This is Good News?

As reported in Government Executive, Congress is pretty angry with the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments over their "sending the wrong message" - a polite term for misleading it over the number of veterans attempting or successfully committing suicide. The VA claimed last year that only 790 veterans it saw in medical facilities attempted suicide, whereas the real number was over a 1,000 per month.

VA Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield, however, didn't think there was any attempt to mislead Congress.

In addition, Mansfield and Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David S. C. Chu also tried to place the best spin on the increasing number of suicide attempts. Mansfield said that young people between the ages of 15 and 24 try suicide more than others, and since Defense recruits in that age group, an increasing number of suicides should not be seen as an epidemic.

This is an interesting view given that it appears that veterans between 20 and 24 years old, and the ones most likely to have been in Iraq or Afghanistan, are committing suicide at twice to four times the rate of civilians of the same age.

Chu put an even more positive spin on the situation. “I think the good news is that on an age-adjusted basis, department suicide rates as a whole tend to be a bit below the national norm. And even with the Army’s increase it puts at approximately at the national level.”

So active duty suicide rates are increasing, especially in the Army, but when you average it out, it is about the same as the general population.

Nothing to worry about here, mate, just move along.

If this is what Defense and VA think is good news, I would hate to see what they think is bad news.