Veteran Suicides At Record High On College Campuses
Posted by Youth Radio Editor on October 2, 2009 at 09:21am
 

Tom Risen at Scoop 44 takes a good look at the pattern behind Iraq and Afghanistan war vet suicides on college campuses

 

“The same amount of suicides happening among active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan are happening among veterans on college campuses,” said Hawthorne, co-founder of the veterans group at George Washington University. “That’s one reason we founded a chapter of Student Veterans of America here, so we can have a place for veterans to come where they can understand each other. There are people on campus who see a guy with the thousand yard stare and the short haircut and they’re like ‘I think I’ll stay away from that guy.”

With the military spread across two wars, nearly 40 percent of the 1.9 million troops who have served in the War on Terror since 2001 have served more than one tour, according to Army statistics. Along with the memory and strain of service, student veterans who are still in their eight-year contract live with the fear of being activated and sent on another tour.

In addition to covering the suicide phenomenon, Risen's piece delves into the reasons behind why some vets find it hard to acclimate into college, and the effect underfunding is having on mental health care for veterans.

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