Army suicide rate "terrifying"

[Velociryx]

In Sept 1980, the army boasted 776,536

In '07, the army boasted ~542,000

This is regular army, mind you...it does not include National Guard or Reserve, which also were not mentioned in Ben's source article.

-=Vel=-

[Rufus T. Firefly]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...081502027.html

And again this is 7 years after Viet-Nam and the rates then were still higher then they are now.

My god in heaven, you really are a lying little sack of ****, aren't you? The quote you posted above, quoting James Joyner,

1) Does not appear in the article from the Washington Post you link to;

2) Does appear in a right-wing blog which offers no sourcing for the quote; as for James Joyner, he has no experise on this subject but is instead a PhD in political science who runs his own right wing blog;

3) Illustrates that, much like you, the jackass who quotes Joyner can't actually read; if he could, he would have noticed that Joyner provides no data on 1980 suicide rates but simply assumes that if these are the highest since 1980, then 1980 was the second-highest (a logical fallacy so glaring that even the University of Alabama should be ashamed to have him as an alum).

So -- and here we are again -- unless you've got actual data from 1980, you're either (1) a liar; (2) too stupid to parse a simple blog entry, or (3) both.

[Velociryx]

I was trying to find some hard data to counter him, Rufus (thus the troop strengths), so as not to be cruel.

I'm sorry there wasn't another way.

-=Vel=-

[Kontiki]

.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

BTW, Ben's quote is certainly not from what he linked to. The only place I could find it was here:

http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/sui...three_decades/

Yep; see my post, two above yours.

[Kontiki]

Sorry, DanSed. I might add that I've seen an AP story, since reposted in tons of other places, that says that the Army only started keeping stats in 1980. Not coincidentally, exactly 26 years from 2006.

[Asher]

Ben is on a roll.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Sorry, DanSed. I might add that I've seen an AP story, since reposted in tons of other places, that says that the Army only started keeping stats in 1980. Not coincidentally, exactly 26 years from 2006.

Exactly, which is why 1980 is the date being thrown around -- it's the first year for which there are records on army suicides. But I guess in the Beniverse, if I say that the population of the US today is the highest it's been since 1790, that means that it was higher in 1790 than at any time between then and now, right?

[Darius871]

Ooh, how's Ben gonna weasel out of this one???

[Darius871]

But I guess in the Beniverse, if I say that the population of the US today is the highest it's been since 1790, that means that it was higher in 1790 than at any time between then and now, right?

Are you suggesting there was no census taken in 1788 or 1789?

[Asher]

Ooh, how's Ben gonna weasel out of this one???

He's deploying the "ignore the thread" tactic.

[MOBIUS]

Can we please retro-abort Ben now?

Failing that, ban the cu*t!

God, no wonder I hate religion!

[Patroklos]

Exactly, which is why 1980 is the date being thrown around -- it's the first year for which there are records on army suicides.

I do wish there were states from say Vietnam or Korea for comparison. This really is the only campaign of this length mounted since the stats were kept. I would have assumed suicides would naturally increase as stressers multiplied which a hot war will do. I am surprised that up until this year the suicide rate was still below the civilia level even with the war.

[Ben Kenobi]

Sorry, DanSed. I might add that I've seen an AP story, since reposted in tons of other places, that says that the Army only started keeping stats in 1980. Not coincidentally, exactly 26 years from 2006.

Finally, a decent point.

Doesn't change the fact that the numbers were higher in 1980 then they are now.

As for the commander in chief comment, I was positive I would get flamed here, but that is what I have heard from the servicemen that I know.

In my opinion they are far more reliable sources as to the mood and the morale of the troops then the folks here on Poly.

[Ben Kenobi]

I do wish there were states from say Vietnam or Korea for comparison. This really is the only campaign of this length mounted since the stats were kept. I would have assumed suicides would naturally increase as stressers multiplied which a hot war will do. I am surprised that up until this year the suicide rate was still below the civilia level even with the war.

I'd be interested in seeing what the draft does to these numbers. I'd wager that you would see far fewer suicides now, then during the Viet Nam war era.

As for the troop strengths, I hadn't realised how much they had been cut back even from 1980.