Sunday, February 3, 2008

ALS & Military, Job-Related Difficulty?


This morning I read in several newspapers about the horrible increasing suicide rate among our military.
From the AP story --


"We have been perturbed by the rise despite all of our efforts," said Col.Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general. ... Ritchiesaid Thursday, as she did last year, that officials are finding that failedpersonal relationships are the main motive for the suicides, followed by legaland financial problems as well as job-related difficulties."I also have a daily Google news search for the word amyotrophic. Google usually finds a couple of fundraisers, a little research news, and a lot of obituaries. Today it found, of all things, a Pravda story on the rise in U.S. military suicides.

From Pravda-English ;


"Most likely, soldiers commit suicide over their inability to cope with symptomsof the so-called Gulf War Syndrome. ... Brain cancer deaths, amyotrophic lateralsclerosis (commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease) and fibromyalgia are nowrecognized by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments as potentiallyconnected to service during the Gulf War."



I'm not about to rely on Pravda as my most trusted news source, but it sure makes one wonder why the ALS connection to Gulf War service isn't mentioned in the American story. Perhaps it's just assumed to be included under "job-related difficulties."

1 comment:

Best Military stories said...

This blog have been helped me to realize the difficulties facing by the military people and their love towards the country.