Quote Originally Posted by Redskeeter View Post
"And another factor is that DEDICATION I mentioned above. Without waving a bunch of flags, I think you know what I mean when I say that the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen prior to 1976 had a purpose for joining the military that had to do with God, Country and saving Mom’s Apple Pie and although it may have been a career it wasn’t just a way to get a paycheck."

I think you are totally wrong on this. And if we are going to group all soldiers together now and say they are not dedicated then we have to group all vietnam era soldiers together and say they were dope smoking hippies. The real truth is most of these soldiers are patriotic and yes I agree that some are here just for the job as many have been in the past but to put all soldiers in one group is wrong and out of touch with reality.

As for the suicides, nobody will ever truely know why these soldiers committed suicide. The enormous amount of stress that some of them are under can not be understood by the layman. I just hope that they are resting in peace and their families are coping with their loss.
I totally agree with your statment but would like to add my thoughts.

Some of the "Old Soldiers" from the WWII, Korea, and Vietnam era try to make it sound like our current VOLUNTEER soldiers are just looking for a uniform and a job; that somehow he is a weakling and less capable of being a "tough" soldier than they were. Nothing could be further from the truth. The old soldiers were DRAFTED which meant they were FORCED into the service. The "baby boom" was the result of having babies to keep from being drafted. To me, that is the same as draft dodging.

It is true that those serving in Afghanistan and Iraq aren't crawling on their bellies through jungles but they ARE crawling on their bellies through the sand, mountains, and caves, which makes them an open target for the enemy. Many of them have to circle their vehicles and sleep in holes dug in the sand, the rain, and sleep in the mudholes, while other soldiers stand watch over them.

I believe that part of the reason there is an increase in the number of soldiers committing suicide is because promises of ending the war have not been kept and they don't know when, or if, they will return home; hopelessness. Another reason is that some of the wives and girlfriends don't have enough sense to keep the bad news and Dear John letters stateside until the soldier returns home. The other sad reason is that the soldier has been maimed, lost limbs, been disfigured, and must depend on a wheelchair for the rest of his life. I have heard of wives rejecting their husbands and just walking away because he is no longer whole.

As for suicides among the teenage/younger generation, there is a group called Goths who are obsessed with death, the macabre, human remains, hell, etc. They promote death and encourage their friends to commit suicide for trivial reasons. They use suicide to punish parents who grounded them, took away driving priviledges, or wouldn't let them go places, date certain people, drink, etc. They encourage it to punish boyfriends or girlfriends who broke up with them or dated someone else. Goths have a "going away" party for the person who is considering suicide which, in my opinion, makes them feel obligated to follow through with it.