PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is a very serious matter within our Military. I have a 22 page PDF Survey on the care of our returning wounded, both mentally and Physically wounded.
However for the life of me I cannot get it to upload on this site I will try again., but if it does not work then please make a comment on the story and I will send it to your e-address. Thankyou. The next part of this Blog is on the Suicide Rate amongst our troops. I cannot understand why something in a young man's life would be so severe that he takes his life. That is for the Doctors, Pschyciatrists and yes even our politicians to review and see what we can do to save these men.
Canada's military suicide rate doubled in a year, documents show Last Updated: Saturday, April 19, 2008 | 5:54 PM ET
BY AMBER HILDEBRANDT The suicide rate among Canada's soldiers doubled from 2006 to 2007, rising to a rate triple that of the general population, according to data obtained through access to information requests.
Last year, the number of suicides among regular and reserve members of the Canadian Forces rose to 36, the highest in more than a decade, military police records obtained by Maj. Michel Sartori show.
Sartori, a Laval University doctoral student, has been gathering information about military suicides for years. It's the subject of his thesis and a topic close to his heart, since five of his colleagues killed themselves after a tour of duty in Yugoslavia in 1994.
He believes the rise is linked to the intensification of Canada's mission in Afghanistan when soldiers moved into the volatile southern region in 2006.
Based on the military police reports, he found that the average suicide rate among Canadian Forces military members, both regular and reserve, between 1994 to 2007 was 16 per year.
Sartori has been gathering information about military suicides since 1994.
He found that from 1994 to 2005, the suicide rate among Canadian soldiers hovered between 12 and 17 per year. The data include regular members of the Canadian Forces at home and posted overseas, but do not include reservists.
Year Suicides Regular force members Rate per 100,000
2003 14 86,937 16.1
2004 17 90,772 18.7
2005 17 91,285 18.6
2006 20 96,318 20.7
2007 36 87,000 41.4
But the number of suicides among members of the military rose to 20 in 2006 and then jumped even higher to 36 in 2007, or a rate of 41.4 suicides per 100,000 soldiers. That's double the rate in the previous year.
Sartori says he was alarmed when he received the latest numbers.
It was a shock, total shock, said Sartori. I almost fell out my chair.
The 2007 numbers put the military suicide rate at triple that of the general Canadian public. Over the past two decades Canada's overall rate has ranged from 11.6 to 14 suicides per 100,000, though recent numbers are not available.
Dr. Greg Passey, a former military psychiatrist and head of a post-traumatic stress disorder clinic in Vancouver, says the spike in military suicides is disturbing but not surprising. He says he believes it's related to what he calls the increased tempo of the Afghanistan mission, which began in 2002.
We're now a number of years into that mission and the frontline, the combat soldiers, and even the support staff are having to do multiple tours, he said.
The psychological stress of those missions is cumulative, he said, and Sartori's discovery may be the wakeup call the military needs to deal with the issue.
Veterans Affairs says that the number of vets experiencing some kind of operational stress injury, such as PTSD, has tripled in the past five years, and they expect it to continue rising with Canada's mission in Afghanistan likely to last until 2011.
Roughly 2,500 Canadian soldiers are serving in and around Afghanistan's Kandahar region, where they are battling Taliban insurgents.
The PDF report will only be available by sending to your e address sorry.
So fellow readers and people who care about our troops please remember and speak to a vet whenever or whereever. You may be the one he needs to speak with.
Support your troops please wear Red on Fridays and show a yellow Ribbon.
Nil Sine Labore
Robby
