By the way, did you know that 20% of our military are now on psychiatric drugs? One in six are committing suicide.
Far be it from me to call anyone's integrity into question, but I find that figure difficult to believe. I ran the numbers based on the approximately 1,427,000 active duty troops serving worldwide in all four branches of the military (not counting the roughly 1,458,000 in the National Guard and Reserve components), and using the figure of "one in six" (a little better than 16.6%), that would mean that 237,833 servicemen and women had committed suicide. Even if you only count the approximately 150,000 serving in Iraq (as of August 2007) and the 26,000 in Afghanistan, that would mean 46,000 have done so.
The actual number for 2007 was 108, or about one in 132,130 of total active duty personnel, or one in 1,629 serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even one is too many, but this is just an example of how numbers can be blown out of proportion.
The number of troops being treated for depression and PTSD (post-tramatic stress disorder) is actually closer to 12% of troops in Iraq and 17% for troops serving in Afghanistan. Dr. Kelly Posner, an assistant professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, says that almost 25% of the civilian population will have a major depressive episode at some time in their life.
Before everyone piles on and calls me insensitive, I'm not saying that our troops don't have a lot to deal with over there. I'm just saying that they are better-equipped to handle it than most of us ordinary civilians, and the numbers seem to bear that out.
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