Saturday Politics : Armistice Day 2016 and the American Veteran Suicide Crisis

Saturday Politics has nothing and everything to do with politics this week. • On Friday, Europe celebrated Armistice Day -- the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918, when hostilities ended in World War I. Armistice Day is a commemmoration in Europe of the end of the "Great War," a day set aside to honor and thank the millions of veterans who served in World War I, World War II and all wars. It is Poppy Day in Britain, and for weeks everyone in the United Kingdom has worn the little red poppy on their lapels, jackets and dresses, as a way of remembering, thanking -- and through the small donations dropped into the boxes held by volunteers to "pay" for their poppy -- funding services for British veterans. On Friday morning, every French mayor led his commune in a patriotic prayer service to honor the war dead from their community and the war dead of all France. • America honors its war dead on Memorial Day at the end of May. The numbers of veteran who served the United States in the 20th century is enormous -- 12 million in WWII, 5 million in WWI, 8 million in Vietnam, 6 million in Korea. The all-volunteer army that has served in the Iraq-Afghanistan era stands now at more than 3 million and counting. • • • AMERICAN VETERAN SUICIDES. Shocking as it may seem, every 72 minutes, an American veteran commits suicide. The editorial board of USA TODAY wrote in September that many Americans have heard "that 20 veterans commit suicide each day." The suicide rate was mentioned by both presidential candidates in a September Commander-in-Chief Forum viewed by 14.7 million people. But, a detailed suicide analysis released by the Department of Veterans Affairs in August shows how this catastrophe of self-destruction, particularly for young veterans fresh home from war, is a killing crisis unknown to most Americans. USA TODAY explains that the suicide statistics mean that an American veteran "is choosing death every 72 minutes, and the VA could be doing more to keep that person alive. When veterans manage to ask for help, too many of their calls are not getting through to VA's suicide hotline (800-273-8255). The agency isn't offering enough veterans the kind of cutting-edge treatment therapies that researchers are finally uncovering." The statistics tell a gruesome story -- veterans in 2014 were killing themselves at three times the rate of civilians and at a quickening pace, up by one-third from 2001 to 2014. Most suicides are young male veterans in their 20s, who are dying at four times the rate of their civilian peers. Female veterans were 2.4 times more likely to choose suicide than their civilian counterparts, and in one narrow category -- 18- to 24-year-old male veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan and were VA patients -- the suicide rate was 10 times the national average for all people. • • • THE TRUMP VETERANS PLAN. President-Elect Donald Trump has long called for a plan to care for America’s veterans in the way they deserve. In September, he published a policy paper outlining his "Veterans Plan." The Trump Plan says that "the current state of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is absolutely unacceptable. Over 300,000 veterans died waiting for care. Corruption and incompetence were excused. Politicians in Washington have done too little too slowly to fix it. This situation can never happen again," and Trump promises as President to fix the VA. His guiding principle "is ensuring veterans have convenient access to the best quality care. To further this principle, the Trump plan will decrease wait times, improve healthcare outcomes, and facilitate a seamless transition from service into civilian life." The key points of the Trump Veterans Plan are to "ensure our veterans get the care they need wherever and whenever they need it. No more long drives. No more waiting for backlogs. No more excessive red tape. Just the care and support they earned with their service to our country." Trump promises support for the whole veteran, not just their physical health care, but also by addressing their invisible wounds, investing in our service members’ post-active duty success, transforming the VA to meet the needs of 21st century service members, and better meeting the needs of our female veterans. The Trump Veterans Plan will "increase funding for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury and suicide prevention services to address our veterans’ invisible wounds. Service members are five times more likely to develop depression than civilians. They are almost fifteen times more likely to develop PTSD than civilians. This funding will help provide more and better counseling and care. More funding will also support research on best practices and state of the art treatments to keep our veterans alive, healthy and whole. With these steps, the Trump plan will help the veteran community put the unnecessary stigma surrounding mental health behind them and instead encourage acceptance and treatment in our greater society." There are many administrative and logistical points in the Trump Veterans Plan -- increasing funding for job training and placement services, educational support, business loans, providing universally available women's health services and OBGYN care,support for veterans' families, permitting veterans to go to any conveniently close-by medicare-approved doctor or medical facility for treatment, stopping wait time backlogs and forcing the VA to improve and compete for veterans’ healthcare dollars. One of the critically important points in the Trump Veterans Plan is ensuring that veterans receive quality care quickly. This alone could save the lives of many veterans who are suicidal and who now find help only from volunteer groups of Iraq-Afghanistan era veterans who reach out to prevent suicides among their fellow vets. The Trump Veterans Plan includes hiring more veterans to care for veterans, because they understand the unique challenges facing their Iraq-Afghanistan era veteran community. • • • Dear readers, the current suicide rate among veterans is stunning. These veterans have faced multiple tours -- as many as 4 or 5 -- in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they have faced horrors that other Americans cannot begin to imagine. USA TODAY cites the cases of Iraq War veteran Tom Young, 30, who "lay down on Illinois train tracks last year after failing to reach someone at the VA hotline. Former police officer and Navy veteran Peter Kaisen, 76, shot himself in the parking lot of a veterans hospital on Long Island last month. Young died at a time when some calls into the VA hotline were actually going to voicemail, a problem since repaired. But too many calls today still roll over to less-prepared backup centers outside the VA. The agency's mammoth bureaucracy, second only to the Pentagon, has been slow to embrace new ideas, chief among them managing the urge to commit suicide and not just treating underlying illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder or severe depression....Of 20 veteran suicides daily, just six were enrolled in VA health care. The others either chose against going to the VA or were ineligible for its care." • What can be done about this complex issue? The VA has made some progress : expanding mental health care staffing, developing computer algorithms to single out hardcore suicidal cases for special care, and pushing private doctors to query veterans about the emotional impact of their military service. Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, who appeared, along with General David Petraeus, on the CNBC morning show on Friday, says of the veteran suicide crisis : "We often compare it to the early days of the AIDS crisis, when the gay community especially felt like their friends were dying left and right, and people weren't paying attention." • America must pay attention to all its veterans, and especially to those whose military service has led them to think of suicide as the answer to their severe distress. There is no political promise and no moral obligation more important than the care of America's veterans and the all-out effort to prevent their suicide. • President-Elect Trump, we are depending on you to right this terrible wrong. • And to all America's veterans, we offer our prayers and our heart-felt gratitude for your unswerving and always faithful service and loyalty to America and her ideals. God Bless You.