WHO OWNS OUR LIFE

My therapist hero, now gone on to his just rewards, Al Ellis, says something like, "you own your life." Meaning, your literal life. To take it is self defeating and also often very selfish but in essence, your life is yours, according to Ellis.

I doubt that few would subscribe to Dr. Ellis views completely. And, suicide is a tense topic today because military suicides. In January, for instance, there were more suicides in the military than were killed in war. During April, there were nine suicides at Fort Campbell, home of the famed 101st Airborne Division.

There's a kind of national disturbance with those Americans who care (and not all do) about the rash of suicides with American servicemen. There has never been a conflict so instantly covered as Iraq and Afghanistan. And, let's face it, instant assess fosters complacency, plain and simple. In the commo worlds of cable TV and the Internet, the wars have become at best marginalized.

The "girlfriends" and I have discussed it often. Our views are all over the map and some truth in all the views.

Larry. I think it is the nature of the kind of soldier we are bringing into the military. As a Marine in Vietnam, we did our jobs, tried to survive, until we made it home.

Gary. All this calling home, emails. I don't know what all that means.

Ed. All these repetitive tours have to have something to do with it. Just think, 3 or four times. Family problems, finances, it has got to be tough. And, finally the immature kid says, enough and in a moment of stupidity does himself in.

Ray. In Vietnam, we would go out on operations for months at a time. Eating C rats. Some of these guys in Iraq go out on patrol in the morning, come back at night, all the comforts of home--that being said, still is very hard, has to be. (In Vietnam, servicemen relied on letters and the occasional MARS phone call. Troops today have laptops, video cameras, satellite phones and every iteration of services like Skype. They have Facebook. Their news is from the iPhone, Comedy Central, and blogs. They also are at war.)

Michael. I have a buddy, John, (a physician) you guys have met him. He's doing work with some folks who are trying to get to the bottom of this. I'm calling him. (Michael calls him and John calls us back and Michael hands the phone to me).

Jerry. Good to talk with you, John. What can you tell us or what is your view of what's behind the suicides in the military.

John. Very complicated problem. Lots of these GIs are bringing a history of mental illness into the service. And, of course we don't know that beforehand. There's no mechanism set up to deal with that information even if we knew it. One interesting thing they are discovering is that the Iraqi and Afghanistan vets cannot mix with Vietnam and Korean vets. The experience is to fresh to these guys in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whereas the Vietvets readily talk of their experiences, these guys are not ready to do it.

Jerry. It took at least ten years after Vietnam before vets talked about it. Maybe it is simply too early.

Sam. Well, what does that mean? (this is said later on).

Interpreted, John said that these guys experiences were coming to the forefront because of these psychotropic drugs often and they simply couldn't handle the stress.

CONCLUSION. Maybe what we are looking at is simply no conclusion. Not a conclusive one anyway. The military likes to wrap things up. Like the Marines, give them a two day seminar. Problem solved. Next case. Not going to happen.

The culture of the military has changed. Co-ed, smaller, no draft, repetitive tours, many soldiers less capable of coping. The chain of command may be doing the best they can: they have counseling centers, combat stress contingencies. It only makes sense to those of us sitting out here watching what is happening. Two wars, all the inherent pressures that go with it. So, what do you have? Suicides among our soldiers as part of the price of war. Sad but true. God help us and bless us.