http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...o-suicide?lite
^^These guys got it ALL wrong.
I have no qualms with the assertion that a never-ending op tempo and being at war for 10 years has something to do with the increase in military suicides.
But I will NOT accept the assertion that somehow the young people of today have less developed "coping skills" than their WWII grandfathers.
I've seen these kids in action and let me tell you - if they had to storm a beach like Normandy again - these young kids could do it. I saw what they did over there in Afghanistan and Iraq - and it still brings tears to my eyes when I think of it.
I was in the Navy back when I saw signs that said "Dogs, Whores, and Sailors - Keep off the Grass" ... and I stayed in long enough to see Sailors looked upon as heroes - which started happening after the first Gulf War. What a trip that was - I was thinking ... "People like us now? Is this for real?"
And ... there's a lot of things you can't do about the realities of military life and being at war and all. But one thing you can do is ...
EASE UP ON THE FUCKING RULES.
Now the rant ... because I believe this is ONE of the main reasons the suicide rate in the military is increasing ... TOO MANY RULES.
Back in the day ... every bullet catcher could take a drink and blow off steam. Today - only the bullet catchers who are older than 21 can drink. I saw a kid's whole career go up in smoke when he took a drink three days before his 21st birthday. He only had ONE DRINK and ran a stop sign and got caught by a cop. Cop says ... "Have you had a drink?" Kid is honest and says - yeah, but only one. Well, under 18 isn't supposed to have any alcohol in the system at all so he was breathalyzed - blew some bullshit minimum and written up for underage drinking. When he got back to the post - the officers there saw to it that his entire career was destroyed over the incident.
I remember getting into a car with a female Sailor I was dating in Waikiki way back in the 80's - and she told me that I was too drunk to navigate so she would tell me the way home. She was drunk too, LOL ... I just drove real carefully! If we had gotten caught - we wouldn't have suffered any repercussions from the military. Now - if we had KILLED someone we would have but we didn't punish people for doing stupid things that ended well back then.
By the way - I never really was a drinker and don't drink hardly at all these days - but it was nice to have the option without fear of losing your career over it.
Any military guy who walks into a brothel - or hires a girl for sex - is committing a crime against the UCMJ now. Oh yeah - I'm no longer in the military but I still work for DoD as a civvie and I get trained in "Human Trafficking" every year. In that training it's repeatedly stressed that uniformed personnel who pay for sex are contributing to global human trafficking and will be punished under the UCMJ.
One of my first girlfriends was a provider who worked in a Health Spa. I walked into that health spa for the first time because I was stressed from work - and also had come to a realization that a long distance relationship I had with a girl in Perth, Australia wasn't going to work out. I was really depressed - but she picked me up. I kept seeing her repeatedly ... she gave me great advice on how to keep my cool with my superiors at my job who were riding my ass constantly. It was a tough time for me and that girl helped me through it. I'm not unusual - this kind of thing happened to a lot of military guys back then and it helped us all - but now it's illegal.
Every single time I pulled into a port during the Afghan and Iraq wars ... I won't specify what my job was - but I was responsible for the conduct of every enlisted Sailor on that ship. I was forced to come up with rules for them to abide by while ashore in foreign countries. They had to behave themselves there were specific rules about drinking and they all had to have a "liberty buddy" ... someone with them at all times. If they lost that liberty buddy - they could be busted (but, I took HUGE chances and covered for a lot of Sailors who lost their buddies so they wouldn't get in trouble - just as long as their actions didn't harm anyone.)
For instance - I had a kid come up to me in Sydney, Australia - now - that place is safer than New Orleans but all the Sailors had to have a liberty partner. This kid told me he met a girl out in town and would like to take her to a movie - but he didn't want to have a liberty buddy tagging along. I disobeyed the rules and told him it was okay ... but I wanted to be introduced to her first so I could ensure she was "safe" ... LOL!! He agreed and brought her down to the pier - cute girl and very safe ... I told them to have a good time but few of the guys in my position would have taken a chance like that.
7th Fleet - my God - I'm willing to bet they have most of the suicides! For the way they treat their Sailors and how they lock them down from having any fun. I had one Sailor transfer to me from a ship in 7th fleet and he called me up and said ... "Hey what kind of liberty policy do you have on that ship?" I told him ... "Shipmate - your liberty policy will be the same as mine - free as a bird here in Hawaii - but when we transit through 7th fleet - we're all in prison again!" LOL
I mean - just read this ...
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...441406441.html
LOL - those were my Sailors who did that!! I didn't partake in any of the activities (because of the position I held at the time) but I had no problem with guys who had risked their lives blowing off a bit of steam.
But - at every turn these days - ANY kind of fun is now illegal. What's this about young people not having good coping skills? Well - it's because we made them illegal!
And they don't think of that when they start looking at why the suicide rate is so high.
