Will there be an increase in suicides?

The global economic crisis is getting excerbated with every passing day. Until yesterday we were reading about how corporations are suffering huge losses. Now thanks to the bloodbath in the stock market individual investors are being forced to take huge losses. And what does it mean to the common man... life time savings going down the drain. And if it is retirement earnings of a senior citizen that is gone, it usually results in suicide.

I thought of posting this blog after reading two related but diversely different newsreports in Times of India. While one talked about a husband contemplating divorcing his wife because she lost 30 lakh on the stock market, another talks about the suicide of a retired teacher in UP. Both these individuals had invested heavily in the stock market and the global economic crisis have put them in deep trouble.

News about farmers suicides due to crop failures, rising debt etc have become so common in India that people have become insensitive about them. I wonder whether the next trend would be "Investors Suicides" due to tumbling stock market indices. Let us hope the crisis is solved now that an Indian is heading the recovery plan in the US, he will exercise some Hindu instincts and make the world an economically safer place to live in.

American Soldiers affected by post-combat depression

A few months ago I had blogged about how an increasing number of US soldiers are committing suicide due to post-combat stress and related depressions and also about the high price, the world in general and America in particular have to pay for the Iraq war.

On May 1, 2008 I read another article equally shocking in the Dallas Morning News. According to the article posted above, nearly 20 percent of the 1.6 million (320,000) soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from mental health problems. But alarmingly less than half of those affected are seeking help. Military personnell are hesitant to approach a mental health professional because they feel that it might harm their careers.

This is both very sad and dangerous. Sad because these innocent, patriotic and committed men and women are suffering silently. Dangerous because this mental illness will make them act differently and might cause problems to others around them. Guantanamo bay was one such example, killing civilians, torturing prisoners inhumanly and other sadistic behaviour could be a result. The articles states that thousands of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from war-related anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress.

Psychologists and mental health professionals recommend therapy and medication to these people, which is the need of the hour. But I would like to examine the reasons due to which these brave soldiers end up being emotional wrecks and psychological disasters in the face of adverse circumstances in Iraq and Afghanistan. Are they scared of danger? Do they miss family? Do they miss the comforts and prosperty which they take for granted at home?

I would like to draw a parallel to the Indian army, which has been fighting a proxy war with Pakistan since the past three decades (30 years). There have been cases of suicides, mental trauma but not at these astronomical numbers. Every soldier/ officer serving in the borders, fighting to be alive and keep the country's peace intact have tremendous family support. Which unfortunately is not so great in the US. I have written in my article on the Iraq War, about how many divorces have taken place due to long term deployment of forces in Iraq.

The societal structure in the US is very open and lays lot of emphasis on individuals rights and preferences. It doesn't lay a spiritual significance to relationships. While in India the culture and societal structure is strong and lays great emphasis on survival of families and intra-family bonding. Between cousins, siblings and even second and third cousins. I believe if there was adequate family support to these young and old soldiers who have been deployed at far flung locations they would not suffer so much trauma and mental stress.

US soldiers buckling under pressure?

Sometimes I read about suicides by Indian Army soldiers posted at the frontier divisions in Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, North East etc. Everytime it happens the media creates a big hue and cry about the lack of will, strength and rampant depression among the ranks of Indian Army. The media takes the role of a judge and implies that Indian army officers and soldiers buckle under pressure while serving at the border. But the reality is far from these demoralising news reports. In September 2007, The Tribune, newspaper based out of Chandigarh published an article with statistics proving that suicide rates among soldiers in India is lowest in the world. Quite expectedly this newsreport was completely ignored by the so-called national media who continued to bombard the people with demoralising reports. According to the Tribune article, 131 suicides were reported across the country in 2006, 77 in 2005, 100 in 2004 and 93 in 2003.

In comparison to armies of developed first world countries where soldiers serve under far more comfortable conditions the rate of suicides in Indian army (10 per million) is miniscule. Considering the fact that the operational stress in those countries is far too less than in India, where the army is always stressed out because of its involvement in one or other type of civil or border operation. According to official statistics US Army records a rate of 17 suicides per million, in France it is 19 per million and Britain it is 14 per million.

A recent newsreport published in the Washington Post reveals that 2007 was a year when suicide rates in the US army hit an all time 15 year high. Much of these suicides are attributed to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan which have placed severe stress on the US Army. Americans usually accustomed to the coforts of their country are seldom capable of working in hostile field conditions and when soldiers are deployed for long periods in such hostile conditions they just can't handle the pressure. Historically, suicide rates tend to decrease when soldiers are in conflicts overseas, but that trend has reversed in recent years. From a suicide rate of 9.8 per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2001 -- the lowest rate on record -- the Army reached an all-time high of 17.5 suicides per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2006. Compare this with 10 suicides per 1,000,000 in the Indian army, where soldiers serve under horrific conditions.

Our soldiers serve under hostile conditions. Consider this, in the Ladakh sector soldiers live in tin sheds with no heating, they curl up in sleeping bags when temperatures fall below -40 degrees. Soldiers carry heavy self loading rifles (SLR) and are attired in less than adequate warm clothing. Officers have the luxury of kerosene heaters in their rooms, but again these can't be kept burning all night or all day as they are extremely dangerous and polluting. The plight of drivers in the army is even worse. These hard working souls have to sleep in their vehicles and every 2-3 hours wake up to start the engine and run it for some time and then go back to sleep. Otherwise the diesel in the engine freezes up and the vehicle wont start the next day. But then with a smile on their faces and prayer in their hearts they continue to guard our mother land from enemies who are all round the country.

I firmly believe that suicides in general and among soldiers in particular should be prevented at all costs. Since this post is about soldiers suicides I would like to press for better service facilities for them. Better housing in the borders, better attire and most importantly better pay and lesser pressure at work. This will go a long way in improving soldiers morale and they will serve with much more enthusiasm and suicide rates will drop from the present 10 per million to 1 or even zero.



Jai Jawan! Hail the soldier who gives his today for our tomorrow!

Links for further reading
Drudge Retort
Washington Post
Reuters