H
Harry Hope
Guest
From The Associated Press, 12/13/07:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-7148590,00.html
Data Sought on Veterans' Suicide
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -
The parents of an Iraq war veteran who committed suicide and members
of Congress on Wednesday questioned why there's not a comprehensive
tracking system of suicide among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
Mike Bowman, of Forreston, Ill., said his son, Spc. Timothy Bowman,
23, is a member of the ``unknown fallen'' not counted in statistics.
His son, a member of the Illinois National Guard, took his own life in
2005 eight months after returning from war.
Bowman said he considers his son a ``KBA'' - killed because of action.
``If the veteran suicide rate is not classified as an epidemic that
needs immediate and drastic attention, then the American fighting
soldier needs someone in Washington who thinks it is,'' Bowman said.
Bowman was one of several witnesses who testified before the House
Veterans' Affairs Committee on the issue.
Rep. Bob Filner, the committee chairman, questioned why the
comprehensive tracking wasn't already being done.
``They don't want to know this, it looks to me,'' said Filner,
D-Calif.
``This could be tracked.''
Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's deputy chief patient care service officer for
mental health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, defended the work
being done by his agency to tackle the issue, including implementing a
suicide prevention hotline.
``We have a major suicide prevention program, the most comprehensive
in the nation,'' Katz said.
Katz questioned why Filner was focusing on the number of suicides
instead of looking at treatment programs implemented to help prevent
suicide.
Awareness of suicide among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was
heightened earlier this year when the Army said its suicide rate in
2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops - the highest level in 26 years
of record-keeping.
The Department of Veterans Affairs tracks the number of Iraq and
Afghanistan veterans who commit suicide, but only if they have been
discharged from the military.
The Pentagon tracks the number of suicides in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For an earlier story, a Pentagon spokeswoman told The Associated Press
the military does not keep track of whether active duty troops who
took who took their own lives served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
In an e-mail on Wednesday, the same spokeswoman, Cynthia Smith, said,
``We track all suicides, I just don't have combat service information
readily available.''
At least 152 troops have committed suicide in Iraq and Afghanistan,
according to the Defense Manpower Data Center, which tracks casualties
for the Pentagon.
On Oct. 31, the AP reported that preliminary research from the
Department of Veterans Affairs had found that from the start of the
war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, and the end of 2005, 283 troops
who served in the wars who had been discharged from the military had
committed suicide.
On Wednesday, Katz said the VA's number had been changed to 144
because some of the veterans counted were actually in the active
military and not discharged on the day they committed suicide.
Smith said that the military's suicide rate is still lower than that
of the general population.
After leaving the military, however, veterans appear to be at greater
risk for suicide than those who didn't serve.
Earlier this year, researchers at Portland State University in Oregon
found male veterans were twice as likely to commit suicide as their
civilian counterparts.
In a report last May, the VA Inspector General said VA officials
estimate 1,000 suicides per year among veterans receiving care within
the agency and as many as 5,000 per year among all veterans.
________________________________________________________
Harry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-7148590,00.html
Data Sought on Veterans' Suicide
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -
The parents of an Iraq war veteran who committed suicide and members
of Congress on Wednesday questioned why there's not a comprehensive
tracking system of suicide among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
Mike Bowman, of Forreston, Ill., said his son, Spc. Timothy Bowman,
23, is a member of the ``unknown fallen'' not counted in statistics.
His son, a member of the Illinois National Guard, took his own life in
2005 eight months after returning from war.
Bowman said he considers his son a ``KBA'' - killed because of action.
``If the veteran suicide rate is not classified as an epidemic that
needs immediate and drastic attention, then the American fighting
soldier needs someone in Washington who thinks it is,'' Bowman said.
Bowman was one of several witnesses who testified before the House
Veterans' Affairs Committee on the issue.
Rep. Bob Filner, the committee chairman, questioned why the
comprehensive tracking wasn't already being done.
``They don't want to know this, it looks to me,'' said Filner,
D-Calif.
``This could be tracked.''
Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's deputy chief patient care service officer for
mental health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, defended the work
being done by his agency to tackle the issue, including implementing a
suicide prevention hotline.
``We have a major suicide prevention program, the most comprehensive
in the nation,'' Katz said.
Katz questioned why Filner was focusing on the number of suicides
instead of looking at treatment programs implemented to help prevent
suicide.
Awareness of suicide among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was
heightened earlier this year when the Army said its suicide rate in
2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops - the highest level in 26 years
of record-keeping.
The Department of Veterans Affairs tracks the number of Iraq and
Afghanistan veterans who commit suicide, but only if they have been
discharged from the military.
The Pentagon tracks the number of suicides in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For an earlier story, a Pentagon spokeswoman told The Associated Press
the military does not keep track of whether active duty troops who
took who took their own lives served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
In an e-mail on Wednesday, the same spokeswoman, Cynthia Smith, said,
``We track all suicides, I just don't have combat service information
readily available.''
At least 152 troops have committed suicide in Iraq and Afghanistan,
according to the Defense Manpower Data Center, which tracks casualties
for the Pentagon.
On Oct. 31, the AP reported that preliminary research from the
Department of Veterans Affairs had found that from the start of the
war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, and the end of 2005, 283 troops
who served in the wars who had been discharged from the military had
committed suicide.
On Wednesday, Katz said the VA's number had been changed to 144
because some of the veterans counted were actually in the active
military and not discharged on the day they committed suicide.
Smith said that the military's suicide rate is still lower than that
of the general population.
After leaving the military, however, veterans appear to be at greater
risk for suicide than those who didn't serve.
Earlier this year, researchers at Portland State University in Oregon
found male veterans were twice as likely to commit suicide as their
civilian counterparts.
In a report last May, the VA Inspector General said VA officials
estimate 1,000 suicides per year among veterans receiving care within
the agency and as many as 5,000 per year among all veterans.
________________________________________________________
Harry
