"There have been at least 500 veteran suicides in Australia since the start of the Afghanistan war — a number that dwarfs the number of lives lost on the battlefield, at 41."
This is a problem in Australia and I suspect in most countries that have active service personnel. I believe a major factor is returned soldiers/ sailors are not properly debriefed. Months are spent at basic and Corp training; turning civilians into soldiers. The same amount of time/ energy should be spent on debriefing; turning soldiers back into functional civilians.
We keep trailing behind America like a lap dog into one disastrous unnecessary war after another, but in the end it's the military people and innocents who pay the price. When Vietnam veterans came back with high psychological problems, they tried to blame it in part on anti Vietnam war people because the veterans, they said, didn't feel their sacrifice was appreciated. Of course, it was our fault, not brain dead America and our ass kissing politicians pursuing a false fabricated war. Well, with this unnecessary Yankee war folly in Afghanistan no one these days dare criticise the military heroes, else all political parties and Murdoch's media will pounce with venom. Yet, the same issues with returning military personnel arise. Whip them up with patriotism and send them off, and bring them back broken and damaged -- the usual contempt of wealth and power for the pawns they throw into their imperialist wars to justify military extravagance and their political agenda.
Mental health care needs to be an important part of medicine, not a sideline or a health insurance add-on benefit.
Totally agree. It was rough going back to civilization after 8 years in...