There's been a lot of talk about veteran suicides this week, and much of it, unfortunately, has centered on a statistic Bloomberg reported on Monday: The total number of veteran suicides is expected to exceed the number of U.S. casualties in the Iraq-Afghanistan wars. Once the statistic's initial shock value wears off, it's clear that--as Winds of Change notes in its calculations--the figure is fairly misleading. Taking the national rate of suicide (about 13 per 100,000) and applying it to the 1.6 million U.S. troops that have to date served, the figure comes out to 8,409 -- a little less than twice the number of U.S. casualties in Iraq. More an artifact of the comparatively low casualties the U.S. has suffered in Iraq than anything else. The more compelling statistic is the one revealed in an independent CBS analysis last November, namely that veterans aged 20-24 (that is, those who've served in current wars) have a suicide rate up to four times higher than civilians the same age. What's more, even among soldiers who seek help--and up until last week, admitting PTSD could cost you your security clearance and career--only half, RAND reports, receive even "minimally adequate" care. That's the kind of statistic the VA's been none too eager to release, and as emerged in hearings this week, has in fact worked to stonewall.
--Te-Ping Chen
