Fast Tube by Casper

A friend and client, the President of the National Bible Association,  is working with the Pentagon to find ways to reduce the suicide rate among returning soldiers. The numbers are staggering. The military’s suicide rate has never been higher, and Admiral Mullens, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently acknowledged that with more soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, suicides among military veterans are expected to grow worse.  To give you an idea of how serious the problem is, consider this: More Vietnam veterans have now died from suicide than died in the war.  The suicide rate among those returning from Afghanistan may exceed that.

No one seems to know why some soldiers assimilate back into civilian life relatively easily, while others have real problems.  But the statistics clearly show that the crisis is real.

If you have a spare eight minutes and 45 seconds, I very much recommend watching the NPR video clip above.  It gives us a glimpse of the dramatic decline of one soldier suffering from post traumatic stress. The police officer featured demonstrates the best of America.