Veterans Face a Suicide Epidemic
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spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 12, 2023 at 2:48 pmPraying for the men and women, who sacrificially served our country, brings a heart of thanksgiving, and gives glory to God. Every petition for the Veteran community is vitally important. God hears every plea on their behalf. Veterans have served our country, and we, in turn, have the privilege to support them with our prayers. 🙏🏻 Heavenly Father, we lift up every veteran to You. Protect them from the attacks of the Enemy, and bring them healing and peace. In the mighty name of Jesus! let it be so! 🙏🏻❤️🕊
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 12, 2023 at 3:13 pmThousands of veterans each year are taking their own lives. What can we do to address and solve this tragedy? The suicide rate among U.S. veterans may be much higher than estimated by state and national data, according to a study that sheds new light on what experts say is an urgent crisis.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 12, 2023 at 3:15 pmThe study, conducted by the national nonprofit America’s Warrior Partnership in cooperation with the Department of Defense and the University of Alabama, shows that states might be undercounting veterans’ deaths at an error rate of 25 percent. Fata from eight states which committed to share information on residents’ deaths. According to the research, in the states examined including Alabama, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, and Oregon the daily rate of suicide among former service members was 1.37 times greater than previously reported by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 12, 2023 at 3:16 pmIf the eight states collectively represented the national rate, the veteran suicide rate would be 2.4 times greater than previously reported by the VA, according to the study. That means that on average 44 former service members died by suicide every day between 2014 and 2018. M. David Rudd, a veteran and professor of psychology at the University of Memphis, told Newsweek that suicide “is the single most significant health concern among veterans today.”
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 12, 2023 at 3:17 pmAccording to official data, over 30,000 veterans have died by suicide between September 2001 and 2019 — four times more than the number of those who died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the 2022 VA report on veterans’ suicide rate in the U.S., in 2020, there were a total of 6,146 veteran suicides, for an average 16.8 per day. Despite the staggering number, there were 343 fewer veteran suicides than the previous year.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 12, 2023 at 3:19 pmMeasuring ‘Hopelessness’ As well as analyzing veterans’ cause of death and their health, AWP studied veterans’ history of involvement with law enforcement if any and financial information like their credit score, or whether they were refused a loan for a home. These factors, the organization said, were correlated to how “hopeful” veterans felt about their lives. Jim Lorraine, a veteran and president of America’s Warrior Partnership, told Newsweek that hopelessness correlated to a higher suicide rate “and we believe that financial instability is contributing holistically to a hopelessness among veterans — as well as American people.”
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 12, 2023 at 3:20 pmWhile veterans can have other problems from post-traumatic stress disorder to lingering injury improving their quality of life might reduce their likelihood of taking their own life. A Difficult Transition Rudd, who founded the Rudd Institute for Veteran/Military Suicide Prevention in Memphis, said that, though reasons are unique and different for each person, the transition from military to civilian life can be very challenging for some veterans.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 12, 2023 at 3:21 pm“It’s a unique transition, different from any other kind of transition in life,” he said. “Oftentimes when individuals leave that very structured system with a very clearly identified purpose and mission, they lose that sense of purpose and that support structure.”
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 12, 2023 at 3:23 pmIs Enough Support Available for Veterans? “I’d argue there’s not enough support or interventions that are effective,” Rudd said. “Part of the problem is that there are a number of interventions which are helpful for people, but not enough clinicians are doing those particularly in rural areas.” In these areas access to health care is not as immediate as it can be in highly populated urban areas. According to America’s Warrior Partnership, 40 percent of veterans live in rural areas. “I think support starts locally, and we can do a better job at improving these services,” Lorraine said. “There’s 17 and a half million veterans right now living in the U.S., and I don’t see a reason why they shouldn’t have access to services that help them improve their quality of life.”
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 12, 2023 at 3:24 pmI think part of the challenge is that very few people really understand what are the demands of serving in the military and then what are the stressors when you transition out of the military back into civilian life and that’s part of the problem,” Rudd said. “And then it’s compounded by stigma, which is a problem in the general U.S. population, with almost one half of all Americans thinking that seeking therapy is a sign of weakness. That number is almost two thirds in the general population.”
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 12, 2023 at 4:01 pmPlease keep these veteran’s in your heart and mind. Thank you for remembering them in prayer. God bless you!❤️🙏🏻
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 13, 2023 at 2:17 pmPraying diligently for VETERANS 🙏🏻❤️🕊
Humble PiPrayers: 1774Requests: 112
September 14, 2023 at 7:51 amThank you for your loyalty and kindness, SD1. It is much appreciated that you would remember our brothers and sisters who have served our country in this way. Our armed forces and those who have served are under assault. (Isaiah 3) The entropy of our nation continues… praying for revival to help us break out of the nosedive that we seem to be in as a country, that wholeness, unity, snd sanity would comeback to us as one nation under God. We are even lacking borders, now. The uncertainty on many levels is more thsn tangible. God have mercy on us all… may none get left behind. Thank You, King Jesus, for Your great love, that You shunned no one but loved and forgave instead of rendering judgement and death. All of us have sinned but You came on a rescue mission. Thank You. May are troops, vets and leaders sense their duty to defend us and our way of life was not something frivolous but something sacred and worthwhile. Let faith be in their hearts as their hope is ultimately to please and honor You and not people, who are fickle and will turn on them. Faith in You is a shield. Help us in praying and supporting our troops and vets. Let us preach Your gospel snd love our vets that their shields, our shields, may be raised. Let our military members find healing and solace from Your presence and word. Let us honor them for protecting us and defending the Constitution and the liberties that we should hold dear before they are taken away from us. Let gratitude, encouragement and healing abound. Love never fails and no one gets left behind. John 15:13 ESV “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Let’s remember Jesus’ words and actions. The cheese shouldn’t stand alone and be hung out to dry. Let’s not mock our service people but cherish, pray, love and support them as Jesus commands us to love one another and to love — even our enemies. Amen.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 41002Requests: 2424
September 14, 2023 at 8:01 amI thank you HumblePi for your compassionate prayers for Veterans. May you forever be bless. 🙏🏻❤️🕊
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