Stress And Suicide In The Military

Stress And Suicide In The Military

One great thing about the current state of journalism is that it is impossible to sweep things under the rug. Some blogger somewhere is going to take up the cause. It is, however, information explosion, and so some things go unnoticed and do not receive the attention they deserve. There is one issue that has reached both bloggers and the mainstream press. It is psychological stress and military suicide. The New York Times is running a series of articles, and the House Armed Services subcommittee on Military Personnel had a hearing about it on Wednesday.

In a statement released by Chairman Ike Skelton’s office, the Representative addressed the problem not as an end point but as a chain of events. He said, "It is the final step an individual takes when they can no longer deal with the stressors in their life." He said that it was important to determine why the suicide rate has increased and what stressors led to it.

Some of the testimony came from Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff for the Army. His main point was that they couldn't just focus on reducing the number of suicides; they have to address the stress and anxiety faced by the military and the results of that stress such as increased substance abuse, infidelity and even reckless driving. The numbers are not pretty. Last year in the Army alone there were 140 suicides, translating into a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers. In January and February there were 41 suicides compared with 16 in 2008. By anyone's standards that is a whooping amount of suicides.

My view is that part of the problem lies with recruitment. Recruiters are rewarded with how many bodies they can bring in to the all-volunteer military. I once asked the head of recruiting for one of the military branches if he had one wish for training potential recruits before they signed up for active duty what would it be? He replied, "financial literacy." He said they get credit cards, get a girlfriend or wife and start charging. Soon they are up to their necks in debt, and it adds huge pressure to their military service.

In the Air Force they found that young enlisted men with a rank of E1 to E4 and between the ages of 21 and 25 have the highest risk of suicide. That is not surprising given that brain development is more complete by age 25. The pre-frontal cortex, which helps reason over impulse, is more fully formed by then. There is a reason car companies don't rent cars to people younger than 25 without a surcharge. The young adult brain is just not fully developed.

Other factors in the Air Force suicide rate include relationships gone awry and poor coordination among professionals. Weekends were the prime time for suicides, and there was also poor communication between the treating mental health providers and commanders. There is always tension in the military between confidentiality and the need to communicate with supervisors. This is now being addressed so that soldiers can discuss personal issues without being worried about facing discharge.

Each branch of service is engaging in suicide prevention programs. In Iraq they deal with post traumatic stress right away, not when someone gets home. Programs are set up so that there is immediate intervention before the trauma is replayed over and over by the less-advanced part of the brain.

There are some issues that go right back to engagement strategies, including too many back-to-back tours of duty and the fact that National Guard duty has become synonymous with active service. It was never intended to be that way, but it functions that way. The other problem is young wives who have not had parenting education and are raising children as a single parents because their loved ones are on active duty across the oceans. This puts enormous stress on them and their husbands who are alone and enlisted.

The military is doing its best to try and address these problems and has engaged in the lives of these soldiers in ways that have been previously unheard of. However, little of the testimony on Wednesday dealt with recruitment. It was a glaring deficit in the hearings and must be addressed by a more complete assessment of incoming recruits.
There also needs to be less focus on getting bodies in and more focus on finding recruits who can handle stress, as well as financial and family problems. It is time our military began to look at what happens before someone enters the service, not just after. The other option is the draft, and some liberals including Chairman Charlie Rangel thinks that would make a military more like the rest of America. It is worthy of consideration and may make a stronger and healthier military.

Stop Stealing From Artists

My friend Kate Taylor is a wonderful recording artist. She was on an amazing career path in her younger years but stopped to raise a beautiful family on Martha's Vineyard. Life was simple then. You went into a studio, cut a record on vinyl and it sold in stores. There was no Internet and certainly no way to share music files. You simply had to purchase a record, and that was that.

Now, Kate has begun to record again but the world has changed. She can't be guaranteed that what she records or performs will be compensated.

Things have changed now and file sharing abounds. People do not feel they are "stealing" music if they share it with "friends" – even if these friends number in the thousands and the sender might not have ever met these "friends." The artists have been before Congress for years, ever since the famous Napster hearings. The very first time Congress took up the issue of "file sharing," aka "stealing," was during those hearings. It has been coming up time and time again. The artists are getting savvy and political, and they need to. Their livelihoods are at stake.

The artists want absolute protection. Simply put, if you use it, you pay for it. Often songwriters receive a small up-front fee when a song they write is recorded. The songwriter/artist might also be expected to pay for the production costs. As a result, their front end net payment is often miniscule. The songwriter/artist expects that he or she will make money from what is called "performance" royalties. Each time their song is preformed or played, they receive a royalty payment.

China is not the world example of human rights or copyright protections. Just go to any market in China and you will find illegal copies also known as "bootlegs," of songs, movies, books, computer games and just about anything that someone else creates and they can copy. These copies make their way back to the United States and deprive the artists of royalties from the burgeoning markets of China and Asia. The United States has not made this a priority in trade negotiations with China. It has been brought up but has no teeth. Unlike textiles or electronics, it has a very small constituency, and there is little political downside to dropping this from the negotiations. If you don't protect textiles and food, you could lose the voters from an entire state. Currently you can give up on Hollywood and hope you can take rest of the State of California.

The United States has stepped up prosecution for individuals who have been caught downloading music. It has hoped that prosecution of college students throughout the country will send a very strong message that that United States will act decisively to protect copyrighted material. The problem is that people still go to concerts, illegally record them and then make those tapes available. This is also done with music. It is easy to go into Staples, buy 100 CDs and disseminate your own playlist from your wedding or birthday party. If you have a lot of friends, as many as 300 people could be getting music for free. This is illegal. It is the same as purchasing a book, taking your personal copy machine, making multiple copies and distributing them for free.

You may quibble with the price of a CD these days, but it is hard to dispute the fact that the songwriter/artist is entitled to fair compensation for their work. Congress needs to recognize this and act now.

Third Time is a Charm

Talk Radio News Service bureau chief Ellen Ratner writes about the personal meaning of the landmark Supreme Court ruling on the rights of Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Click hear to read her blog.

McClellan testifies in Congress

Former White House Press Secretary under George W. Bush Scott McClellan testified under oath before the House Judiciary Committee. McClellan presented the committee with his knowledge of the lead-up to the war in Iraq and the Valerie Plame leak, two topics he discusses in his book “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.”

McClellan stated that he did not know if the leak of former covert CIA agent Valerie Plame was used as a way to further criticize Plame’s husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson. In his book, McClellan says that he finds it unlikely that President Bush would have authorized Scooter Libby to leak classified information and said he cannot rule out Vice President Cheney give the authorization. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) said that the statements made in McClellan’s book are enough to consider impeachment proceedings on Cheney.

On the Iraq War, McClellan said that counterevidence is crucial in the lead-up to a war and that the Bush White House ignored evidence that was contradictory to the administration’s goals. Though he admitted Bush never used words like “shade the truth” or “propaganda,” McClellan said that the war was presented to Americans in those manners.

McClellan explained that the purpose for writing his book was to share his experiences with the American people and to analyze how a popular governor became a polarizing president, frequently beginning his responses by reminding the committee that he discussed the answer in his book. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) posed questions to McClellan that challenged his motivations for writing the book, asking about the political positions of the book’s editors and inquiring on the profits McClellan will receive. After McClellan repeatedly said “Can I finish my response?” as Smith interjected with additional questions, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) apologized to McClellan, stating that the committee’s purpose was to investigate topics discussed in the book, not to question McClellan’s character.

Today at Talk Radio News

Bureau Chief Ellen Ratner is attending Former Press Secretary Scott McClellan's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. The testimony is part of an ongoing Valeria Plame CIA leak investigation. Others events the Washington bureau will covering include: Michelle Obama's speech at the National Partnership for Women and Families, a protest lead by Mia Farrow and other activists against corporate sponsors of the Beijing Olympics who have not addressed the Darfur Crisis with China, a rally to protest Exxon ads at National Stadium, D.C.'s "Green" baseball park, and a Congressional oversight hearing on Iraq contractor misconduct and the safety of U.S. troops.