Comments on: Why Combat Troops Off Themselves http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2012/09/why-combat-troops-off-themselves/ Frederik Pohl Fri, 17 May 2013 22:24:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Dan Gollub http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2012/09/why-combat-troops-off-themselves/#comment-91682 Dan Gollub Tue, 11 Sep 2012 19:58:20 +0000 http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/?p=5126#comment-91682 A reason for suicidal inclinations is a mixture of distressful overt actions and a lack of feeling loved. I believe we have a rudimentary telepathic ability to sense love from another or others, perhaps manifested as a pleasurable feeling of warmth in the mind. The following experiment may test this ability. Two close friends engage in a series of two 30-second trials. On one trial A will try to feel love for B. On the other trial A will think about other topics than B. Will B be able to sense which is the love trial? In any case, feeling loved can significantly enhance consciousness, and the absence of feeling loved may lead to a vulnerability to addictions or to suicidality. A reason for suicidal inclinations is a mixture of distressful overt actions and a lack of feeling loved. I believe we have a rudimentary telepathic ability to sense love from another or others, perhaps manifested as a pleasurable feeling of warmth in the mind. The following experiment may test this ability. Two close friends engage in a series of two 30-second trials. On one trial A will try to feel love for B. On the other trial A will think about other topics than B. Will B be able to sense which is the love trial? In any case, feeling loved can significantly enhance consciousness, and the absence of feeling loved may lead to a vulnerability to addictions or to suicidality.

]]> By: William Kone http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/2012/09/why-combat-troops-off-themselves/#comment-91681 William Kone Tue, 11 Sep 2012 19:00:07 +0000 http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/?p=5126#comment-91681 The number of Soldiers who commit suicide overseas is very low. The bigger problem is here in the US. Almost half of all suicides this year have been in the Reserves and Guard, and half of them have never deployed. the economy is a major driver in this. it is very hard for a member of the Reserves/Guard to get a job or keep it. (you lose a weekend a month and two to four weeks in the year, the employer has to give you that time off and can't make you use vacation or sick time. So many employers when faced with a choice between two equally qualified persons, will go with the non-Soldier.) Something is wrong with the employment of Guard/Reserves when a weekend Battle Assembly accounts for 1/3 to 1/2 the monthly take home of a Soldier. (an E-4 will normally take home about $170 to $190 for a weekend) As a First Sergeant in the Army Reserves, I can vouch that the Army is trying everything to lower this. (I had not heard about the nose spray, but if it works...heck, lets try it.) This month's Battle Assembly we are starting another attempt at getting the word out about places to get help, trying to prevent another suicide. The effort in our Battalion now has us dedicating an hour each weekend just to platoon level suicide prevention. Quarterly Company level, and Annual Battalion level. An hour may not sound like a lot, and it is not. But the Reserves' have 48 hours to complete a months worth of training, and 16 of that must be sleep time, 4 hours meals/hygiene, and 2 Physical training. (add in travel time and we get about 16 hours for training, taking 1/16 of that is a burden on training time.) My unit had a suicide three years ago. All the classic signs were there, but no one person saw them all. With almost half of all military suicides in the Guard/Reserves, it is hard to be aware of how a person is doing when you only see them once a month. Like you wrote, the answers are not easy. Between repeated deployments with out public support, a lack of understanding from the general population, stress of possible deployment, stress from training to fight indirect attacks (IED, Suicide bombing, etc) and a down economy, I am really surprised that the numbers are not higher. We poured millions into protecting Soldiers in Combat and spotting IED's. Now we see that worked. Lets hope we can find ways to fix this problem. (Sitting through power point slides won't do it either: http://www.duffelblog.com/2012/08/army-struggles-to-respond-to-epidemic-of-suicides-during-suicide-prevention-briefs/ ) The number of Soldiers who commit suicide overseas is very low. The bigger problem is here in the US. Almost half of all suicides this year have been in the Reserves and Guard, and half of them have never deployed. the economy is a major driver in this. it is very hard for a member of the Reserves/Guard to get a job or keep it. (you lose a weekend a month and two to four weeks in the year, the employer has to give you that time off and can’t make you use vacation or sick time. So many employers when faced with a choice between two equally qualified persons, will go with the non-Soldier.) Something is wrong with the employment of Guard/Reserves when a weekend Battle Assembly accounts for 1/3 to 1/2 the monthly take home of a Soldier. (an E-4 will normally take home about $170 to $190 for a weekend)

As a First Sergeant in the Army Reserves, I can vouch that the Army is trying everything to lower this. (I had not heard about the nose spray, but if it works…heck, lets try it.) This month’s Battle Assembly we are starting another attempt at getting the word out about places to get help, trying to prevent another suicide. The effort in our Battalion now has us dedicating an hour each weekend just to platoon level suicide prevention. Quarterly Company level, and Annual Battalion level.

An hour may not sound like a lot, and it is not. But the Reserves’ have 48 hours to complete a months worth of training, and 16 of that must be sleep time, 4 hours meals/hygiene, and 2 Physical training. (add in travel time and we get about 16 hours for training, taking 1/16 of that is a burden on training time.)

My unit had a suicide three years ago. All the classic signs were there, but no one person saw them all. With almost half of all military suicides in the Guard/Reserves, it is hard to be aware of how a person is doing when you only see them once a month.

Like you wrote, the answers are not easy. Between repeated deployments with out public support, a lack of understanding from the general population, stress of possible deployment, stress from training to fight indirect attacks (IED, Suicide bombing, etc) and a down economy, I am really surprised that the numbers are not higher.

We poured millions into protecting Soldiers in Combat and spotting IED’s. Now we see that worked. Lets hope we can find ways to fix this problem. (Sitting through power point slides won’t do it either: http://www.duffelblog.com/2012/08/army-struggles-to-respond-to-epidemic-of-suicides-during-suicide-prevention-briefs/ )

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