Soldier Suicides: Is it Really Combat Related? Part 3

In part two my final questions were what types, classes of people are being most effected by the combat experience to the point they are committing suicide. Although I hate to mention class in this day and age, the life experiences that children go through growing up in different levels of society impact a large part in how they will react to different conditions. Are inner city kids that grew up in areas with a large presence of gangs, or even gang members themselves, that for whatever reason joined the military going to respond to the violence of combat as the suburban kid that joined for the sake of school money? Is the country kid that grew up with a strong sense of family, and patriotism; That had a strong moral upbringing; That joined the military for some sense of wanting to help in the defense of his/her nation going to respond to the carnage of direct combat the same as the inner city kid described above?

Of all the news items describing another soldier suicide, the conclusion is always the same. “We don’t know what happened”, “He/She was a good kid that never showed any signs of distress”. But the story will always go to the combat that the soldier went through. How many, and how long were the deployments. Where and how they grew up is only briefly mentioned if at all. Stories I’ve read that speak of soldier suicides in general haven’t to my recollection answered any of the questions I’ve raised throughout. The issue they plainly leave out though is that all of our military is volunteers. Unlike I believe, every other military on the planet. Everyone that joins has their own reasons and motivations. But as I stated, they all have different backgrounds that will create a different perception of what is going on around them in combat.

The inner city kid that grew up with violence all around them throughout their lives will in my opinion be much better prepared to deal with the aftermath of their buddy turned into strawberry jam all over them. If anything it may strengthen their resolve to fight even harder to win. The country kid that grew up in a family that hunted, and was around guns their whole lives. That had a strong bond with their family and a certainty of right and wrong, will I think be better prepared for the violence and loss that occurs in combat because the group they are in has become part of their extended family, and be more able to share their loss with their group than to bottle it up.

Now I come to the group that was most influenced by the agenda I described in parts one and two. The suppression of competition, the subversion of right and wrong, and the blurring of moral standards. The middle class suburban kids that had the regimented youth. Everything they did had some planned underlying purpose. The “Play dates”, Tee ball, the trophy for showing up. How has any of this prepared them for what they will experience if they join the military? Why are they joining in the first place? I can’t question their motivations. Everyone has their own reasons, and not all of them are altruistic. I myself joined because I needed something steady. But I found a home in the Army that fit with my sense of purpose and fulfilled a desire to give back to the culture that gave me my freedoms.

Which of the groups I’ve described above are most at risk? I would think it’s the group with the least sense of standards of loyalty. The group with the least experience with the uncertainties of life. The group that has had the most important urges that all the species on the planet possess (competition and aggression), suppressed throughout their formative years. This group is the one that will have the most trouble processing what is happening around them in warfare. The chaos that is going on after all the control they’ve experienced will be impossible to reconcile with the reality they were taught existed. They have no basis to compare this new real world to the one they came from. If they have no anchor, some faith in what they are doing, they will be lost. They are the ones I believe are killing themselves. If I have my information correct, demographics for the military show a large proportion of middle class members.

Do I know that what I have talked about is true and valid? Of course not. I just wanted to put out another point of view that didn’t come from the left side of the political spectrum. I’ll leave it up to all of you that have read this to decide if I have valid points, or just don’t know what I’m talking about.