K
http://ideas.time.com/2012/07/12/soldier-suicide-the-stigma-to-seeking-help/
I'm not going into the can of worms over military involvement anywhere. But the new Time magazine has a cover story on soldier suicides. One of the statistics is that 36% of the military is under the age of twenty five years old. 47% of that age group are statistically successful suicides.
The article explores probably causes for this trend. One of the obvious being the backlog of cases in mental health assistance. Reserve soldiers can be on waiting lists for veteran services and be redeployed before they get them.
But was curious about the opinions of people around the age group. Do you think raising the enlistment age would make a difference? In America the legal drinking age is 21. But you can enlist for the military at 18. Could age be part of the issue? I don't know the answers, I don't even know the questions anymore...
My son would have been an excellent career serviceperson. It had been his goal to enlist after high school. He came of age just before 9/11. We didn't want to see him in that and his career path changed to the private sector. My brother was the Vietnam era but the draft ended weeks before he turned eighteen. My Dad served proudly in WWII but that was quite a different world then.
So I do greatly respect those who do serve. But there must be a better way...
I'm not going into the can of worms over military involvement anywhere. But the new Time magazine has a cover story on soldier suicides. One of the statistics is that 36% of the military is under the age of twenty five years old. 47% of that age group are statistically successful suicides.
The article explores probably causes for this trend. One of the obvious being the backlog of cases in mental health assistance. Reserve soldiers can be on waiting lists for veteran services and be redeployed before they get them.
But was curious about the opinions of people around the age group. Do you think raising the enlistment age would make a difference? In America the legal drinking age is 21. But you can enlist for the military at 18. Could age be part of the issue? I don't know the answers, I don't even know the questions anymore...
My son would have been an excellent career serviceperson. It had been his goal to enlist after high school. He came of age just before 9/11. We didn't want to see him in that and his career path changed to the private sector. My brother was the Vietnam era but the draft ended weeks before he turned eighteen. My Dad served proudly in WWII but that was quite a different world then.
So I do greatly respect those who do serve. But there must be a better way...