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A Veteran’s Death, the Nation’s Shame

Tue, 04/24/2012 - 18:01 — Dave Culver
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Peace & Nonviolence

  • Here's a window into a tragedy within the American military: For every soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands.
  • “Things need to change,” Cheryl DeBow said, and her voice broke as she added: “These are guys who went through so much. If anybody deserves help, it’s them.”
  • The WikiLeaks War Logs Don't Show Rare War Crimes--They Show The (Legal) Reality of War
  • Unmasked: Facing the Repercussions of War

Nicholas D. Kristof, New York (NY) Times / Reader Supported News

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Here's a window into a tragedy within the American military: For every soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands.

An American soldier dies every day and a half, on average, in Iraq or Afghanistan. Veterans kill themselves at a rate of one every 80 minutes.  More than 6,500 veteran suicides are logged every year — more than the total number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq combined since those wars began.

These unnoticed killing fields are places like New Middletown, Ohio, where Cheryl DeBow raised two sons, Michael and Ryan Yurchison, and saw them depart for Iraq. Michael, then 22, signed up soon after the 9/11 attacks.

More...

Related:

The WikiLeaks War Logs Don't Show Rare War Crimes--They Show The (Legal) Reality of War, Chase Madar, TomDispatch

  • The real problem with the laws of war is not what they fail to restrain but what they authorize.
  • Murder Is Not an Anomaly in War

Unmasked: Facing the Repercussions of War, Amy Waddell, Huffington Post

  • The truth, and perhaps the key to future peaceful negotiations, is that we are not willing to face what we have wrought when it comes to war. But what if we were?
  • Series | "Beyond The Battlefield" -- The Book
     

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