US military suicide rate hits one per day

[Lobotomy]

I know there are generally greater concerns than the status of military personnel, but this is just outrageous nonetheless.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18371377

[The Jay]

Though the military is the fist of the fist of the bourgeoisie it's a shame when they commit suicide. They're still people.

[Drosophila]

Though the military is the fist of the fist of the bourgeoisie it's a shame when they commit suicide. They're still people.

You have to keep in mind that many see no choice but to join the military, because they can't get into college, can't get a job, etc. otherwise. Though they're made to serve U.S. imperialism, they're not all imperialists themselves (and if they are, it's usually because of propaganda).

[The Jay]

I know that.

[Blanquist]

ok now tell me why?

[The Jay]

ok now tell me why?

I don't know what you mean.

[Blanquist]

I don't know what you mean.

why is the sucied rate at 1 per day?

[The Jay]

I think that it has more to do with coincidence that the number is what it is.

[Bronco]

Probably has something to do with them having to see and do fucked up shit and it being really hard to get the right support afterwards

[Robocommie]

War generally fucks people up. The suicide rate of soldiers in WWI was very high.

[Igor]

Army is a real fucking horrible institution.

[piet11111]

War generally fucks people up. The suicide rate of soldiers in WWI was very high.

WW1 is the shittiest war i can imagine especially because the only thing the officers could think of was to charge machineguns with more men then it can shoot down.
Along with constant shelling and sometimes poison gas and always being wet i can not think of a more miserable situation to be in.

[Robocommie]

WW1 is the shittiest war i can imagine especially because the only thing the officers could think of was to charge machineguns with more men then it can shoot down.
Along with constant shelling and sometimes poison gas and always being wet i can not think of a more miserable situation to be in.

Well, it wasn't so much that the officers couldn't think of anything better, it's just that the nature of trench warfare didn't leave many options. It's impossible to outflank a fortified position when all the flanks are also fortified. And actually, those frontal assaults over no man's land generally happened early in the war, and they were so unsuccessful that nobody kept pursuing it. Instead they started attacking at night, from positions well ahead of the main line. The Germans later innovated this further by developing infiltration tactics - the sturmtruppen.

Regardless, it WAS hellish.

[piet11111]

Well, it wasn't so much that the officers couldn't think of anything better, it's just that the nature of trench warfare didn't leave many options. It's impossible to outflank a fortified position when all the flanks are also fortified. And actually, those frontal assaults over no man's land generally happened early in the war, and they were so unsuccessful that nobody kept pursuing it. Instead they started attacking at night, from positions well ahead of the main line. The Germans later innovated this further by developing infiltration tactics - the sturmtruppen.

Regardless, it WAS hellish.

They should have learned this lesson from the siege of port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese war.
All major power had send observers during the conflict and should have anticipated the effects of the machinegun.

[MrCool]

Even as horrible war can be, it's part of human nature.
As long there has been men, there has been wars. As long there are men, there will be wars.
Heck, 25 years ago we were ready to blow up our planet.

We're just not smart enough to stop doing it.

[Igor]

Even as horrible war can be, it's part of human nature.
As long there has been men, there has been wars. As long there are men, there will be wars.
Heck, 25 years ago we were ready to blow up our planet.

We're just not smart enough to stop doing it.

You seldom hear the "human nature" argument outside OI but hey, here we go. We don't have to go that much back in history to reach a time where slavery and plagues were an inescapable part of human experience in the West, but look where we are now? Future is quite impossible to predict and as society changes, it might be quite drastic in a manner that few could have predicted it a century ago.

Of course, the idea that we'll one day reach communist happy place and people stop fighting each other is a naïve and stupid, but the idea that large scale wars as we know them today won't be a thing in the future. Getting rid of the class system and capitalism as we know it today would definitely remove most of the reasons war are being fought today. But yeah, I'm not a fucking prophet.

[Marx Communist]

This is a good thing.

[Sea]

This is a good thing.
No, no it isn't. That we have on our hands so many reactionaries who think joining the army is the right thing to do is bad enough, that they are now truly victims of their ideology in the most pressing sense is simply sad.

The only good thing I can see in this is that it shows there's a lot of discontent, in terms of potency as well as the number of people, with the US military from within its ranks -- Uncle Sam has gangrene on his trigger finger.

[citizen of industry]

Related thread here: http://www.revleft.com/vb/soldiers-workersi-t172852/index.html?t=172852

[Permanent Revolutionary]

This is a good thing.

Two words: Fuck you!

Soldiers are still workers, and a majority of US soldiers come from working class backgrounds, and can only see the Army as a choice, as it gives them a chance for a college education afterwards.

[Ostrinski]

Please do not feed the troll.