Suicide is among issues that concern officials
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The director of the Missouri Veterans Commission Thursday echoed the concerns of officials in Washington who believe the war in the Middle East is taking an unacceptable emotional toll on people in uniform.
The Congress has been frustrated by a lack of hard data from the V.A. on the impact of the war on the mental health of the men and women who fight it.
Sen. Patty Murray, (D) Washington, said, "If you're looking at the overall number of veterans themselves who've committed suicide, we have not been able to get the numbers."
Neither could CBS News, so reporters undertook their own investigation, asking all 50 states for suicide data back to 1995. Forty-five states responded. In a single year, 2005, there were more than 6,200 suicides among war veterans more than 120 per week. Veterans under age 24 had the highest suicide rate, in some states, four times the civilian rate in the same age group.
Paul Sullivan, a former VA analyst, said, "Those numbers clearly show an epidemic of mental health problems."
Hal Dulle heads up the Missouri Veterans Commission. He says it's not the horrors of war that trigger suicide but the inability to re-adjust to life at home. He says the Army does a lot better job of preparing civilians for war than it does preparing warriors for civilian life.
Dulle said, "We feel this is the number-one priority in those coming back. We'll feel there is not enough being done."
Dulle conveyed that concern to members of a special interim house committee on veteran’s affairs. He says the Missouri Department of Mental Health is working to develop services for war veterans. And as to the suicide rates reported by CBS, when broken down for state populations, Missouri would average two or three veteran suicides a week. Dulle does not challenge that...
"Kermit, it's significant enough that we need to address it and find a response to it," said Dulle.
The Veterans Administration says a national evaluation of war-born mental health problems is on-going.
