Devastating New Statistics on Veteran Suicides
22; That is how many veterans commit suicide each day. Imagine having your mental health so broken that after serving, you are faced with the choice to take your own life. Veteran suicide rates are now said to be at a crisis level this year; And that is especially detrimental, considering it has only been two full months so far.
“Knowing that people who are brave enough to enter the difficult world that is our military system can be broken so badly into wanting to end their life breaks my heart,” junior Abi Walker said.
Not all veterans are faced with pain like others. Just like not all soldiers have the same job while deployed. Jobs in the military range from the front line to repairing the tools used throughout the deployment.
“Seeing these rates make me sad, however they do not scare me,” junior Zakiree Furlow said. “I want to go into the Air force and I know that there are so many jobs that do not come close to the battlefield so I know I will be fine.”
At Northern High school, the JROTC and ROTC sergeants make it clear to students who are seriously interested in entering the military forces that your mental health is precious and without a healthy mentality you will end up on the bottom of the mental health totem poll.
“In the ROTC class, we preach on staying together and relying on one another to have your back so that you get the picture that you are not alone,” Sergeant Crawford Wilson said. “It is very important to have people you rely on while you are deployed, once you feel alone are once things begin to go down hill.”
Opinions on how the mental stability of veterans can be improved vary from giving them some type of system to rely on while deployed and keeping the same aid for when they return home.
“I honestly feel like the the soldiers should not just be thrown into boot camp, which is the scariest part of entering the U.S. Military forces, but they should be given a therapist to talk to while in bootcamp,” junior Eli Coker said. “The VA system is [also a big reason why veterans are not mentally stable] when they return home from their deployment.”
Northern High school is doing the best they feel possible to get their ROTC students for the real life military action.
“Northern’s ROTC program focuses on more than just military related topics,” assistant principal ReginaldDavis said. “The students learn self discipline along with how to build up their own confidence and the confidence of others. Yes they do learn some material that would aid them in going into military forces but the goal of the class is not to recruit for the military it is to teach students skills other classes do not provide in a sense.”
All in all, we are aware of how high veteran suicide rates are, and Northern is teaching their ROTC and JROTC students that there is another option and ways to avoid the awful choice that is suicide.