Soldier Suicides: They are Killing my Infantry Buddies

Recruiting and retention are decreasing drastically. Fighting ones enemies is bad enough, when a soldier has to fight his superiors and the VA when he gets out it’s worse.

The challenges facing US combat forces are immense; the way they are treated after returning from war is tragic.

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - Suicides are increasing, alcoholism is increasing, illegal drug use is increasing, spousal murder is increasing, recruiting is decreasing, retention is decreasing.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE STATISTICS????

Nobody even said that life in the Infantry was fun or even tolerable. It is not. It is a form of the worst slavery, much worse than “Choppin Cotton”. One can be ordered to perform a real suicide battle mission as simply as one could be ordered to clean his rifle or shave. The command system to underlings is much worse than master to slave. The slave had value. An Infantry private has only superficial value and he is EXPENDABLE just like a rifle cartridge.

Non-infantry Veterans or civilians probably do not understand this. Infantrymen can be classified as walking dead men. Seventy percent of the dead and wounded of WWII were Infantry and I don’t think things have changed much in the last 65 years.

Casualties in WWII for the big battles sacrificed Infantrymen by the thousands often by failure to employ artillery which in the end was cheaper. If an officer gets many men killed but still captures the objective he is given medals and promoted. The privates get purple hearts and graves!

The newspapers and TV news decry soldier suicides as if it were the soldiers fault or weakness. Have they ever been through a real artillery barrage? I’ll bet not. TO get soldiers “battle ready” they are now giving them morphine-like drugs and anti-depressants both of which make battle readiness a disgraceful myth. Soldiers can commit suicide with those pills. Very frequently they resort to alcohol. Don’t be drunk on a combat mission! It happens a lot.

Illegal drug use is frequently prescription drugs handed out by Army doctors. Marijuana would be safer and better and is used by many when possible.

Spousal murder and abuse are caused by PTSD. The VA and Army’s record on this indicate it is worse and more dangerous than combat itself with probably 1,000,000 mistreated or untreated PTSD Veterans.

Recruiting and retention are decreasing drastically. Fighting ones enemies is bad enough, when a soldier has to fight his superiors and the VA when he gets out it’s worse. Why should he subject himself to this dangerous, frequently lethal, humiliation because that is certainly what it is.

Post WWII exposure to A-Bomb tests is a good/bad example of what I’m talking about.

Agent Orange et cetera has caused a Biblical plague of 300,000, possibly more, to us than our enemies. Depleted Uranium will probably kill thousands and the exposure to Sodium Dichromate (Hexavalent Chromium) and depleted Uranium will probably kill hundreds. The contamination of almost every military base in the world with hydrocarbons and chlorinated hydrocarbons has already killed hundreds and the rate will go up.

One should expect the hierarchy of the military, both officers and civilians, would be more prudent about keeping personnel alive rather than lethal sacrifice. It certainly does not appear like it.

AM I JUST AN UNKNOWING CYNIC ??

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More information on the history of Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of Phil Leveque about his experiences in WWII.
Order the book by mail by following this link: Dogface Soldier.

If you are a World War II history buff, you don't want to miss it.

Watch for more streaming video question and answer segments about medical marijuana with Bonnie King Dr. Phil Leveque.

Click on this link for other articles and video segments about PTSD and medical marijuana on Salem-News.com: Dr. Leveque INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES

Pictures from Afghanistan by Tim King: View Photos From Tim King's time in Afghanistan | More Afghanistan War photos

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Anonymous August 3, 2010 7:11 am (Pacific time)

Not to take the real importance away from this story, great article, but it seems, even the K-9's coming home from Iraq have PTSD. Interesting article here: Click here

Editor: Thank you for sending this in, very important aspect to war trauma; I worked wtih friends years ago in Las Vegas who produced a series on Vietnam War dogs.  Fascinating to say the least, thanks again.

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Osotan; August 2, 2010 10:45 pm (Pacific time)

no you are not, keep on rollin' Doc!

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