teenagers and college age civilians has risen in the past decade. Unlike the military medical model, false identificaitons and underground sources make it more readily available than for active duty personnel garrisoned or in combat zones. I would urge any researchers to include stress levels in their paradigms to correlate any hypothesis in drug abuse prior to stepping into the arena of active duty [or within one year of discharge] suicides. Gen William Tecumseh Sherman said, ‘War is Hell.’ It’s encouraging to see that the Civil [War Between The States] was included in the study.
Although the average citizen may or may not be aware of the older generations ‘Citizen/Soldier’ concepts, they remain relatively unaware of the bonding that starts in basic training and continues throughout a military career–and in exceptional cases, retirement.
WW II introduced heroin, which became morphine in Korea and was superceded by marijuana and amphetamines in Vietnam. Regardless of drugs of choice, those combatents that failed to form close bonds appeared to become the primary users of illegal drugs. The waivering of the draft requirements and later, volunter enlistment waivers, allowed marginal socializers to enter active duty.
Inherent in buildups for armed conflict that allow waivers, draw downs seek to discharge those ‘waiver enlistees’ to equalize peacetime personnel components. In most cases, they do discharge and due to an increased inability to ‘reassimilate into civilian life,’ become some of the easily identified ‘homeless vets’ the media use for background stories.
Leaving the historical/management reflective and returning to the impetus of this blog; drug usage and suicide rates, it becomes the reader to question whether military suicides are statistically higher than their civilian counterparts.
Oxycoton misuse and abuse among teenagers and college age civilians has risen in the past decade. Unlike the military medical model, false identificaitons and underground sources make it more readily available than for active duty personnel garrisoned or in combat zones.
I would urge any researchers to include stress levels in their paradigms to correlate any hypothesis in drug abuse prior to stepping into the arena of active duty [or within one year of discharge] suicides.

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