22 Klicks for 22 Veterans: Understanding Veteran Suicide
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- 22 Veterans commit suicide every day. What is new about the recent conflicts and treatments that may have caused this number to be so high? How can we solve it? Before you can go about fixing a problem, you have to first seek to understand it. In honor of Veteran's Day, let's take a detailed look this problem.
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This video was adapted from a paper I wrote in college. All sources can be found here: drive.google.c...
The original paper is available upon request by email.
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Hashtags: #psychology #veterans #22pushups #22kill #22pushupchallenge #22pushupschallenge #veteran #suicide #suicideprevention #ptsd #stress #VA #military #mentalhealth #america
A veteran friend of mine has a hypothesis that in WWII the soldiers came home on a slow ship where they could "decompress" with other veterans who experienced much the same thing. But now, soldiers are rushed home (still "compressed") and put in a situation where they have no one to talk to who can understand what they've been through. Thus some never completely decompress.
I wonder how WW1 and PTSD, "Shell Shock," fits in with this. Maybe complacency in the trenches?
@Wristpecked Whamming Reminds me of the movie Jarhead.
I recommend you the first episode of Adam Curtis' "The Living Dead" called "On The Desperate Edge of Now" to see how WWII veterans tell their stories. Also, a documentary directed John Huston called "Let There Be Light" about veterans, specially from the Pacific theater, who were so traumatized that they erased their own minds ... the film is from 1947, if I'm not mistaken, and is available on RUclips.
I believe our teacher's explanation to be more correct. Also, WWII was an enormous effort and I'm not sure if all soldiers saw hard combat - again, I'm not sure and have no numbers to give you.
@@americaisthebestcountryever Yes, I meant to add PTSD outside the quotes. Thank you
It is also worth noting that we just dumb vets off in regular society and don't bother to take care of them. One would assume if 22 vets are killing themselves every day, we would either have services available to help them, or not send them off to fight for oil in the first place. Perhaps there's another hypothesis out there, that veterans today feel so hopeless because all their efforts only meant that rich fossil fuel execs could buy another super-yacht, not that a great evil was thwarted. It was all for nothing, basically.
I wish i had seen this long ago. Incredible work on this episode! This ought to be seen by more people
The Cynical Historian wait ptsd started in the vietnam war. I dont believe it.
ww1 was the worst
he never said anything of the sort. pay attention rather than being incredulous for obviously ignorant reasons
Hey, I love your channel, just to tell you, and yes I mean you, not knowing better
I was about to type the exact same!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
The patient population I am interested in is women victims of the multi system illnesses - me/Cfs, and multi chemical sensitivity. More recently, patients chronic pain have been added to this list of people at risk for suicide, because of the
‘Opioid” epidemic”. Elevated suicidal
Because I have written in support of these patients, and especially the elevated suicide risk these patients suffer, the Butte County Sheriff’s
Dept decided that I myself, was a suicide risk, in spite of firm evidence that I am NOT a suicide risk, and indeed there is abundant evidence to the contrary, Butte County Sherrif ‘s deputies were dispatched to,y home where they ga9ned admittance by lying, slapped handcuffs on me and transported me to Enloe Hospital where I was further restrained (and administered psychoactive medications against my vocal will, beat me up.
I called the suicide hotline about two years before you posted this video and I got my VA card the very next day. This was nine years after I was discharged so it wasn't considered to be service related, but I was almost immediately assigned to a counselor who referred me to a shrink and enrolled me in a couple of classes and group therapy sessions within the space of about two weeks. I don't know about other VA hospitals, but the Michael E. DeBakey medical center in Houston is a top notch facility.
Daniel Heiden are you doing okay today?
@@AeromaticXD I sure hope they are ok
It is a crying shame only 7789 people have seen this video. Late to the party, but I love your stuff and hope to see many more of it. You deserve a larger audience. Keep going!
A week later (now as of this comment) it has 21,200 views. Did this video get boosted by YT's mysterious algorithm?
(Also, agreed, really good video.)
28k now... Got recommended one of his vids the other day, slowly working may way through them. A hidden gem!
Q Victoria
61k this video is slowly getting more attention
70k 0n 01/08/19
83k on 25/03/19
Yes i’m not a weirdo american and use the proper way of dates
As a Vietnam combat veteran, I compare my experience with veterans of the Middle East. I came home with a couple hundred bucks and soon learned to not even mention veteran status if I wanted to get a job. I see many of today's veterans driving $50,000 pickups and getting called heroes. Though the economic and social treatment of the two groups is very different, they both have something in common as they return to civilian life. Both were used in fraudulent wars. And many in both groups had the experience of war crimes. Gradually the realization of this manifests over the years. There are going to be mental health consequences in veterans who are not psychopaths. There ain't no fix for this, contrary to all the programs designed to make the civilian world feel good. Society will be contending with a lot of broken people. At least the WWII and Civil War veterans had the consolation of fighting in a just cause. Though plenty of them were damaged souls. The "Wild West" was populated by a bunch of unhinged Civil War veterans with PTSD.
Yeah shut the hell up terrorist pig, go back to the swamp where you belong
As a combat vet from OIF3 I want to say I appreciate you making this vid. I know if you are anything like me you don’t know what to do with the “thank you for your service” compliments but suck it up. I just wanted you to know I and I am sure many other vets appreciate you looking out for your battle even after service. I have had to weather 4 suicides now so on my end the issue is very real. I myself am heavily self-medicating with alcohol after giving up on the VA (which did do the SRI SSRI thing for me they just wouldn’t try anything else when it didn’t work). Don’t fret though I am not going to eat a bullet and am still a working tax payer so I am not in that boat. I hope you keep on this topic over time because the problem isn’t going away and I think is starting to be forgotten/ old news. I tried to become a socail worker to help other vets but had to drop out after my divoce derailed what resolve I had left. I greatly respect and admire you marching on past where I could goand if I get squared away I will jump right back in. I appreciate you battle keep up the outstanding work.
dont give up man. seriously wishing the best of luck to you. maybe try the VA again, whats the harm if all you gotta do is wait anyways?
anyways, once again, hoping wellness for you
-stranger that cares
I'm no veteran, neither an adult, but I feel I can shed some light for Corry Tuskey. I've thankfully never had to go through the VA system, but I've seen it firsthand, going with my Uncle to the hospital to treat his COPD. They screwed him over; messed up his chemical levels and never thought to take him into the hospital despite his worsening state. He's been gone for 4 or so years now, rest in peace. The VA system is nothing like a regular hospital in many regards, they often throw you through hoops that only make things worse. (Also my other Uncle performed suicide in a VA mental hospital after Vietnam, because they were blind enough to let a mental health patient waltz into the basement and hang themselves.) I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors.
MarkTheMathShark I want to lead off first of all best name ever...seriously love it. And I appreciate both of you commenting. I don't even want to hang the blame on the VA psychology is ill equipped to deal with combat PTSD. What they don't get is it isn't the flashbacks or night terrors, it isn't the flashpoint anxiety when a car backfires of a garbage truck hits a pothole. We are soldiers who survived combat we can handle and push through fear. Our problem which leads many to the bottle or suicide is we know we can't come home.
Family feels about a close as acquaintances used to and acquaintances feel like nobody at all. The bond is gone. You are alone. The bleakness of that after living it for years is for some completely insufferable. To have no one that feels like a friend, to have no family. In the bible the worst curse god ever issued was for Cain to walk forever alone. That he would have no family and no friends. He is the OG forever alone meme. That is how it feels for many combat veterans.
And honestly I would rather be back in Iraq fighting than feel this way. Because after 7 months I got used to it, and after 10 months I had no fear anymore, at least not about combat. At that point if we had more air conditioning to handle the heat, bring some girls in and allowed us to have days off and drink on those days I could have stayed in theatre until the enemy finally got me and have been much happier than I am now. When people say to me I don’t know how you got through it I want to say getting through it was easy, getting through this is hard.
And if this should find its way to another battle brother don’t give up, not because I promise it will get better, but because you are an American soldier, you will not accept defeat, you will never quit, and you will never leave a fallen comrade. Like I did you have made that vow no doubt 100 times at least. We all owe it to our family, our country and our fellow battles to honor that vow. Our sacrifice for those we care about did not and does not end at the battlefield, we will all laugh about it when we meet at fiddlers green.
It hurts. It'll hurt for a while, hell maybe never stop hurting. Like some solid emptiness in your chest. But you live with it. It pulls you down, but everyday you push it up. It's still heavy, but it gets lighter. You keep pushing, keep moving because you can't stop. You made it through basic. You made it through deployment. You made it this far in your life. This...is nothing.
Frank Delgrosso -
I hate hearing that you feel like this, but I wish you'd try to get that connection back with your family & friends. How? Communication and honesty. A lot of us (civilians) don't want you to spare our feelings, or sugar coat things - we just genuinely want to help you & connect with you however we can. We want to listen to whatever you have to say. If you want to talk about your experience, do that. If reliving it is the last thing you want, then say so. If we ask questions, or we say things that make you uncomfortable or upset, tell us. No, we don't understand exactly what you're going through, and we don't know what to say sometimes, but we're willing to listen, to learn, and to not be judgemental about it.
While we have some idea what you've been through, we don't know all of it, but for a lot of us, connecting with you and helping you feel loved is what matters most to us.
My father was a marine. Occasionally he wanted to talk about what he saw. Then some days, he didn't want it brought up in any way. Some days he was angry and he wanted to vent (about the VA and their screw ups, about pain issues, about his own awful mental health, or even about his old money pit house). Then other days he wanted to forget his worries. But it wasn't always like this. The reason it got better was that I went to him & we talked.
We sat down and talked about a lot of things - how he felt when dealing with family and non military friends, how disconnected he felt from everyone else, and how lonely it could be. I just told him point blank that maintaining a connection with him was the most important thing for me, & that I'd just let him to take the lead & let me know how I could help, being brutally honest.
Yes, some of it was hard, bc I didn't realize just how bad it was for him, but the end result was better communicating & a stronger bond. I feel like a lot of people in this situation could have better relationships if both sides are willing to listen. There are simple problems that some civilians don't realize. Here are a few, feel free to add to these, anyone:
- They aren't going to be the same person they were before they left. Believe it or not, you probably aren't either. People change over time.
- Sometimes they are uncomfortable being the center of attention, just like anyone would be. Sometimes they're fine with it. Asking privately is a good way to find out.
- Sometimes they don't want you to ask a lot of questions about what they experienced. If you're not sure, ask them if they're uncomfortable with the topic. Be prepared to be ok with whatever makes them most comfortable, & don't make it a big deal.
4) humans in general are sometimes too proud to let ppl know when they need help. People in the military are people - I know, shocking, right?
- Everyone occasionally just wants to be left the hell alone.
- Some of them resent the hell out of having others tiptoe around them, or acting like they're very fragile. Again, asking & using body cues are great tools.
Basically a lot of these boil down to communication rather than making assumptions. Open communication saves lives.
My other dad had a near death experience. He used to bring it up constantly, and almost any subject could inevitably wind up going back to his experience. At one point it was driving me crazy. I later learned that he was bringing it up so often bc he wasn't coping well with what happened, & this was his way of dealing.
Instead of being irritable, I should have been more supportive. It goes a long way.
My long winded point is PLEASE try to communicate better & please don't give up just yet. People love you & don't want to lose you, & there are always people who are absolutely willing to make a connection with you if you'll just let them.
I'm one of those people who really wishes I could save ALL of our veterans somehow, & that I could reconnect them with all of their friends & family. It hurts me knowing that there are soldiers who feel alone & out of options. Even if this number dropped to 1 a month, it would be too high, but 22 a day - we have to start doing more, & start raising more awareness, especially when suicides are more frequent during the holidays.
If you're a soldier considering suicide, please call this number first:
(884) 889-5610
Or visit the website stopsoldiersuicide.org right now.
Brother, I love your work. The fact that you're a vet who stands with logic and reason, means a lot man. I'm a vet myself. I really do feel your vids and you are quickly becoming a youtube favorite of mine, which also inspires me to do a youtube channel myself. Great job on this one man. Wow.
As a veteran who went through these things myself while enlisted, thank you. I felt like a lot of what you were talking about could describe my experience exactly.
Still think this was you best video. Please do a follow up on this in 5 years.
Or even annually, so that fellow veterans watching his show could have a feeling of belonging. If not from a healthcare institution, they could at least get "regular"-ish support from a YT channel. I wonder if LIVE shows with him could help other veterans get together even if virtually. Doing a virtual LIVE Veteran Talk (perhaps with one or two fellow veterans he invites over to interview) could further help a lot of people.
subscribed at 10k
you have grown 10x in 2 weeks.
I shall promote every video as best i can and this is truly inspirational.
the algorithm has blessed him
I was depressed for 6 years before my supervisor suggested I go see a therapist and I found out about it. Thanks for spreading the word about this.
I don't usually make comments or hit the like button but as a veteran I get it you will deny you even need help with anything until you're forced to. It's so hard for people who didn't serve to get us. This is a great video. Also a scary one...
As a civilian who deals with depression every day I am extremely empathetic to anyone else dealing with suicidal thoughts, and you do an amazing job of humanizing and destigmatizing the issue. As I said I am not a veteran but I can relate to being stubborn and bullheaded, and I know there are lots of people (myself for several years included) that do not seek help because they perceive it as a sign of weakness. But the truth is that mental health issues are not a weakness, you deserve to be happy and just as you wouldn't feel shame in getting a broken arm set you shouldn't feel shame in seeking help for a mental illness. I can only speak for myself but I know that even with well prescribed medication it still takes a very large amount of effort to feel happy and "normal." Medication is no shortcut, its not a miracle, its something that levels the playing field so that your efforts to feel well are actually effective. So if you or someone you know is in the "I can deal with it on my own" camp because they feel that seeking help is somehow a form of them surrendering or admitting defeat, please know that there is no shame in seeking "help" because doing so doesn't mean that someone is going to cure you of your problems, there will still be struggle and a fight, and the happiness you win will always be your accomplishment. Again, I can only speak to my experiences, but I so badly hope anyone struggling with a mental health issue knows that they don't have to deal with it alone. Also your videos are extremely well produced and I wish more people would watch this one.
ScreamsOfSilence100
"[T]he happiness you win will always be your accomplishment." Unless you go to the AAA and accept that you are helpless without their religious nonsense. My father and some WW II buddies used to leave the AAA meeting and then go drinking in a bar. I used to think that it was terrible until I found out that the AAA tries to eliminate a person's inner strength and replace it with a weaker religious faith in outside strength. You should bolster the individual's inner strength and emotional resources not deliberately undermine them.
Well said and I agree very much!
ScreamsOfSilence100 you really worded it well! i hope you can keep fighting on,, and its definitely true recovery isnt easy
Fantastic video, man. I’m not a fan of the military as an institution, but I care about people, and I think you did a great job at focusing on veterans’ humanities.
NickDak1 👏👏👏👏
Wait the military as institution how and why do U dislike it
I can't speak for the original person you're asking, but lots of people who don't like the military as an institution don't like it because of the violence, the indoctrination(and using that word is not some conspiracy theory thing, that's literally what the guy in the video called it [15:50]), the killings and some of the less than reputable going's on that the military has been involved in, among other things.
Sasha Valeria yes that is understandable but what does he want to do about it
Quite a few of the more fanatical people i've heard on the issue talk about abolishing the military all together. Personally, i think that that'd never get done, but to each their own. Some others i've heard are people who just try their best to not activly support it (as much as you can while you still pay taxes) and even some others are trying to help those who've been harmed or disenfranchised by the military through charities or other help organizations.
I can't speak for nick, but that's what i've seen on the issue.
I take GED classes at a local outreach program for young adults. And recently, several young Veterans have started coming in to finish the tests they failed at their bases or whatever.
A few have opened up about why they chose to enter the military, some of their experiences in battle. Mostly of their struggle now that they are home, having also flunked the tests they need and feeling isolated.
But when they do come in. They encounter young civilians (like myself), who are as disadvantaged as they are in many aspects. I'm glad they can come and just hang out or volunteer.
But you can tell they're pretty isolated and still in shock.
Thank you for you drawing attention to a very real problem.
Thanks!
Phenomenal video. That was difficult to listen to, but one that I hope everyone will hear. I've known about this issue for some time, but had NO IDEA about the explosive statistics in the past 10 years. Breaks my heart in half.
Wow. This was both really sad and enlightening.
Wait, is this THE incendiary bullet?
I think an integral part is the "humans don't like killing other humans". Army psychologists found a way to deal with this for improved efficiency after WW2: dehumanizing the enemy. It's way easier to kill termites than vietnamese. However this messes with human nature, so I'm not surprised suicide is a serious problem for veterans because of the way wars have been fought after WW2. Committing war crimes will inevitably haunt you years after, as it was the case with many Vietnam veterans.
Committing war crimes should haunt you i feel no sympathy for ppl who kill innocent civilians
@@lithium25693 yeah man soldiers kill innocent civilians, and for fun too
@@lithium25693 you realize that the average conscripted 18 year old in vietnam wad not a monster
They have learned to turn civilians into soldiers, but still do not know how to turn soldiers into civilians.
I got to this video from another video that the author did on Starship Troopers (both the book and the movie). It's interesting you should raise the point on dehumanising the enemy - it's a major theme of the film (the idea that "war turns us all into fascists", among other things).
As you say, it's incredibly hard to kill other people - you need to somehow see them as less than human. Enter propaganda.
I have huge empathy for anyone who's had to fight a war: it's an ugly business, and unfortunately, since WWII I don't believe the west has fought a war for a "just" cause: they seem to have all been clouded by murky politics and many, many shades of grey.
It must be soul-destroying for those who go in with the best of intentions, to have to endure all the awfulness of the business, only to come home and wonder if any of it was worthwhile. What's worse is that the people (in combat) who are doing all the suffering, during - and after - war aren't the ones responsible for it.
The morally-bankrupt who use war as part of their political game sit far away from the ugliness of it all, and so rarely ever seem to be held accountable for any of it. I can only imagine that if I enlisted and had to go through what our service-people have to go through, that I would come back disheartened, angry, and questioning my role in any of it too.
As a Marine Corps Desert Shield/Storm Vet., I can say that despite Korea and Vietnaam, the VA got caught with it's pants down when it comes to treating us combat vets. Desert Storm should have been a wake-up call to get ready for Iraq and Afghanistan, but the VA was still sleeping at the wheel when those numbers started to sharply rise (an example, The Atlanta VA regional hospital is still struggling to find parking spaces for the massive number of patients it now treats). FYI, part of what you mentioned about going to war for a period of time and handing the reigns to the next group is exactly how we felt after Desert Storm. It's like we went oveer there for something, but that something wasn't what we were told it was for and now there are Two wars over there. Desert Storm is the new "Forgotten War".
You mentioned Vets giving up on the VA... I was one of those that gave up on them. From 1992 (when I got off of Active Duty) until 2006 (when I caught Pneumonia, went to the VA Emergency room and discovered that I was HIV positive)(Along with a bunch of other life threatening health problems), I was an alcoholic and recreational drug user. I had applied for and was denied VA compensation during this time. When I was refered to VA Psychology, they immediately diagnosed me with Major Depression and put me on anti-depressants. The Psychologist I was seeing was not interested in my story, so I got angry and stopped going to those appointments. It is 2019, I am still on anti-depressants (plus 11 other meds), I am still seeing my Primary Dr., plus Vascular surgeons (I have an Aortic Dissection/Aneurysm) and Physical and Occupational Therapist (for joint pain, Arthritis and Bone Spurs) but I have yet to return to the Psychology department. I am a caretaker for my 80year old mother and I have to say, she is my only purpose in living.
I recently went to one of those VA meetings at a local library and spoke to a VA rep. She sort of got me motivated to re-open my previously denied VA claims. If I am denied again, it is unlikely that I will have the motivation to continue to live after my mother dies.
Desert Storm wasn't a "real war" to begin with though. Unless you were in a tank on day 1 of the ground war you literally did not see or do shit. The reason it is a forgotten war is that nobody cares about it. Even the movie Jarhead was boring. It wasn't a "war" is was a 5 day beat down that took 6 months to get started.
Now compare that to my 3 tours in Iraq, one of which was in 2006 where my platoon lost 6 infantrymen in one day during an IED attack on one of our Bradley's in Baghdad where they all burned to death, no troop replacements in the modern army so we just ate the losses and kept up the mission and then got extended at month 10, from 12 months to 15months in country. Then one of our 1SG's killed himself. So tell me again why younger Iraq and Afghanistan vets should care about Desert Storm?
If the politics would have finished the job back when I was 6 years old, I wouldn't have had to go and do it when I turned 21. Don't get me wrong, I am not putting YOU down individually, just explaining how us OIF/OEF guys see it. I just turned 35 and got out as an E-6 after 12 years in the 1st infantry.
Basically, the public doesnt care about Desert Storm because it wasnt bloody, the public are Godless heathens who do not deserve the freedom we provide them and that is why they are the way we are. America is falling like Rome due to a lack of Centurions. Just look at the current Army ads with that bitch "Emma" hahaha
The Russians and Chicoms already won.
@@realWARPIG It was a 5 day beat down and I agree that if they had let us go in and take out Saddam back then, then you wouldn't have had to do it years later. We (Desert Storm Vets) all agree about that.
But you can't say it wasn't a war, and you can't say that just because I wasn't on a tank that I didn't see shit. I was a technician in Comm Platoon for HQBTRY, 1st Battalion, 11th Marines Regiment (Artillery), 1st Marine Division, 1st MEF. One of our mobile artillery battalions was fired on in the battle of Khafji by both iraqi's and friendly fire. One of our CBR radar vans was hit by a missile, killed two of my friends. As we were in the thick of Barquan Oil fields, which happened to be on fire and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face from the smoke, we had a 5-ton hit a mine, I almost lost two friends there. There were unexploded cluster bomblets everywhere from the cluster bombs the B52's dropped, there were mines everywhere and there were holes from bombs you could drive into because you couldn't see the ground. We had constant chemical alarms going off, which we now know that we were downwind from where they destroyed Saddam's chemical weapons stash. I myself helped medivac someone from another unit that stumbled into my side of our pos in the oil fields. He apparently stepped on a mine or cluster bomblet and his battle buddies lucked out and found us.
You can't say it wasn't a war. Just because we went in with overwhelming force, which made it look easy, doesn't mean we didn't see or do shit.
In any case, my point still stands that the VA should have learned their lesson and should have updated their medical systems and policies at least after our war so they could be prepared for yours.
You
Hey brother I understand where you're coming from and I'm sorry you've had to play stupid games with the VA.
I sincerely hope you can find some peace.
Outstanding. As a Veteran myself i applaud you for this video. Excellent take on the suicide problem within the Military Community. Will share this video with my Command. Will be an excellent video in support of our Suicide Prevention Program (Briefings).
Those VA pharmacy bottles send a powerful message, and one that I needed.
I'm glad I'm not the only one with eleventy-seven meds.
Also, that's freaking masterful, what you did there. Subtle, easily missed by most, but a glowing neon sign to vets.
When I first saw your videos, something was clicking in my head that you were a veteran... no idea why. Glad to see that confirmed. Great video, keep up the awesome work. You are one of my favorite channel out there
Congratulations on your personal best - even if I’m a couple years late. And I think I recognize a few of the asthma medicines you told us to ignore. Keep up the self-care; I like seeing your videos!
You just reinforced that I'm on the right track. I'll do my best for those who served.
just as important as taking care of the existing victims of war's psychological trauma is to hold accountable the paid-off politicians who send our well-intentioned young people into the death, destruction, and psychological terror of these very unpopular, for-profit occupations in the middle east. ending these conflicts is the most affective way to prevent veteran suicide
Exactly!
"for profit" what's the profit in it? and before you say "oil" well 1. Afghanistan doesn't have any. 2. while Iraq does, the US produces half of it's oil on its own, and buys almost the entire other half from mexico and canada, not to mention that there are far friendlier nations to get oil from like the UK, romania and saudi arabia
@@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447
The US military's arms, vehicles, gear, and most other supplies are provided in large part by private companies. It's in the interests and capabilities of military manufacturers to bribe US politicians to maintain mission-less wars.
Search "military-industrial complex"
@@pewp_tickalar if you say so...
@@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447 My take on the whole Afghanistan thing was that it was a show for the American people.
A bunch of folk belonging to a hard-to-trace underground organisation, which would be very difficult to track down, flew some planes into some buildings and killed several thousand Americans. But, finding them and holding them to account would be difficult and would be a task that would need to be handled in complete secrecy - without any news updates at all on what was being done and by whom.
That would never do: the American people needed to feel some form of "comfort" in at least knowing that whoever was responsible would be punished (and that their own leaders hadn't let them down by allowing the "safety" of US borders to be breached). They also needed that comfort quickly - not in several years time (and quite possibly after another election).
So, Bush gave the American people what he thought would satisfy them. As a bonus (possibly the prime motivation?) it would also prevent too many questions being asked about how it could have been allowed to happen ... got to keep those fingers pointed away from the politicians now!
And so the decision was made to attack an "enemy" in the more traditional sense: you know, one with borders and buildings - one that could actually be found - and then bombed back to the stone-age from the air before sending the troops in to mop up.
DISCLAIMER: I haven't done a hell of a lot of reading into the whole Afghanistan affair in the years since. There may be an argument to be made that it was an important strategic step into the region, or a vital piece of Al-Qaeda's flow of funds or people or weapons or whatever. However, I do strongly suspect that the whole "kill Osama" mission could have been accomplished without invading Afghanistan.
Now - sadly - there also seem to be a whole bunch of negatives to that war having taken place at all. It gave rise to Islamic State and put countless people in surrounding countries through all sorts of misery. Right now the social progress made by kicking the Taliban out of Afghanistan is being undone (wouldn't you know it, turn your back on the region for two seconds and the rotten little so-and-so's are right back again!).
As I've mentioned in other comments on this video - I feel deeply for anyone who fought in that - and any similar - conflict. Seeing any good that came out of your efforts being either; overshadowed by evil that flourished as a result, or undone despite all your pain and sacrifice must be awful.
Great video, bud. That was the best treatment I've seen about such a complex issue. I really like the part about civilians and reintegration. The protected need to welcome back their warriors and not become part of what isolates them.
The military isn't only used for protection. Some people don't like the military and that's understandable.
And that illustrates the complexity of this part of the problem. A veteran _is not_ the conflict he fought in. However, a returned veteran is very likely to be the _only_ and/or the most direct contact that a civilian is ever going to have with that conflict.
For this reason it is often difficult for civilians to dissociate the veteran from the war.
Thank You so much for this video! I was moved by your serious factfulness, bringing across a message of compassion. Keep up the good work!
This was eye opening. Thank you for making this video!
Army vet here, I love your videos. This one is so great.
Very good video ❤️ definitely worth the share!!
I am a Navy brat and Air Force ex-wife. I grew up with the military. And lived with my ex-husband's service related disabilities, until it wasn't safe for me and the kids anymore. It is a problem and I am thankful you made such a good video on the problems facing veterans.
As a non-combat vet, this makes me sad. Thank you for helping to spread awareness
Great video, been bingeing your channel the last few days, this one is one of your best!
Incredible work. I have a knot in my throat right now thinking of my dear friend who’s a veteran.
"The millitary culture of seeking the quickest, cheapest solution to the problem at the expense of long term side effects." That sounds like the whole of the millitary and war in general to me.
Thanks for serving your country and enlighting us with your knowledge with your many videos!
I cannot speak on behalf of dear narrator but I thank you for supporting the US Military, veterans and militarily family communities. Please remember those who are currently deployed in harms, their (Blue Star) Families and always our Gold Star Families who really don’t need to be politically exploited or hear their loved ones made the ultimate sacrifice for some long debunked conspiracy theory (which somehow still drives a certain false narrative.)
If you want to be involved Tweet me at @TellyStern (Tel-Jonah Stern, US Army (ret)) for vetted organizations. Beware of the fake, completely political groups out there.
I absolutely love this video. As somebody who has gone through similar things the note that veterans who seek help are far worse because they have let themselves go untreated for much longer than civilains is so true. You are becoming my favorite RUclipsr. Don’t stop putting out fantastic content like this, it truly is changing the world.
My daughter served in Iraq from the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2009. She returned home to FT Hood where she was present after the shooting there. That really shook her MORE than her deployment telling me than when over there they counted down the days till they would be home and that their HOME base was were suppose to be the place of SAFETY!
She took full advantage to the paid college ride the Army gave her and now has a decent paying job helping disabled people find jobs.
She RARELY talks about her time in the service. In spite of how strong she shows the outside world
I see my daughters depressed state that she comes in and out of.
She is so much fragile than the world know and IF she hadn’t been deployed I’m positive she would have been a completely DIFFERENT person.
How wonderful if the multi billion dollar military budget ACTUALLY went to the veterans themselves and NOT only to the military hardware, say 80# Vets 20% hardware??
Thank you so much for your channel and of course THANKS for your service 😉
I say this a lot and I'll say this again. This man is criminally undersubscribed. Great video!
Just recently discovered your channel and this video is at the top for me. Thank you for bringing light to this topic and helping to spread awareness of the very real issues affecting veterans of the most recent conflicts. I personally had 2 battles commit suicide, both while we were deployed, and went through my own struggles for a long time. I still deal with depression and anxiety related to deployment and it helps to know I am not alone.
I came home Dec 05. Truth be told I still struggle. The peace of a forever nap. For my memories to stop. My hate, my anger, the hurt. No more. I just never did because it would destroy my kids. I suffer for them.
Back in 2006, my father came home from deployment. He had to bring us to the "welcome home" debriefing. I was 16. I didn't pay a lot of attention, but one thing really struck me, and hits me to this day:
The half of the debriefing was about drinking responsibly and hiring a cab service the base had contracted with for this purpose. There was mention of reservists getting your job back, and if you need it, they have people to help you fill out paperwork. If you have marital troubles, the chaplain (my father) is there for you.
But those and others were 1-3 card blurbs in a 2-hour PowerPoint "drink responsibly" debriefing. And I have to wonder if my brother got the same schlock when he came home from his two deployments...if that's why he spiralled out after the first one...
So glad this channel is picking up steam. You deserve all the success in the world man.
Thank you so much for this video, always a pleasure to see someone speaking up about issues facing veterans. And go Wyoming!!
Thanks bro. I served but during peace time. My dad was a Vietnam Vet and my Grandpa was a World War II Vet. They both had problems with PTSD but Grandpa figured he was able to deal with it better because he said at least he could say "it had to be done."
Thank you for the compassionate and intelligent discussion. It’s a devastating issue that we should be more aggressive in mitigation. The conclusion was also well stated, considering mental health, as well as mental health care, is often inconsistent by nature.
One thing occurred to me with regards to the generational differences. Since we have a professional armed services now, as opposed to conscription in WWII, what amount of possible self-selection occurs, specifically that people with prior or ongoing suicidal ideation will enlist in the armed services in greater percentages than in the overall population?
Asking as someone who has plenty of experience with mental health personally, the healthcare industry in general as an occupation, and had considered ROTC during baccalaureate studies.
Very much appreciate the channel. It’s an invaluable platform for intelligent discourse.
This is great quality content. This is what journalists should be doing when reporting in such sensitive and complicated problems.
Great job dude
Every one I know who was deployed for Katrina has PTSD And psychotic break
Also some veterans have such severe brain damage that it’s difficult to diagnose them which prevents them from getting disability status
There’s just so much I could say about this topic from the WWII veterans I got to know in my 20s to the present day veterans
Not to mention nurses and others
Not to mention wives family friends neighbors etc
I returned home from Afghanistan recently (11B, and yes, I had to clarify. Damn pogs lol). And my family and small town were amazing. I had all of the support I didn't think I needed and looking back on those first few months I think it made it big difference. Twice a week I try to call up my friends and ask how they are doing, especially the ones who didn't really get the same welcome home that I did. Thank you for making this video, it means a lot to the me and the friend who I wish was here to watch it with me.
This is honestly my new favorite RUclips channel. Great work on this video and all of your videos.
saved a life today. Thank you
I love your work, thank you for your service and for your services in educating us. You're the man.
Honorable Veteran's Day to you!! Your videos are great; I'm so glad I stumbled upon your channel.
You are very soft spoken - almost ASMR. You should do a video about ASMR in ASMR. :)
appropriate day to find this video, very good job at delivering some hard truths on a very tender subject
Great video. Very informative. Love your videos.
Thank you for making this video. You have clarified some things for me, and I was able to have my wife watch this and gain some understanding in things that I couldn't find the words to describe.
thank you for this, navy here and we lost 3 people at my last command to suicide in 2018. Two of them were my friends and one of them was really close. Lost about 7 total in my time on that boat. Im glad somebody gets it.
Thank you for your service and thank you for this info. These trends are very concerning.
Absolutely superb video. You are so right. I am not a soldier myself but i have alot of respect for those who may down their lives for freedom and justice . We should give veterns the treatment they deserve
God bless you for posting this, very touching and inspiring us outsiders to reach out. Thank you.
This is a great video. Thank you for raising awareness.
The VA has always been good to me. It did used to take 2 months on average to get an appointment scheduled, that commonly is down to a week at most for primary care. Some specialized services take longer, I've been waiting 3 months now for massage therapy for an injury. I think i can deal with that, I'm gonna get free back rubs.
thank you for making this video! i live in a country where there were very little war and ptsd for veterans is no where near as bad as in america so this video helped me understand things better. ptsd is really something that is horrifying and the way that mental health treatment is handled is tragic really.
i dont like war by any means really and thinking of how it harms so many people even those who survive is just terrible.
Stunning information...I'm in tears
Wow, 22 kilometers that’s incredible. I watch every video you post. You are a pretty remarkable person
I want to thank you for all you do. Alot of the time I feel like absolute shit because I'm a damn POG and haven't deployed. I'm taking a bunch of correspondence courses now and getting ready to submit a packet for SFAB. I feel shitty cause all my friends have deployed at least once, even though we're not combat arms. I've been overseas for two years in a non combat zone, and it's just weird to me. Idk. I appreciate the work you do, and I always look forward to more of your videos. Much love.
Silenced after watching this one...
I salute you and all other Veterans!
Late to your channel. Wish I could like this twice. I’ve lost quite a few shipmates from suicide recently and none of us were actual combat vets. All aviation ship side.
You've done really well in this video, I wish more people would recognize this video and perhaps do the same.
having just discovered your channel, i just want to say that i hope you, personally, are doing okay. i don't think i've ever enjoyed catching up on a youtube channel this much before.
Thank you for putting this together. I will forward to my peers. S/F
Thank you for this vid. My Dad committed suicide Nov 2nd 2008 shooting himself thru the heart in my childhood home. He was THE BEST DAD, Vietnam Vet, Green Beret ❤️ I miss him daily! 😭
You got better treatment in the VA system and you seem to be doing better than most veterans
Bless you sir, if you study psychology and become a clinician, you will be running the VA MH system by the time you're done
Great work on this, quality video!
Tens of thousands of soldiers had ‘shellshock ‘ in WW1. I think it’s PTSD.
ThatZane it went from shellshock to battle fatigue to PTSD
ThatZane didn’t they used to kill soldiers that lowered moral with shell shock?
don't know if you've seen it, but George Carlin did a bit on Shellshock and PTSD
**Samus slowly backs away**
the thing about shellshock is that it isnt strictly PTSD. Their diagnoses at the time were pretty limited, but it was said that someone had shellshock, there was also a chance that they had symptoms today associated with anxiety and other mental disorders
As someone who reached out to their doctor, and was heard and referred onwards, the prospect of someone doing the same and being brushed off or ignored hurts me deeply.
Thank you for your service
In the early '70s, at the tender age of 17, I was trained for war but never actually participated. I felt ashamed, that I was a sham as a Marine for never having been in a firefight. All enlisted Marines are considered, first and foremost, riflemen. This even though my MOS. had me working in Supply.
There was an older fellow, a Sargent, who had patrolled the bush in Nam, who did me a big favor ( in return for a sixpack of Bud) by moving my column shifter to the floor of my black, windowless, '67 chevy panel truck. I spoke to him of my shame for never having been tested in battle. He scolded me for being stupid and said that I should thank my lucky stars for not having had to experience such a hellish, nightmare, godawful thing! This man knew exactly what he was talking about, he had been there and done that, and I assure you, he was no wimp! It turns out the big favor he did me wasn't the shifter nearly so much as relieving me of my senseless guilt.
Good video Serge, a necessary one. Thank you!
Just f*cking outstanding. Nothin' but love brother. Semper fi.
I’m trying to put this video in social media but I can’t. Awesome video.
This is an amazing video! I wish I'd been watching your channel when this came out. I would like to mention that antipsychotics can be prescribed for things like paranoia. They can combat feelings of constant stress in ways that more addictive anxiety meds can't. They are sedating but they can be effective for things other than schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Important info presented very effectively. Thank you.
I'm gonna give this a thumbs up so hopefully more people see it.
Well done video essay with good information.
Hey don't forget you have an audience from other countries, I'm in Australia and I'm sure you have British viewers and those involved in the Northern Irish conflict. That was a similar conflict that lasted nearly 30 years.
70% of Australian soldiers in WW1 were wounded that's a lot of men in their prime. I knew 2 when I was young and both of them though in their 80's had bullet holes in them.
Thank you for your attention to this problem... 1 Alpha 7 Gunner 943rd Special Operations, 2 deployments, combat disabled.
Straying from veteran suicide to suicide in general, I think the "seeking help is a sign of weakness" is a thing in a big chunk of people's minds qnd we are trying to change that only in recent years. I remember I had suicidal thoughts and I for the longest time I didn't want to say anything because other people have it much worse and cope and here I am, needing help when I'm materially well-off and have a good family, etc. I literally kept it a secret until I had a major breakdown over nothing near my family - so basically it was clear as day that something's wrong and even then I downplayed how bad it is. Eliminating the notion that asking for help is something to be ashamed off would help both veteran suicides and suicides in general, I think.
This video made me stop and cry at least a few times.
7:54 when he said 1083% I spit out my water because it was so high.
Commenting to hopefully let the algorithm recommend this to more people
And also I lmfao'd when I saw the "Ignore these..." Next to like all those meds...
A lady in one of my classes had a brother who served in Vietnam. Being around children was extremely triggering to him after the horrors he saw back there...
Well done sir.
Great work
Why do you have 146 thousand subscribers, but this video only has 4 thousand views?
His numbers have just recently jumped. As in like 100k subscribers in the past week or two
Also this video is from well before he was popular
Also it has suicide in the video title so it's gonna be stymied
Algorithms
Oh no, you have those creepy toe shoes! I can't bear them. I don't know why. Please do a video on it ;)
Good video. Important stuff to be aware of.