oh dear, jason ellis i am sorry that you were put in harms way.. i realize you signed up for it but i do not feel that really counts, not when the recruiters are singing a song of travel and education as the prize.. or the lie that you are “helping” your country.

please, don’t hurt yourself – please do your best to overcome this awful situation..

bless bless <3

that is not true i am a long time pot smoker and after a  long term domestic abusive relationship i developed ptsd fight or flight and i used pot always it made me depressed paranoid lost and kept me alone in my room.. bad advice and i still smoke pot because i dont want to bother quitting.. addiction does that. maybe it helped you  but its not something i would reccomend as a person who had strong ptds symptoms for 5 years. still healing pot has not helped. exercise healthy eating yoga deep breathing good suppport and soul searching is what has helped the healing process.. long hard road easier without pot. 

Honestly, we sent them over there to fight. Whether they should have been sent, is for this point irrelevant. If you tell someone to do something, don’t be pissed off when its done. I could care less about the civilians that have been killed. Does that make me a bad person? Probably. When you cant tell the difference between a civilian and a suicide bomber, then you shoot the civilians. I have problems with people blaming the individual soldiers for the civilian casualties (I am aware you didn’t say anything about that.)  when it is literally life or death for them. You eliminate any and every possible threat. or at least you should.

The wars today are not really fought versus other armies, that’s the problem. We’re supposed to believe there are soldiers or militants armed to the teeth fighting on the other side. There are not. In other wars (many many years ago), there were. Soldiers fought soldiers. Today, even kids are trying to fight back against professionally trained soldiers… why? (And please don’t say they’re been manipulated and it’s not the soldiers fault, don’t insult your intelligence). Every time in human history, when an invading country tries to force its will on to another, people will resist, specially when the cultural differences are significant. So finally, soldiers commit suicide (mostly) because the come to terms with the fact that they’re fighting regular folks, not soldiers, defending what is theirs (land, government, culture, etc.). They do have a reason to fight, it’s a resistance; and there is no real reason to fight them, it’s more of a hunt.

we should send you to washington

You have an incredible way with words. I admire your thoughts and thanks for sharing.

Where is the humanity in this conversation? We aren’t talking about insurgents. We’re talking about human beings; men, women and children; fathers, daughters, mothers, wives, sons, uncles, grandfathers. 

We’re not talking about noble warriors, we’re talking about human beings with a conscience. We’re talking about people who don’t want to kill their brothers and sisters. It’s easy to sit at your computer and pontificate about how THEY should feel. But walk a mile in THEIR shoes. Maybe you’ve experienced warfare and it didn’t affect you but that’s you and they are them.

No need to call your fellow man out their name because they don’t react in a way that you feel they should.

Where’s the humanity in this conversation?

First, it’s an all volunteer military. Second, check the statistics and notice that the relationship between suicides and combat related jobs are grossly mismatched. Finally, the vast majority of military suicides have to deal with personal, family, financial and other similar issues, not direct results of combat.

Marines help there own? Crock of shit. Soon as something happens they throw you out like trash without benefits and won’t allow you to get VA even after 6 years of serving or the make you get out. Yes I said make you. And after 6 years of serving and 3 tours they still don’t give a shit about you. That’s when veterans start committing suicide when everything they have ever known and a certain life style is taking away from them. The transition period means shit. It’s hard to adjust to civilan life after being through 3 tours and being in the marines for 6 years after being bombed over and over and watching friends die. And what recieveing 3 purple hearts at age 25 makes up? No yes it is a great honor but soon as you are no longer worth anything to them they throw you out without caring. It’s hard on the families as well. I just dealt with it even after 2 years of the Father of our 5 month old daughter and my bestfriend since we were 13 years old just committed suicide. The nightmares never go away and the things you see don’t either. The person next to you could see something total different then you and effects them a different way. Yes he was a very proud marine and he wanted that as his career but some of those marines also don’t give a shit about anyone else

The things marines or anyone that served has seen or have done can effect them no one will ever truly understand what they have gone through or is going through not even the person who was right next to them. Like I said in my previous statement they could have seen something comPletely different and yes you have to take classes to help prevent and watch for suicidal signs but they are also trained not to let anyone show there weakness and to be mentally cold it’s hard to break habits after doing them for so long and sometimes you can’t everyone has demons but some are worse then anyone could imagin and they don’t talk about it or it’s to painfully real for them to or they just simply can’t.

You are not 13.

What I don’t understand is why so many civilians say so many things about ‘bringing the troops home’ and shit. Yeah, the war may not be great, but it’s WAR. And honestly, I don’t believe many, if at all any, people enlist with the idea of the military being just like Call of Duty. Unless they have a severe disability, but then how would they pass the asvab anyways?
I enlisted back in october, and I am fully aware of the possibility to deploy. It didn’t sway my decision at all. I view deployment as a part of military lifestyle.
I agree completely with Robert McLaughlin. Times have changed and anyone is allowed to enlist now. The protocols have changed. Basic Training is no longer about stripping a person down to their core and rebuilding them as a cold killer. And if you say that is sick and I’m a bad person, wake up. This is how the world is. There is war, and there will probably always be war. So we need people to fight the battles, which means we need people who can kill.
Am I remorseful of those who have fought and have severe emotional and coping problems? Of course. I don’t want to see anyone who’s fought for our country, and other peoples freedom and well being to suffer. But they had to know what to expect. This is not an age of ignorance. With the tv media and the internet, people hear things. And people can look things up. So people need to stop bitching about how these soldiers were tricked, or had no idea, or have nothing to fight for. And if they don’t really know why they’re killing? They need to think of something to make it worth it.  

Business as usual “The Only Good Soldier Is A Dead One” the motto of the military industrial complex.

I am an NCO in the WTU (hurt in Afghanistan) and I call BULLSHIT! I have met people who spout off like you do in the army and they tend to be the long termers who have never been deployed. Talk tough but never faced the lies of war. 
We are not at war.  The government is simply shuffling money around while we, the service members, get shot at and blown up.  See anything and try to report it–expect to be busted down or sent on dangerous road duties without adequate back up.  Money going missing-shut up.  Criminal actions- watch your back.  Oh, your hurt–you’re a sham dirt-bag (this does not only go for deployments but ANYTIME in the military) if you are emotionally upset about anything–grow some balls or shoot yourself. 
Why is there so much suicide in the army? because it is encouraged–not by policy but by the culture.

Your arrogance blinds your thoughts man Suicide may be the awnser to some, those whi cant escape the ravishing downfall of murder. This “war on Iraq ” is nothing but a scheme or ploy by the government to gain. Ljfes meaning is miney nd for the men who shoot to kill,speak to educate, and listen to
understand. Thise are the warriors, not a guy who joins the army or other armed services to fight forwhat, freedom? What freedom. I see lies and xicer ups. Thats why these men kill themselves and its for that that i will never again salute the flag, sing the national anthem, or believe in government. There is no such thing as freedom, only blurred control.

Nice

You can get up geared to kill the enemy. Problem is that you probably killed a lot of non combatants and civilians.

If you think this is OK, then you are no more than a terrorist.

If you think this is OK, then you validate terrorist activity which may kill a US soldier but also kills 30 – 40 US civilians as well. What’s good for the goose. . .

If you think it is ok to go to their country to kill them, then you validate them coming to your country to kill you. (The correct answer is that both are wrong)

Or are you a hypocrite?

Think it through.

Spoken like a real dirtbag who has yet to deploy. You haven’t been in for more than a few months!!! I’m a Soldier who has been in for over 4 years and i’ve deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Stand down seaman!!!

Until you deploy, shut your trap.

Eating about 3 brownies a day could help prevent suicide. The victims of war  would be greatly benefited by MMJ.

I have read through some of these post and for one I am appalled by the lack of information that is received by the American people and the ignorance and indifference that some hold of others.

A quick synopsis on Iraq, Look into Code Name: CurveBall. He is an Iraqi source who was handed over to the U.S. Government by the Germans. The Germans could not at all verify his information and felt it ridiculous, once the Americans got him they had their reasons to go to war in Iraq; in search of those weapons of mass destruction. 
It is not because of Saddam’s inhumanities on his own people. That means nothing considering the hundreds of millions of lives lost all over the world outside of these two conflict zones since the war began.

Oh CAVEAT! Don’t believe fine, don’t take it from the guy who was Military Intelligence in the US Army with deployments to these combat zones. You’re probably right I am not a credible source of information on this.
——————————————————————————–
With that said I think I can move along now and talk about suicide rates in the military.

For one, to insinuate that these American’s are weak or anything less of the soldiers who fault in conventional battlefields is completely idiotic. 

These wars are decades apart and have much more history when you look into the intelligence history behind the involved nations not just in Iraq but in Afghanistan as well. 

This isn’t a war where you can be completely committed to basic animalistic instincts. I’ll explain. In a conventional war you know who your enemy is. Sure they hide through the use of cover and concealment but not through the ploy of hiding amongst innocent civilians. What this does to the psyche is completely different in both situations. So Comparing the soldiers (tools) needed to fight this war in comparison to the past are needed to be completely different!

Additionally I’d like to address one big problem with this war. Can you see the young 5 year old kid you spoke to yesterday who was happy with the Americans who is now strung up on a stake burnt to ashes? Probably not. What about the young 13 year old kids whose brains and head are mushroomed out? No probably not. Oh how about the young 6 year old who can not be identified because all that is left is the burnt aches and amber of flames burning under the skin to a completely hollowed life and blackened visage. Yes that was cause by IED set by insurgents.  
Where am I going with this? The fact that on average most Americans come to see this happen to children, Which can in comparison give you chills if it was your own son and you knew of the guise for this war.

If you have any questions feel free I will be happy to provide sources to these issues.

These men and women carry up to 4 times as much weight as those in previous wars and volunteered not drafted for this.
To address them as cowardice and non-soldier like is a complete insult on them their families, this country, and all it stands for.

You should be ashamed of yourself for such comments especially if you, yourself at one point swore to defend the constitution of the United States.

Well played sir. Well played indeed.

I feel ya man

Well let’s hope so.

I know right! That’s a low price!

Star Trek was terrible. Star Wars.