Army veteran here and I'll tell you why it's so high.

1. They rode is like full blown slaves. One time I trained for 5 days straight without sleep. Boot camp was brutal hell on earth. They rode us without mercy. It's the dirtiest training you can imagine. Blood, sweat and tears beyond imagination. People screaming for Jesus to get them through. One guy shot himself to avoid a real nasty training session.

2. They treat us like diseases dogs. Mental abuse was real high. Lots of abusive sergeants and they scream all day long.

3. God forbid if you make a mistake. They will make you want to kill yourself with guilt and punishments. The tiniest error and your fucked.

It feels like a fun experience at first, but soon enough the sergeants start looking like gods or overlords. You have to feel it to know what I mean. It's spooky.

It's a hardcore life. It's not human at all. The stuff they expect you to do is batman shit. It's totally brutal and dangerous plus the conditions are horrible (freezing weather, taking shits outdoors, no shower for weeks, an hour of sleep per night for 3 weeks, ect..)

My wisdom teeth grew out and I never removed them. I had to chew through my own gums which was a bitch! Ahhhhh so painful and nonstop headaches.

Jesus that sounds like hell.

This sounds much like the explanation my father gave to me. This was the conversation that put an end to a LONG line of military veterans in my family.

I have close family and friends who would try hard to convince me that it was necessary and even virtuous for you to have endured such treatment. I'm familiar with the arguments, but I'm not convinced. I wish that you hadn't experienced this part of humanity. I'm thankful that you did and I'm thankful that you discuss it.

Umm dude Basic Training isn't even hard I've been in for many years and you just sound like a pussy

I agree. Shit was a cake walk. I was in over 10 years ago. Had a 2 day break between ait and Iraq.... Basic was fun as shit.

It depends on the job. I had no ait so I was in boot camp for 4.5 months as a fucking tanker.

Well, A) you picked tanker, B) Training like that is just longer basic, but either way, at the end of 9 weeks you move to MOS training.

I never had AIT at all. We barely even trained on the tanks. Mostly what we did was physical training and studying everything from weapons to navigation.

PS - I was under the impression that tanking was like driving a vehicle for the most part. I asked my recruiter if this was the case and he said yes of course. Turns out, tanking is one of the toughest jobs. (Grunt work for 3 years)

Maybe he's in special forces of some kind, or maybe he accidentally signed up for the shadow military of the Illuminati...you know cobra

What your mos?

12b

Agreed. 11B here. Basic was easy as shit. The army is not for everyone. Weak people have a rough time in it.

When did you serve?

90s. Under Bill.

Damn. I went through marine corps boot camp in 99 and it wasn't nearly as tough as your experience. Glad you made it through regardless.

This right here is a lot of it. Well honestly, the parts about the training ymmv. I served in the 90s-2013. When i came in it was very brutal, now i hear not so much. People going through basic and AIT (advanced individual training) are even allowed to keep their cellphones throughout training. Quite a difference from when i went through and we literally got our asses beat if we were out of line.

But i digress. Other reasons that significantly affect service members or vets are some of the extreme dark glimpses we get into the human condition and the way the world works. Ive seen and done things that are personally going to probably haunt me till the day I die. Again, ymmv due to your job and/or number of deployments.

When I first joined suicide and mental hygiene was very taboo. You "suck it up and drive on". Now not so much. They are pushing full bore for mental health, but sadly many people especially in combat jobs don't use it. Or folks like me who have been in during "old school" who simply just default to "suck it up and drive on" till that almost kills you. Personally I've almost suck started a shotgun a few times.

Then there is the life and routine thats familiar and suddenly having to leave that due to any number of reasons. Such as myself who was retired after 19 years due to an injury downrange. Military was all i knew and honestly after that time you can never truly go home. Its all you know, all you can do skill set wise and being suddenly ripped from you, pulled out of that life is an enormous trama.

Most vets also have lost all confidence in our government, especially after being in some amount of time. Honestly if it was easy to pack it all up and move back to Europe I'd do it in a heartbeat. We also all assume that we are on some watchlist or another. We have no illusions about that.

So as you can see there are many factors and nuances to the suicide epidemic of vets and service members. No one weighs more heavily imho. Everyone just has their own breaking point.

Yeh 90s here also.

Getting enlisted means giving up all your rights and entering into a separate society. It's a dehumanizing experience and a lot of people have no idea what they've getting themselves into.

You can't just quit either. So people get in because they're hoping for some stability, benefits etc. It turns out to be worse than they ever expected and they can't quit.

Probably 999 out of a thousand ride it out until they can get discharged. Some even manage to adapt and become part of the system. But there's always going to be a few who just can't take it for whatever reasons.

edit: Now I'm curious about something. Maybe there's a difference between Air Force, Navy, USMC and Army? Something tells me USAF (and maybe Navy) recruits might be a bit better off?

The Air Force is very difficult to actually join. I'm sure they're treated better than an average soldier in the army.

Former Airman here, we were definitely treated the best out of the four branches.

The millitary outright murders (poisons) them.

I've wondered this same thing. Especially considering that many of the suicides have never even been deployed. Maybe it's some type of mind control experiment.

It's easier to get secret warrants against those with a military background. A lot of them have secret clearances, which means they can be investigated with total freedom. Once they get put on one of the watch lists it's all over. They never stood a chance.

Especially since they're generally very young, and statistically low in intelligence. They will find America's Stasi irresistible, and unsurvivable. Yes, the DHS/FBI/Infragard is killing our veterans, if that's what you're asking. The question is how. Some of us know. Fortunately I'm not "read on" and have ascertained it all by myself, and am one of the very few who can speak out.

One of the few others who can explain it is here: fightgangstalking.com

Everyone knows the Powerade tastes funny while you're in the Reception DFAC

sadly i think a lot of them are when they finally wake up and realize the US gov tricked them into signing up to protect our "great country" on the basis of complete lies and bullshit, and the realization that the sacrifices they made, and brothers and sisters who died were for absolutely fucking nothing other than the US gov and world banks pushing their global power agenda.

You mean, are some "suicides" really disguised murders perpetrated by the military? I don't think such hypotheses are necessary; the brainwashing soldiers have always been subjected to, the horrors they experience, and the contrasting humanistic ethos of society at large when they get out are sufficient explanations. Plus, we have much better records of veteran suicides than we ever had before, so it seems like a new phenomenon.

Brutalization. Stress. Lies. The senseless murdering of innocents on behalf of the corrupt and cowardly establishment. These kids grew up dreamed being the Rebels, too late did they realize that they were in fact the Storm Troopers.

I served Jan04-2010 and most of the suicides I encountered where people who just didn't fit in with anyone.

I mean, people who just are outright weirdos.

Met one dude who dressed as a gothic cowboy in his civilian cloths. Dude never washed his cloths and would flip his shirt inside out to make it look clean.

One dude never washed himself or his clothes and because of him one of my guys caught a flesh eating bacteria disease from this dude. In fact we had to get security on the dude to give him a health and comfort because he refused to shower and wash his own clothes.

Met one guy who used to stay up all night watching cartoons and then I would catch him sleeping on the job. He also would talk in cartoon voices to himself.

Another dude who at a bonfire was in love with this girl seen here makingout with another guy; goes and gets bareass naked, heats up his knife from the fire, and proceeds to cut his hand open, fling his blood into the fire and howl up at the moon.

Knew another dude who was convinced he was abducted by aliens and would go around telling his alien abduction stories to random people.

Then you have the pure lazy guys who never get their quals done, who complain about everything... Had one dude who used to go from shop to shop and pretend he was waiting to talk to a supervisor and he would sleep for an hour or two and move to the next shop. Same guy gives me a hardtime because I ask him to take out the garbage on his way home.

"DC2 why do I gotta take out the garbage? Why can't someone else..."

Because you did nothing all day but sleep in my shop and the dumpsters are on your way out anyways...

These are typically the kind of cats that go off killing themselves.

People who don't fit in.

I remember in the ship yards some E6 was on the flight deck talking to his wife and hung up the phone and jumped right off the deck onto the concrete. Dudes that was with him said he was arguing with his wife, told here to fuck off and fuck everything, hung up the phone and just jumped off killing himself.

Ran a couple of shops in the DC world on the GW and Chucky V.

Soldiers are forced to do things no normal, decent human being would ever want to do. It takes its toll on them, and some can't live with it.

Depression. For lots of reasons. What they did, as mercenaries for a corrupt fascist corporate system, was a war crime, so that's not going to cheer them up. And then the media and the American public are complicit and don't want to hear the truth, so that's not too cheerful. Of course there are the matters of jobs, relationships, readjustment, not easy. Finally, they have been whacked out on anti depressants, which are addictive, fucked up, and lead to personality changes and suicide. Finally, they also self medicate in many cases, with all of the wonderful street shit and alcohol that is so helpful. So, what's not to like? Oh, yeah, one more thing, as a vet, try getting help. That's just another rip off, literally. https://www.google.com/search?q=veterans+charity+investigation&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 and https://www.google.com/search?q=veterans+charity+investigation&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=veterans+administration+scandal

Vietnamvet's and edgewoodvolunteer's daughter checking in.

The marketing Dept of 'murika inc. Is the only working segment of the government. Everything else is a fraud except the fear. The fear of our government is by design. I have watched to many vets just give up. My dad just passed away and even though there are currently suits going on he still wouldn't speak his truth. The targeting of former service members and family members is very real. Unfortunately this kind of tying s being perpetrated in large part byformer service members that have no scruples left. Or conscience. No more fucks left to give. When you support a fraud that stops supporting you your options definitely shrink. Hat tip to all that served. I apologize for not stepping up my mkultra game thirty years ago. Maybe more flyers at my local VA would have helped? Maybe more time driving vets to and from appts? I am sure the specials ops guys, rangers, airborne any body with specialized training and that has done dirty will not live out their normal life span. Whether a new disease, 2yr waits for the VA, or just not knowing how to pay the mortgage. Very fucking dismal. What we need is vets standing outside recruitment offices.

Some get a clue. And/or get addicted to painkillers, which they find out they are fighting to protect

Because in spite of being told they are fighting for our freedom, our country, our safety, the simple fact is none of these things are true. Think of all the wars the US has fought over the past 120 years. How many were fought for our freedom or for the benefit of out fellow Americans? None of them.

Eventually veterans figure this out. They realize their patriotism and sense of duty were exploited and that they were suckers. For the more sensitive, conscientious, and thoughtful types of people, this burdens their conscience.