Young Vets Most At Risk For Suicide In Oregon
(CBS)
The state health report, "Violent Deaths in Oregon: 2005" found 18 to 24-year-old male veterans had the highest rate of suicide among all males in the state from 2000 to 2005 – almost 5 times higher than non-veteran males the same age. (The bar chart above shows the figures.)
"We were shocked [by the results]," Lisa Millet, Project Manager for Oregon's Violent Death Reporting System which conducted the study, told CBS News.
Data for the report was collected from local medical examiners, police reports and death certificates. In 2005, veterans accounted for 28 percent of all suicides in Oregon. The majority of the veteran suicides (97 percent) were committed by males. And overall, in the years 2000 to 2005, male veterans died of self-inflicted wounds in Oregon at more than double the rate of male non-veterans.
Here are the rates of suicide per 100,000 males (statistically adjusted for age) from the report:
2000-2005 Oregon Male Rates of Suicide
Veterans = 46.05 per 100,000
Non-Veterans = 22.09 per 100,000
Millet says when Oregon state researchers broken down the veteran suicide data (for 2000 to 2005) by age, three groups had "significantly" higher rates. She provided CBS News with those rates:
(Note: Millet says the following rates of suicide are statistically adjusted for age and by year to weed out any random factors so the comparison between veterans and non-veterans is an "oranges to oranges" match.)
Oregon Males Ages: 18-24
Veterans = 134 per 100,000
Non-Veterans = 27 per 100,000
Oregon Males Ages: 35-44
Veterans = 47 per 100,000
Non-Veterans = 26 per 100,000
Oregon Males Ages: 45-54
Veterans = 48 per 100,000
Non-Veterans = 28 per 100,000
"These statistics are deeply troubling," says Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the advocate group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "This study should serve as a wake up call for Oregon's governor, lawmakers and all of our nation's leaders."
The Oregon findings are consistent with what Chief Investigative Correspondent Armen Keteyian reported two-months ago in an exclusive investigation. After collecting death record data from states across the country, CBS News discovered that the (adjusted) rate of suicide for veterans nationwide is more than twice that of non-veterans. And, like the state of Oregon, CBS also found that the veterans most at risk for suicide nationwide are those aged 20 through 24. They had a rate of suicide two to four times higher than non-veterans the same age.
Researchers with Oregon's Violent Death Reporting System are now digging deeper into the issue of veteran suicides as a result of their recent findings. According to Millet, they plan to team up with the Oregon National Guard and the Portland Department of Veterans Affairs to gain more information about the individuals who died of suicide. Millet says "we need to see what can be done to reduce the problem."
Watch CBS News' suicide investigation here.
Explain why so many people are in the military, and are also re-enlisting. You can''''t, not with your reasoning. So stuff a sock in it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by TheGateway1 at 06:28 AM : Jan 26, 2008
+ report abuse
It must be nice to live in the world do the Swastika! There you don''t have to worry about reality or fact... you just listen to the leader of your nazi youth group and make it up as you go along!! ROFLMAO Sieg Heil Bush! You know sparky they say wearing a swastika makes you stupid...how many do you have on??? ROFLMAO
"...this being an all-volunteer military, they''d all up and let their enlistments end without re-enlisting".
Apparently you haven''t heard anything about the INVOLUNTARY service extensions caused by Bush''s "stop-loss" orders! You can check in, but you can never check out.
"the results are falsified"
How convenient! You just dismiss anything you don''t want to hear by insisting that "liberals" made it up to try to make you feel bad.
And just for fun, here''s a classic indication of a statement by someone who can''t understand cause and effect:
"You come on these forums, and search through replies real early in the mornings in hopes of getting your two cents in without reprisals."
Think about this for a moment, mo.ron. The sooner sombody posts something, the more people will have a chance to read it, and therefore more, not less, people will have a chance to reply. (Or, to use your word, to make "reprisals", which are "retaliatory actions against an enemy in wartime".) What a pathetic little life you must have, to be plotting retaliatory strikes against all the people you disagree with!
If you lived in Oregon the rest of us would move (or commit suicide).
The numbers are so small that a slight difference is magnified.
48 per 100,000 is also .48 per 1000 or .048 per 100; i.e., .048% of veterans.
128 per 100,000 is .128%.
In otherwords, there might be a problem, but the numbers are so small that the data can become skewed very easily leading a biased researcher to a flawed conclusion. For example, is the general population of non-veteran 18-24 mostly in college? What are the veterans doing? Lots of variables. Are the veterans Iraq veterans or are they other services? What percent are honorably discharged?
Related:
"Veteran Suicides Highest Yet Recorded"
"(AP) Hundreds of troops have come home from war, left the military and committed suicide."
"That is the finding of preliminary Veterans Affairs Department research obtained by The Associated Press that provides the first quantitative look at the suicide toll on today''s combat veterans."
Related:
"Army Suicides Highest in 26 Years"
Thursday August 16, 2007
"WASHINGTON (AP) - Army soldiers committed suicide last year at the highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new military report."
All but Ron Paul said it is.
Now ask ALL THE FAMILIES which have lost a vet to suicide and see WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY ABOUT IT.
Of course, NONE OF THE "CANDYDATES" HAVE HAD OR WILL HAVE any sons or daughters EXPOSED TO THE STRESSES OF COMBAT, you know?