Protecting Our Military.

TIME Magazine had a cover article recently by Nancy Gibbs
& Mark  Thompson titled "The  War On
Suicide?" and detailed the epidemic of suicides among current and  former
U.S. military personnel. The authors cite current statistics of one  active duty
suicide a day and one every 80 minutes among all veterans, but they went beyond
the numbers to detail the personal stories of several recent  suicides by active
duty servicemen.
 
I bring this up because recently I've been in touch with several members of
the military to see what could be done to assist in a solution to this alarming
problem.  I also read, with great interest, TIME Magazine Washington Deputy
Bureau Chief Mark Thompson's in-depth look at the troubling rise in military
suicides.  Thompson says he interviewed the former number two officer in the
army who told him, “there are promising techniques that the military could
deploy against suicide but they involve an initial two-hour screening, a
sit-down, a one on one with a psychiatrist that this nation is just not willing
to pay for.”  Thompson added that, “soldiers or veterans filing for disability
have to wait months if not years for their claims to be adjudicated.” 
 
Over the next couple weeks I'll be putting together a new section that will
be dedicated to helping our military and their family deal with this
overwhelming problem.  I'm really interested in solutions, not finger pointing. 

 
What are your thoughts?