Annual Report - Vietnam Veterans Of America: Fill & Download for Free

** Vietnam Veterans of America's 'Recycling' Program, Debunked! **Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) reports reasonable overhead and program spending in its annual financial documents,but a closer analysis by CharityWatch reveals a different picture of how efficiently this charity operates.Vietnam Veterans of America reported spending 69% of its expenses on programs in fiscal 2017. (Dec 8, 2017)”“””,Charity Ratings | America's Most Independent, Assertive Charity Watchdog | CharityWatch › charity-donating-articles › viet...

Q. Did more Vietnam vets kill themselves after the war?A. The suicide rate among Vietnam veterans in the five years after they were discharged was 34.5 per 100,000. For ex-military personnel who served after that war ended, the equivalent number was just 20.1.Epidemiologists for the Department of Veterans Affairs looked at U.S. veterans who'd returned from Iraq or Afghanistan, and found that 21.9 per 100,000 veterans committed suicide—not much higher than the control group in the previous study.United States military veteran suicide - WikipediaOver 100,000 US Vietnam Vet Suicides To Date! (2007) BestThe Myth And Reality Of Vietnam Vet Suicides (1999)How Many Suicides by Vietnam Vets? (1991)Opinion | Why do so many veterans kill themselves? Here are four theories. (2018)Are more veterans killing themselves today than after Vietnam? (2011)Suicide Rate Spikes in Vietnam Vets Who Won't Seek Help (2012)New VA Study finds 20 veterans commit suicide each day (militarytimes.com) (2016)We Lose Too Many Vietnam Veterans to Suicide: Here’s How You Can Help (2017)29 of the Best Politically Incorrect Vietnam War Slang TermsOver 100,000 US Vietnam Vet Suicides To Date!TOTAL COST TO THE UNITED STATES:$925 BillionEdward Tick sources. United States: Disabled American Veterans; The New York Times; Hell, Healing and Resistance by Daniel Hallock; The Vietnam War: A History in Documents, by Young, Fitzgerald & Grunfel; Webster's New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War. Viet Nam: Army Museum, Ha Noi; Hong Ngoc (Rosy Jade) Humanity Center, Sao Do; Research Center for Gender, Family, and Environment in Development, Ha Noi; Women's Museum, Ha Noi; War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City.Five Great Books About the Vietnam War for Middle ReadersThe Myth And Reality Of Vietnam Vet Suicides (1999)September 12, 1999 |By Michael Kelley, Special to the Washington PostSince returning from the Vietnam War, 160,000 veterans have committed suicide. Or so reported one reputable veterans' publication.If true, that's nearly three times as many as died in the war itself.I called the editor and asked, “What was your source?''His reporter found a mention of 150,000 suicides in a 1990 book, he explained to me, “and then added 10,000 to reflect the probable increase between 1990 and 1995.''“Great science there,'' I said. “But what would you say if I told you there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support 150,000, or even as many as 20,000, suicides?''At the time, I thought he and other veterans would be overjoyed to learn that the suicide myth was untrue, and that they would share my relief at finding that we are not, after all, such a twisted, tormented and damaged group that 15 or so of us have taken our own lives every single day for the past 30 years. Since then, I have learned that a substantial number of veterans want to believe the myth. Some veterans and veterans organizations have simply enshrined it as fact, institutionalizing the Vietnam veteran as victim, promoting the idea that after losing 58,000 men in the war we had lost that many again - or two or three times that many - who fell into such desperation after coming home that they killed themselves.What became a protracted and stupefying journey into this fantasy world of wholesale veterans suicides began for me with the realization that what I was hearing and reading did not square with my experience.I thought about the infantry unit I served with for 11 months: Delta Company, 1st Battalion of the 502nd Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. About 45 men from that company were killed in action during its four and a half years in Vietnam. If as many vets killed themselves later as died during the war, then 45 of the company's approximately 800 veterans would have committed suicide - or 135, if suicides were three or more times the number of wartime deaths.But in fact, as far as the unit's association can determine, not a single one of those veterans have died by suicide. Struck by the huge discrepancy between the supposed suicide statistics and my knowledge of the veterans community, I went to a local library and spent a few hours thumbing through bibliographies related to veterans' mortality. What I found then and in subsequent research left me reeling.The first surprise was that there already existed a substantial body of scientific literature on the subject. The second surprise was that none of it remotely supported the numbers I saw being published as fact.What on earth brought this plague upon us?The assertion of 58,000 suicides appears to have drawn its first breath in a 1980 manual titled ``Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders of the Vietnam Veteran.'' Published by the Disabled American Veterans, the manual was used widely throughout the Veterans Administration. Its first edition (but none after) noted that ``more Vietnam combat veterans have died since the war by their own hands than were actually killed in the war. That statement was credited to an unpublished paper written in April 1979 by Tom Williams, who also was the editor of the manual. Curiously, his claim came a full eight years before the first comprehensive study of Vietnam veterans' mortality was published.Just where Williams divined his data remains a mystery. (I have made several attempts to find out, but he has never responded to my queries.)From there the suicide story, with numbers ranging up to 200,000, spread to news reports, books, television documentaries and news magazines, and the World Wide Web.Actual mortality studies tell a completely different story.No one knows precisely how many Vietnam veterans have committed suicide. Nor does anyone know how many have died from all causes. We do have information, though, that points to what is possible and what is not.Approximately 3.1 million Americans served in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. On average, suicides have accounted for just over 1.1 percent of all U.S. male deaths during the last half of this century. According to research done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the 1980s, suicides were somewhat more elevated for Vietnam veterans than for non-veterans in the same age group during the veterans' first five years after discharge. After five years, though, the differences disappeared.A projection based on the CDC findings shows suicides would represent a shade over 1.2 percent of veterans' deaths from 1967 to 1996. Veterans Administration data indicate that total postwar deaths among Vietnam vets had reached roughly 305,000 by January 1996, so if the percentage suggested by the CDC data is correct, the number of suicides during those 30 years would have been about 3,750.Vietnam War: A Tribute to Our VetsHow Many Suicides by Vietnam Vets? (1991)To the Editor:Although the case Tom Brokaw cites in "Michael Creamer, a Casualty of Two Wars" (Op-Ed, Feb. 18) is tragic, a study of suicides among Vietnam veterans would be in order."Postservice Mortality Among Vietnam Veterans," a Centers for Disease Control study (Journal of the American Medical Association, Feb. 13, 1987, pages 790-95), indicated 1.7 suicides among Vietnam veterans for every one suicide by non-Vietnam veterans for the first five years after discharge. Beyond five years, there were fewer suicides in the Vietnam veterans' group than in the non-Vietnam veterans' group."Proportionate Mortality Study of U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps Veterans of the Vietnam War" by Breslan, Kang, Lee and others (Journal of Occupational Medicine, May 1988, pages 412-19) found that suicides were not higher among Vietnam veterans compared with non-Vietnam veterans.Suicides among Vietnam veterans have been said to be 50,000 to 100,000. At any time during the Vietnam conflict, there were 37 million males aged 18 through 35. Of this group approximately 2.6 million served in Vietnam. Of the entire 37 million male population there have been approximately 152,000 suicides.If 50,000 to 100,000 Vietnam veterans committed suicide, that would mean that between one-third and two-thirds of all the suicides in the 37 million population came from the 2.6 million subgroup. There is no factual evidence to support this assertion.The best estimate of suicide among Vietnam veterans, from the Centers for Disease Control in 1988 Congressional testimony, is 9,000.As a Vietnam veteran who regularly visits veterans' hospitals, I fully understand how war wounds the mind as well as the body. However, the problem of veterans of all wars should be considered without sensationalism, and not to make political points. BERNARD A. HEENEY Bayonne, N.J., Feb. 20, 1991The Poetry of the Vietnam WarOpinion | Why do so many veterans kill themselves? Here are four theories.By Thomas E. Ricks April 4Thomas E. Ricks is the author of five books about the U.S. military. He writes “The Long March” column for Task & Purpose, a veteran-oriented website.Why do so many soldiers continue to take their own lives at a higher rate than their civilian counterparts, whether young or old? I’ve spent a lot of time stewing about this over the past few days.It began Monday morning, when I got a note from a vet in a very dark place and contemplating the act. He’d served in Vietnam. His risk of suicide is about 22 percent higher than that of his non-veteran peers, according to a report last year from the Department of Veterans Affairs.That afternoon, I learned that an Army captain who had been featured a while back in my old “Best Defense” column on the Foreign Policy website had gone out in the middle of the night and sat on railroad tracks near Fort Carson, Colo., and a train ran over him; police are investigating the death. He was still in the military but may have been thinking of leaving. People getting out are at the highest risk in the year after they leave — about 1½ to two times as likely to kill themselves as those still on active duty.A friend of his wrote to me, “He was always a high-performing and intelligent guy. He had deployed to Afghanistan with 10th Mountain, then to Kuwait with 4th ID prior to Atlantic Resolve where it looks like you met him. He was on deck to teach Military Science at West Point. He had a wife and daughter. Nothing about his death makes sense. The only indicator I had that he was unhappy was his deep frustrations with the conventional military, the high op tempo for support roles and exercises, and the impact on his family.”Last month, the commander of the Marine 4th Reconnaissance Battalion was found dead in his home. He also had deployed several times to Iraq and Afghanistan.Also recently, I read that a retired major who had served in military intelligence in Iraq had killed himself and his wife.The suicide rate for veterans has gone up 35 percent since 2001, in part because of increases in post-9/11 veterans killing themselves.I know what I am seeing around me is anecdotal. But it just doesn’t feel right to me. What is going on here?Here are four possibilities, specific to the conditions of our recent war:A lost war: My initial thought was that perhaps people are feeling empty and lost as the Middle Eastern war winds down and we don’t have a lot to show for it, besides Iran being more powerful than ever. But a friend who did several tours in Vietnam said he also knew that feeling but didn’t see any rash of suicides in the ’70s among his former comrades.Death by rotation: Another theory is that everyone is born with just so much to give and that repeated deployments drain that reserve, without replenishment. At some point, a person might just decide they can’t do this anymore, that this is too painful and look for the fastest exit.Brain injury: A third theory, related to the extensive use of roadside bombs in the Middle East, suggests that the human brain can, at best, withstand only one or two nearby explosions and cannot heal the deep damage inflicted by repeated blasts.More to come: Or is it that depressed vets are responding to the whiff of another possible war on the horizon, with North Korea?Whether it is one of these, or a combination, or something else, it worries me deeply.A Vietnam War Reading List, Brought to You by the War HallAre more veterans killing themselves today than after Vietnam? (2011)Have military suicides increased?Writing in Slate last week, economist Joseph E. Stiglitz named the rate of suicides among veterans of recent wars as a "social cost of 9/11." He cited stats from a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs study that looked at the years 2005-07 and found 18 suicides per day among American ex-servicemen. In light of these numbers, and in honor of National Suicide Prevention Week (which began Sunday), the V.A. has posted a toll-free crisis hotline and a link for online chats to its website. Is the suicide rate among veterans any higher now than it has been in the past?It's hard to say because there aren't many reliable data from before the 1960s. But what evidence we have suggests that those who were recently discharged from service in the Vietnam War were more likely to kill themselves than veterans of today's campaigns.A 2004 study by a team led by researchers from the National Center for Environmental Health looked at numbers going back to 1965, and found that the suicide rate among Vietnam veterans in the five years after they were discharged was 34.5 per 100,000. For ex-military personnel who served after that war ended, the equivalent number was just 20.1. A few years later, epidemiologists for the Department of Veterans Affairs looked at U.S. veterans who'd returned from Iraq or Afghanistan, and found that 21.9 per 100,000 veterans committed suicide—not much higher than the control group in the previous study. It's possible that rates will go up in years to come, as more soldiers are discharged after multiple deployments.No one tracked military suicide rates carefully prior to the Vietnam War. Post-traumatic stress disorder wasn't officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association until 1980, when the psychological fallout from an unpopular war was becoming more visible in the mental-health community.There's evidence that suicides are getting more common among soldiers who remain actively involved in the military. According to a recent study by the Rand Corporation, active-duty personnel killed themselves at a rate of 16.3 per 100,000 in 2008, up from 10.3 in 2001. Repeated exposure to combat zones may account for this increase. Some soldiers are sent back three or four times before they're off the hook.Maura Kelly is the author of Much Ado About Loving, about what classic novels can teach you about mating, relating, and Internet dating.What were major Battles of the Vietnam War? - The Vietnam WarSuicide Rate Spikes in Vietnam Vets Who Won't Seek Help (2012)Joe Amon/Denver Post/Getty ImagesVietnam Veteran Harold Evans stands with Martin Omafray at the Wall that Heals at Iron Horse Park at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs June 10, 2011.Every Christmas Rudi Gresham, a former combat soldier in Vietnam, gets a Christmas card from a fellow veteran who was nearly pushed to the brink of suicide because of despair."The guy was in his late 50s and his wife had left him and he came down with cancer from Agent Orange, he was broke and he had to move in with his mom and dad--he didn't know where to go from there," said Gresham, who was then serving as senior advisor to the Department of Veterans Affairs under the George W. Bush administration."Everything had gone to hell," said Gresham. "But I communicated with him."Now 68 and retired in South Carolina, Gresham was able to get the veteran the 10 years of back pay he deserved by authenticating his service with a commanding officer. Today, the man's cancer is under control and he has a new woman in his life.Gresham said getting that thank you card for saving the veteran's life was "the most gratifying moment" in his eight-year career with the VA. "I tell my kids, this is the reward for my work."But three other depressed friends were not so lucky and took their own lives, becoming statistics in a rising tide of suicides among baby boomers, many of them Vietnam War veterans.Just this week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its latest statistics on suicide rates among Americans, finding that the number of middle-aged Americans who took their own lives was up more than 28 percent.Annual suicide rates among U.S. adults aged 35 to 64 increased from 13.7 to 17.6 suicides per 100,000 people between 1999 and 2010.The greatest increases in suicide rates were among people aged 50 to 54 years (48 percent) and 55 to 59 years (49 percent).For the whole population, the national rate was 12.4 per 100,000 in that decade, according to the CDC. The most common mechanisms were suffocation or hanging, poisoning and firearms. Increases were seen among both men and women.The CDC cites the recent economic downturn, a "cohort effect" among baby boomers who had unusually high suicide rates during their adolescent years, and a rise in intentional overdoses because of increased availability of prescription opioids.But suicide rates among Vietnam veterans are the highest of any particular group, according to John Draper, project director of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.Eight million Americans report suicidal thoughts, and 1.1 million will attempt suicide. An estimated 38,000 will succeed in killing themselves, according to the CDC. Most are male, by a four to one margin, and are single and lack a college education.The suicide rate jumped higher for women (32 percent) than for men (27 percent)."Men tend to be more lonely and have a harder time maintaining and replacing relationships than women, especially when they get into middle age," said Draper. "Men are busy working or tie their relationships to work and when they lose their job, they lose their relationships."Those who are less stable in their personal lives are also less stable in the workforce, he said."I don't have all the answers," said Draper. "But we know about suicide prevention and people who are more socially connected and have a sense of belief and self-worth and are valued at work and in their relationships are way more protected and generally happier people."Post-traumatic stress disorder and associated mental health problems are to blame for many of the suicides among war veterans, according to Draper."The most important thing to remember is we can do something to stop this," said Draper, who, like Gresham, said that communication and support from others can help to prevent suicide.Since 2001, more than two million service members have been deployed to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The cost for treating veterans of all eras and conflicts is estimated at $48 billion, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.PTSD was not even recognized until after the Vietnam War, according to Gresham, who recognized at the onset of his government career in 2000 the importance of increasing the VA budget after predicting the staggering number of cases that were to follow. "I knew mental problems would exceed the physical," he said."I feel sorry for the younger soldiers," he said. "They are now married, got a wife and kids and suddenly come back and they can't find a job. These things all compound."As for the Vietnam veterans, they found less support in the 1960s and 1970s, when they returned from combat service. "The older veterans don't trust the government and they don't go for help," said Gresham.Unlike World War II soldiers who were hailed as heroes, these servicemen returned to "feel a bit outcast and rejected," according to Gresham, who sits on the Vietnam Veterans Foundation.Many of that generation refused to acknowledge they had PTSD and are suffering the consequences later in life. "Believe me, we have a real problem," he said."These guys were the first generation not to trust the guys in the white coats, and they didn't trust the government," said Gresham. "A lot of the Viet vets with PTSD held it in."They didn't want to let their family know their dark secret. They wanted to be in the workforce and be productive like the generation of World War II, but they were not respected by society."The VA in the 1970s was not responsive to the needs of these veterans, he said. "I've seen what has happened to a lot of these older vets."At a town meeting in Los Angeles several years ago, Gresham said he told a group of Vietnam vets. "You know Hollywood was correct when they did the movie the 'Fourth of July' with Tom Cruise. The VA did a lousy job of taking care of vets."But today, according to Gresham, "The VA has made "tremendous efforts to spend lots of money on [PTSD]," he said.In 2007, the VA partnered with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to create a dedicated line manned by veterans on the National Suicide Lifeline.The so-called Veterans Crisis Line has fielded more than 250,000 calls a year from veterans and active members of the military, according to Lifeline director Draper."It's a brilliant idea and it's saved taxpayers money and saved lives," he said.Draper said it is too early to see the impact of this collaboration but predicts that CDC suicide numbers will eventually drop, at least among veterans.Gresham, who was involved in the creation of the hotline, is also hopeful. "It's so much better for veterans to get help from other veterans," he said. "There is a strong bond.""If you have suicide thoughts and there's another veteran on the line, you trust your brother, whether it's a man or a woman," he said. "If they have been in combat, there is someone who understands you.""They didn't trust the VA for a long time and now the VA has its arms open," said Gresham. "They do very good work now. They understand the problem."In 1971 speech, John Kerry spoke of the monster created by the Vietnam WarNew VA Study finds 20 veterans commit suicide each day (militarytimes.com) (2016)Pedestrians walk in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington, Friday, June 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)Roughly 20 veterans a day commit suicide nationwide, according to new data from the Department of Veterans Affairs — a figure that dispels the often quoted, but problematic, "22 a day" estimate yet solidifies the disturbing mental health crisis the number implied.In 2014, the latest year available, more than 7,400 veterans took their own lives, accounting for 18 percent of all suicides in America. Veterans make up less than 9 percent of the U.S. population.About 70 percent of veterans who took their own lives were not regular users of VA services.The new data, being released publicly today, is the most comprehensive suicide study ever conducted by the department.For years, the department has estimated the veterans suicide toll nationwide at around 22 individuals a day, but veterans groups noted numerous gaps in how that estimate was constructed. Most notably, the numbers were based on information from only about 20 states and did not contain full military records from the Defense Department.The new study includes more than 50 million veterans’ records from 1979 to 2014, including every state. The data, compiled over the last four years, also comes from the Centers for Disease Control.VA officials said in a statement that the information will allow them to "inform our suicide prevention programs and policies, especially for groups at elevated risk for suicide, including older and female veterans."Together, the numbers point to a significant mental health risk for individuals who served in the military, though the specific reasons remain unclear.Researchers found that the risk of suicide for veterans is 21 percent higher when compared to civilian adults. From 2001 to 2014, as the civilian suicide rate rose about 23.3 percent, the rate of suicide among veterans jumped more than 32 percent.The problem is particularly worrisome among female veterans, who saw their suicide rates rise more than 85 percent over that time, compared to about 40 percent for civilian women.And roughly 65 percent of all veteran suicides in 2014 were for individuals 50 years or older, many of whom spent little or no time-fighting in the most recent wars.Providing support and assistance to suicidal veterans has proven difficult, in part because of the lack of data on the scope of the problem.In recent years, VA has hired 5,300 mental health providers and support personnel and upgraded its Veterans Crisis Line in response to the problem. It has also elevated the profile of its suicide prevention office within the department and launched new partnerships with community health providers to offer counseling to veterans.Officials hope to use the data to further expand those offerings, targeting specific regions and populations within the veterans community to more effectively deliver care.Veterans groups hailed the new research as a critical step ahead in addressing the problem."Of course, this is still 20 [deaths] too many," said Joe Chenelly, executive director at AMVETS. "But we are grateful for the deeper, more accurate data analysis. Much still needs to be done, and this gives us a better idea where to focus."Full year-by-year and demographic breakdowns of the data are expected to be released by the department by the end of July.Leo Shane III covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He can be reached at [email protected] Kime covers military and veterans health care and medicine for Military Times. She can be reached at [email protected] the Vietnam War, 42 Years After US Troops WithdrewPSYCHOLOGY BENEFITS SOCIETYWe Lose Too Many Vietnam Veterans to Suicide: Here’s How You Can Help (2017)By Meg Lacy (Doctoral Student, Palo Alto University)As our Vietnam veteran population ages, many may become increasingly vulnerable for death by suicide. Despite the fact that the Vietnam war occurred approximately 40 years ago, the moral injuries sustained are still felt by many who served our country. It is not unusual for Vietnam Veterans to have coped with difficult times by staying busy at home or at work. As retirement looms, it is not unusual for Vietnam era veterans to experience additional age-related risks such as social isolation, a feeling of burdensomeness, and changes in health status.These changes can coalesce to hamper coping strategies that previously worked to manage mental distress, such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Alcohol and substance use increases the risk of suicide as the abuse of substances, particularly alcohol, is strongly associated with both suicide attempts and deaths. So what should friends and family watch out for and what could be done in response to warning signs?Warning signs:In general, individuals most at risk of suicide are white older adult males who have health issues. As risk factors associated with veteran status converge on risk factors associated with later life, there are a few specific things friends and family should be aware of.What’s going on in their life?A major change in routine including retirement or loss of a jobThe death of a spouseA new medical diagnosisA break-up, separation or divorceNot having a stable place to liveInadequate family incomeHow are they behaving?Increase in drinking or drug useSleeping considerably more or lessA loss of interest in things they typically enjoySocial withdrawalImpulsivity – engaging in risky behavior (running red lights, driving recklessly, looking like they have a “death wish”)Becoming aggressive- examples of this are punching holes in walls, seeking revenge, getting into fightsAnxiety- worrying excessively about things they cannot controlAgitation and mood swingsPutting affairs in order such as giving away prized possessions or making out a willSeeking out firearms access to pillsNeglecting personal welfare including deteriorating physical appearance or hygieneWhat are they saying?A sense of hopelessness: “I have no purpose”, “I have no value”, “Nothing is ever going to get better”Rage or anger: expressed toward people or thingsExpressed feelings of excessive guilt, shame or failure: “My family would be better off without me”Feelings of desperation: “There is no solution”, “I just feel trapped”What do they have access to?Familiarity and access to a firearm make suicide by firearm more likely. Any means by which a suicide can be attempted, including pills, is something that should be asked about. Veterans are more likely to own a gun and are comfortable using one making death by firearm a common means of suicide among this population.How can you help?Social support is one of the most effective protective factors against suicide (Cummings et al., 2015). However, many veterans have isolated themselves and their friends and family struggle to talk to them. Inviting them to an event, writing them a letter or participating in a shared activity (building something, fishing, walking, etc.) are great ways to get things started.Talk about it. Suicide is an uncomfortable topic but its best to be direct. Ask overtly if they are planning on killing themselves or have had thoughts about killing themselves. Just because they say no doesn’t mean that they don’t still have suicidal intentions so be sure to have additional information to provide such as a suicide hotline number for veterans, apps they could utilize (PTSD Coach), or a therapist’s contact information.If your loved one has a plan or tells you they are going to kill themselves, call 911. It's better to put their safety first. Demonstrating your support by seeking additional help is always best. If you can, include them in the process of seeking immediate help. Calling 911 or visiting the ER does not have to be a one-sided decision.These by no means are the only risk factors, signs or solutions for suicidality. However, engagement with friends and family has shown to be extremely effective against suicide. Demonstrating your support with regular calls or visits is an important step toward safety for many veterans.Related Resources:Veterans Crisis LineAPA Psychology Topic: SuicideResources for Caregivers of Service Members and VeteransWhen Will We Face the Facts about Suicide in Older Men?References:Chronic PTSD in Vietnam combat veterans: Course of illness and substance abuse (1996). American Journal of Psychiatry, 153(3), 369–375. doi:10.1176/ajp.153.3.369Conner, K. R., Britton, P. C., Sworts, L. M., & Joiner, T. E. (2007). Suicide attempts among individuals with opiate dependence: The critical role of belonging. Addictive Behaviors, 32(7), 1395–1404. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.09.012Conwell, Y., Van Orden, K., & Caine, E. D. (2011). Suicide in older adults. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 34(2),. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3107573/Cummins, N., Scherer, S., Krajewski, J., Schnieder, S., Epps, J., & Quatieri, T. F. (2015). A review of depression and suicide risk assessment using speech analysis. Speech Communication, 71, 10–49. doi:10.1016/j.specom.2015.03.004Identifying signs of crisis. Retrieved February 26, 2017, from https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/SignsOfCrisis/Identifying.aspxLambert, M. T., & Fowler, R. D. (1997). Suicide risk factors among veterans: Risk management in the changing culture of the department of veterans affairs. The Journal of Mental Health Administration, 24(3), 350–358. doi:10.1007/bf02832668Lester, D. (2003). Unemployment and suicidal behaviour. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 57(8), 558–559. doi:10.1136/jech.57.8.558Military Suicide Research Consortium (MSRC) Newsroom. (2017, January 28). Retrieved February 26, 2017, from https://msrc.fsu.edu/news/study-reveals-top-reason-behind-soldiers-suicidesNademin, E., Jobes, D. A., Pflanz, S. E., Jacoby, A. M., Ghahramanlou-Holloway, M., Campise, R., Johnson, L. (2008). An investigation of interpersonal-psychological variables in air force suicides: A controlled comparison study. Archives of Suicide Research, 12(4), 309–326. doi:10.1080/13811110802324847Price, J. L. (2016, February 23). Findings from the national Vietnam veterans’ readjustment study. Retrieved February 26, 2017, from http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/research-bio/research/vietnam-vets-study.aspUnited States Department of Veterans Affairs. (July 2016) VA Suicide Prevention Program: Facts about Veteran Suicide. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/Suicide_Prevention_FactSheet_New_VA_Stats_070616_1400.pdfVan Orden, K. A., Witte, T. K., Gordon, K. H., Bender, T. W., & Joiner, T. E. (2008). Suicidal desire and the capability for suicide: Tests of the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior among adults. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76(1), 72–83. doi:10.1037/0022-006x.76.1.72Van Orden, K. A., Witte, T. K., Cukrowicz, K. C., Braithwaite, S. R., Selby, E. A., & Joiner Jr, E. (2010). The interpersonal theory of suicide. Psychological Review, 117(2), 575.Warning signs of crisis. Retrieved February 26, 2017, from https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/SignsOfCrisis/Biography:Meg Lacy is a first-year doctoral student at Palo Alto University. She is interested in researching early intervention to trauma in combat soldiers and amongst first responders. Additionally, she is interested in the veteran population and suicide prevention.Image source: Flickr user Elvert Barnes via Creative CommonsStoned in Combat: Weed Smokers in the Vietnam War

The answer is Yes.It is very easy to get into the weeds, when trying to discuss this matter.Like Global warming, there exist two camps:it is a conspiracy theory, using fake data, and since it is a “non-argument”, there is no need to give it any credence (Putin would say, “Move along now, there is nothing to see here”).the POWs / MIAs really did disappear, and there is lots of evidence in the public domain, if you choose to look.(I dealt with this POW/MIA topic elsewhere, but focusing on WWII, here: Why did the USSR refuse to repatriate some Allied POW's that they liberated, during WWII?)I was an adherent of Camp #1 until the early 1990’s. But while performing some in-depth literature research on another subject, on a whim (I had just learned library computer searching - Wow !), I started searching for anything to prove I was correct - that the POW story was pure BS. To my surprise, I found that there existed lots of documentary evidence, in plain site, more or less. With that, I joined Camp #2. Then, I found that another fellow, a US Army Vietnam War vet (a former LLRP, actually - See: Long-range reconnaissance patrol), named John Brown, had started a few years earlier than I, had found nearly everything which I had also found, and much, much more - one treasure trove was the contents of the nearly impenetrable, seeming endless US Congressional Hearings over more than 2 decades, studying the American POW / MIA issue - into some of which Hearings, even John personally testified (these Congressional records may today exist in searchable, digital format).My conversion resulted from my uncovering documentation regarding US Korean War MIAs/POWs, a subset of missing US POWs which perhaps has been more carefully evaluated and published, than WWII or VietNam - but illustrates the background and the basics for Soviets secretly retaining US POWs from any of these wars.For example, See:CHICOMS Finally Confess about Korean War POW/MIAS http://www.henrymarkholzer.com/c...The Transfer of U.S. Korean War POWs to the Soviet Union, Joint Commission Support Branch, Research and Analysis Divison, Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO), 26 August 1993 (full report) http://prisoner-of-war.com/The%2...2001 Annual Report - Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, Pentagon, Washington DC http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/full...Beyond The Call: The True Story of One World War II Pilot's Covert Mission to Rescue POWs on the Eastern Front: Lee Trimble).Prequel JULY 4, 1991: Washington Post, (See:) A 70-YEAR-OLD HOSTAGE CRISISSome text from the above article:”In 1945, declassified records of the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces, indicate, the Red Army overran an estimated 1.5 million Allied POWs and displaced persons held by the Germans. Contrary to the Yalta Agreements, American officers were refused access to nearly all Soviet-controlled POW camps in Europe. According to recently declassified U.S. documents, approximately 500,000 of these prisoners subsequently disappeared. The documents indicate that about 20,000 U.S. POWs and MIAs were held as "hostages" after VE Day by Stalin to ensure Allied repatriation of millions of Soviet citizens and to obtain U.S. and Allied aid and diplomatic recognition of Soviet puppet regimes in East Europe. Declassified U.S documents reveal that in March and April 1945, the Roosevelt and Truman administrations decided against the use of force to recover American POWs in order to ensure Soviet participation in the Japanese war and the postwar United Nations.Still-living U.S. ex-POWs such as Martin Siegel, who escaped from Soviet-controled Stalag IV-B Muhlberg and reported many Americans left behind, were instructed to remain silent and told the matter was being "investigated." Of 90,000 U.S. POWs officially reported returned in Europe by June 1945, 25,000 had been MIAs not known to be prisoners. Documents reveal that administrative "presumptive findings of death" reduced the official number of "currently held" known U.S. POWs from 12,500 or more in June 1945 to 5,414 by the following January. Tens of thousands more U.S. MIAs were also presumed dead.Some American POWs were reported in declassified live sightings as alive in forced-labor camps and "unregistered lagers." Soviet citizenship and Russian names were reportedly assigned to American, British and French survivors in secret Soviet camps. Some 78,000 Americans remain missing from World War II. Additional U.S. prisoners captured during Cold War intelligence missions or kidnapped in Europe were also retained and reported alive in gulag camps. Information on several of these cases was specifically sought in the U.S. diplomatic note of last April.”Follow-up note: Apparently John seriously irritated some dangerous people. He told me that, during his research and public disclosures, someone had followed his wife, driving with his children, and deliberately forced her car off the road at speed down a steep embankment. They survived, but with injuries. John told me it was no accident. He was still living there, last time we spoke.For anyone who wants to learn the full story, including who did what to whom, when and why - your best initial resource is to read John’s Opus Magnus (see below). This is the archival work, and your true objective should be to let the author guide you to, and into, the contents of his massive bibliography, to inform you of the extremely convoluted details. Even Cornell University (?) has a reference copy, to my utter astonishment (See: Moscow Bound | Cornell University Library Catalog.If you ever decide to make your own search / research, one huge resources is World Cat: The World's Largest Library Catalog; i.e., Moscow Bound, John Brown'. Or better yet, visit a nearby, but major services, library, and visit the staff who perform deep literature services. Most major cities, or colleges / universities, have this stuff:Ask Them.Here is the book (you can get a copy through ILL - See: Interlibrary loan) :Moscow Bound: Policy, Politics and the POW/MIA Dilemma : an archival, literary and human source investigation into the fate of American prisoners of war held by Soviet Russia and other communist nations, from 1918-1993. / by John M.G. Brown ; with research assistance of Thomas V. Ashworth, Eureka, Calif., Veteran Press, 1993, 1055 pps.Note: Includes bibliographical referencesSubjects:Prisoners of war — United StatesPrisoners of war -- Soviet UnionWorld War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, SovietWorld War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, RussianKorean War, 1950-1953 -- Prisoners and prisons, SovietVietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Prisoners and prisons, SovietUnited States -- Foreign relations -- Soviet UnionSoviet Union -- Foreign relations -- United StatesLC NO E183.8.S65 B745 1993xOCLC # 30837526