The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #124991   Message #2765087
Posted By: Ebbie
12-Nov-09 - 05:51 PM
Thread Name: Obit:Last of the Last-WWI veteran, dies at age 110
Subject: RE: Last of the Last - WWI veteran, author at age 108
I don't find information that Shinseki made the charge; however, another man did. It does not sound credible to me, more like a figure that is tossed out. It doesn't jibe with what he himself reported earlier.

One of Several



"In one of the emails, sent in February, Dr Ira Katz, deputy chief patient care services officer for mental health at the VA, wrote: "Shh! Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see."
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"The figure was at odds with the 144 known suicides among veterans from 2001, when the US launched its war against terror by bombing Afghanistan, through the end of 2005, which Katz had cited in his December testimony, Filner said."

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"Suicides among activee-duty soldiers are at a 30-year high, and male veterans face suicide rates double the national average. At Fort Hood, 75 soldiers have taken their lives since the war in Afghanistan began eight years ago -- 10 in this year alone. Veterans also account for up to 25 percent of all the homeless, and many have trouble finding work. As the Center for American Progress has warned, repeated deployments compound the PTSD problem. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki relayed this message yesterday on CBS's "The Early Show." "The more people go back, it multiplies the incidences of these kinds of things occurring," Shinseki said."