Army suicide rate "terrifying"

[DaShi]

Ben, there's just one small problem. You're a known liar. Nothing you say can be taken as true. That's why you hide behind "sources" that can't be verified.

[-Jrabbit]

AAaarrgghh!!!!!

[Imran Siddiqui]

ben, there's just one small problem. You're a known liar.

qft

[Tuberski]

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.

What servicemen could you possibly know?

I know of no US military installation in British Columbia.

ACK!

[onodera]

All that fuss is about 24 soldiers? Noth hundreds or thousands?

[Spec]

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.

Rufus, you uncovered the 48" pizza, only, with extra topping.

Spec.

[Wernazuma III]

All that fuss is about 24 soldiers? Noth hundreds or thousands?

Russia.

[Ben Kenobi]

What servicemen could you possibly know?

Active or retired?

I know of no US military installation in British Columbia.

Who said they are Canadian?

[Ben Kenobi]

Ben, there's just one small problem. You're a known liar. Nothing you say can be taken as true. That's why you hide behind "sources" that can't be verified.

Are you of the opinion that the military is thrilled about Obama?

[Tuberski]

Active or retired?

Who said they are Canadian?

I don't care if they are active or not.

I also could give a rat's ass what the Canadian military thinks of Obama, so where do you get they idea that I meant Canadian military. The "no US Military installation in BC"?

ACK!

[Velociryx]

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

Ben, here's the interesting thing. Those numbers prove that you are incorrect.

Remember the article I posted re: the number of suicides?

Well...you can derive the percentage by looking at the relationship between the number of suicides and the number of troops, right? I mean, that is, after all, how those percentages are calculated.

So if the number of troops has dropped since 1980, and the number of suicides has risen, then by default that means that the suicide rate is higher now than it was in 1980.

That's just the way the math works.

-=Vel=-

[Unimatrix11]

Well, my brother's in the Army and he says there's widespread hatred for the new C-in-C among the troops, but then he's become a red-state troglodyte himself. As for causing suicides...if the CEO of the company you work for is a douche, do you kill yourself? No. If anything, you try to kill the CEO, and then only if you're seriously unhinged. Most people in that situation just shrug and thank their lucky stars that they don't have to work closely with the big boss.

Well, but if your CEO tells you, that your enterprise works to make the world a better place, and then you find out, after having contributed to it with things like murder, that it aint quite so... now that can throw into a depression. And if the drugs prescribed to fight that, can cause ´suicidal thoughts´ (now thats a great anti-depressivum, really ! - one has to ask once again: Stupidity or intention - for what better way to get rid of critical minds?), all things fall into place...

[Patroklos]

Are you of the opinion that the military is thrilled about Obama?

Disliking Obama /= Suicide.

Also, I find the irrelevant point that more people died of suicide than combat ops odious, that has more to do with a dramatic drop in combat deaths than a dramatic increase in suicides.

[DinoDoc]

Russia.

Well, he does have a point.

[Felch]

All that fuss is about 24 soldiers? Noth hundreds or thousands?

Seriously, dude. Thank you for the realistic perspective. 24 people killing themselves is not a catastrophe. It's unfortunate, but it sounds more like a statistical anomaly than a crisis.

If only 2 soldiers killed themselves next month, would that be cause for celebration?