by Lawrence Wilkerson
The suicide rate among veterans and, now, among active-duty GIs is at an historic high. The U.S. Marine Corps, for example, just turned in an all-time record in 2018 for attempted and successful suicides in a year (354 active and reserve). Marine Colonel Dom D. Ford, writing in the Marine Times, is grasping at straws to explain the rising rates, from claiming there is too little Christian religion in the ranks to the Marines not being willing to accept counsel and advice. As for the too little Christianity in the ranks, as an advisory board member of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, I know the opposite is true: there is too much Dominionist Christianity in the ranks. In fact, as soon as Colonel Ford made his comments, the phones at MRFF began ringing.
But might there be far greater reasons than these desperate efforts suggest behind such a deadly development?
I think so. But no one wants to confront them, certainly not the unimaginative, almost brain-dead generals and admirals now in charge of the U.S. military. These men, and increasingly women, flit from one conflict to another, one failed or mediocre project to another, gaining stars and acclaim all the way and doing absolutely nothing to justify either, even to the point of losing wars and getting promoted afterward. All one need do is look at a World War II photograph of General Dwight Eisenhower and see at most two or three ribbons on his tunic. Then look at a modern-day general. You’d think he or she would topple over from the weight of the “fruit salad” all over the front of their uniforms.
Let’s look at a few of the likely reasons for high GI suicide rates that such leaders are either too stupid to detect or too afraid to call out.
First, as the University of Minnesota’s Francis Shen and Cornell’s Douglas Kriner have pointed out in The Casualty Gap, the past 18 years of constant wars have been the most inequitable years in U.S. history. That is, the poor and the disadvantaged have done the bleeding and dying while the well-off have escaped scot-free. That reality alone must drive some GIs to despair.
Second, these GIs have killed or helped to kill more than 400,000 human beings in these wars. Killing at that level affects people. It particularly affects people when they are unable to explain the reason for the killing or, worse, when they know the reasons and don’t care for them.
The U.S. government has told these young men and women that they are killing these people for freedom’s sake, for democracy, for women’s rights, for justice, to protect Americans, and for all manner of reasons that these troops know are just so much hogwash.
Third, the United States—with many of these GIs as the executors—has committed war crimes from Bagram to Baghdad and from Guantanamo to Bangkok. The United States has broken treaties, defied the rule of law, and smashed international covenants at will. To top it off, today the U.S. president wants to pardon war criminals.
Fourth, the 99 percent of America with no skin in the game of war makes sure to say quite frequently “thank you for your service” to any of these GIs encountered at airports, in restaurants, on the street, or elsewhere. From my own experience talking with serving troops and veterans—including a triple-amputee at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center— nothing galls them more. They see the 99 percent assuaging their guilt with a few meaningless words that don’t do a thing to alleviate the GIs’ concerns. In fact, such triteness deepens those concerns.
Moreover, America currently has a president with bone spurs, had a vice president before him who had better things to do than go to war, and a president whose father got him into the Texas Air National Guard to fly a plane (a duty George W. Bush more often failed than succeeded in performing). Bill Clinton, meanwhile, allegedly cheated his way out of ROTC. This all in the last generation.
Generals and admirals lie almost as frequently as their commanders-in-chief. “Yes,” they report from Baghdad, “these Iraqi soldiers can defend their country.” Then the Islamic State proves otherwise. “Just give me more troops and I’ll win in Afghanistan.” Right. “The F-35 is an outstanding aircraft.” Then straight out of the door to work for Lockheed Martin for a seven-figure reward.
Cabinet officers, national security advisors, and presidents lie as well: “Iran is the greatest state sponsor of terrorism,” say Bolton, Pompeo, and Trump. Almost every GI knows that the greatest state sponsor of terrorism is a U.S. ally, Saudi Arabia. Whether the kingdom does it directly or through surrogates like Pakistan, every GI knows who finances and supports the biggest terrorist threats. Every GI knows that Sunnis make up more than 90% of the serious terrorists in the world today.
These GIs know that, on account of many of these lies, they are killing people, wounding people, destroying their homes, bombing their towns and villages, and generally wreaking havoc for “God and country.” They know this is a lie. But what are they to do about it?
Some of them kill themselves—in fact, an increasing number of them.
Lawrence Wilkerson served 31 years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a colonel. He is the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William & Mary.
For those suicides which could be attributed to guilt: the only sure control over guilt, which comes after committing evil, is the divine pledge which the God of the Bible has given us in that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to assume our guilt and to suffer its punishment. Hence we have been freed. Indeed, divine power will exude from this pledge with the intent to put our minds at peace over our past evil, for which we are sorry. In response, we should intend to right any past wrong, and to sin no more. A good example of this will be the following:
“A woman doctor, assigned to help wounded Red soldiers [during World War II], writes, ‘I had to hide my little Gospel in order that they would not take it away from me, for it was a sign of a counter-revolutionary to have a Gospel in the army’. Then she adds: ‘Especially during the nights when there were no attacks, I spoke to my wounded and sick of God, of their families, read them what I could of the Gospel. You cannot imagine what I felt when men, sometimes great sinners – murderers of women and men, even of children sometimes – confessed… to me, asking me to read to them about the robber on the cross and what God said to him. Not one Red soldier of mine died without confessing his sins. They all died Christians” (Walter A. Maier, “Go Quickly and Tell,” page 243).
These readers’ fascinating convictions are worth highlighting here:
Thomas Canavan:
“We kill the people trying to harm/kill our teammates, not for God OR Country. As such I’ve never had qualms as to having taken a life.”
Gene Urtel:
“Not one Red soldier of mine died without confessing his sins. They all died Christians”
Therefore, according to the above convictions, an American soldier, based on fabricated reports sent to unlawfully ‘invade’ Vietnam/Iraq and murder its innocent people should kill as many Vietnamese/Iraqis who cross his path without feeling guilty at all, just because the Vietnamese or Iraqis whose homes have been invaded by these American mercenaries try to defend their country and dignity.
And, as long as these soldiers/murderers confess their abominable crimes in Vietnam or elsewhere they will also die peacefully, as good Christians, because Jesus died for the sins of these mass murderers 2000 years ago.
What a lovely jungle the Western Imperialism and its Church have created in this world! And how skillfully they have turned men into remorseless killer robots. No wonder they call it the “free world”.And when they invade any Muslim country with 1000s of bombs and millions of tones of explosives to massacre women and children then they call themselves the “civilised world”.
Sorry but it seems the premise of the article is suspect. All time record of 354 suicides or attempted. 2.1million active duty and reserves. That’s .00016%! Statistically tiny. Sorry but numbers speak. Our military is quite capable. Not a group of crazy suicidal losers as the author and media would have you believe.
Stop beating this drum! It’s offensive to veterans.
The cause of suicide in the military is rather the same as for the rest of the USA – its the economy #1 followed by #2 the OPTEMPO for never-ending war. I am a retired military psychologist with 2 combat tours as a line officer. Here is my take.
#1 – ECONOMY: People join the military because it is a job with low entry qualifications and great benefits. They do not necessarily join because they a warrior material. That is an insight that may take several years to sink in. If in a combat theater, realizing you are in the wrong career can affect mental health. In addition, people join the reserves mostly for the extra income – it helped me get through grad school. If Reservists lose their civilian jobs and get depressed, they may react just like people with no military background.
#2 – OPTEMPO: Living and working in a combat zone creates 24/7 stress as you must stay alert every minute or risk injury or death. After 6 or more months, that stress takes a toll on your brain and body which manifests as PTS. Once stateside, after about 3 months, I noticed I and most my crew were back to normal. But too soon, today’s troops are back in combat again, and again. People who cannot find their inner warrior are susceptible to mental health issues (PTS-D) that can trigger suicidality. Thee “suck-it-up” culture imputed during basic and advanced training greatly reduced seeking help from a mental health professional – if one is even accessible.
I suspect that Jesus would be appalled at being blamed for military suicides by some general Christ’s characterization in the Bible is decidedly making peace; not war – and these are all wars the USA started.
A wonderfully biased screed that nonetheless makes some cogent points. But you fail to overlook two vital points (and you aren’t alone in this – so does every other commentator I have read):
– suicide and its prevention are FAR from a solved science. So I agree with you that going through a decade plus of wars has led to an increase in suicide, where aspects like moral injury are just now being understood. (The Vietnam generation felt this in spades. We just collectively spat on them and hid the suicides under convenient labels like “died by accidental gunshot while cleaning his weapon”.) But what to do about it? – the Generals/Admirals don’t know, but NEITHER DO the scientists. Millions on millions are being spent on the research
and programs, and they still cannot explain why the numbers are still up when today’s enlistment discharge is quite unlikely to have seen any combat. And yet, lots of people want to say that this is a failure of leadership, the Generals don’t care, are incompetent, yadee-yadah. Wrong. Which leads me to…
– suicide is going up across the nation – relentlessly. 9th leading cause of death. Our social scientists can’t tell us why on that one either, despite the progress in therapies and treatments and hotlines, etc. In dollar per death, its research is the least funded among the leading causes of death. But I do know that our military is a unique reflection of the US population. The long-term rise in suicide among the military, dating to 2005, is not purely explained by the rise in the civilian population rate given the uniqueness of the military experience – but neither can it be viewed in isolation.
Oh, on the poor and disadvantaged bearing the brunt more than ever of the bleeding and dying – do you know how hard it is to get into the military? Enlistees MUST have a HS diploma. The gentleman who served in Vietnam – his generation is far more indicative of that “truth” when the sons of privilege were far easier to escape what should have been a random selection. Today, the men and women who serve are proud and highly qualified volunteers. The data and demography on today’s enlistee cohort are easily accessible to those interested in reporting facts.
And whether you want to hear it not, I am thankful to you – and the millions of Americans who chose to serve – for your service.