At some point, some people can be convinced that war is a good idea: High number of digger suicides under scrutiny.
THE Federal Government has promised a major inquiry into suicides among Defence Force veterans, including those who served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Timor.
There were 31 known suicides among returned service personnel between 2001 and 2006.
The Government admits the figure is probably much higher.
[...] The announcement comes after the release last week of a report into the 2006 suicide of former special forces soldier, Signaller Geff Gregg, 25.
He was discharged on health grounds in 2004 after he was traumatised over his part in a 2002 firefight in which Afghan civilians were killed.
Killing anyone is a breach of the most fundamental taboo, it is encoded in our DNA folks. Killing the innocent raises the stakes on that by several orders of magnitude. A vanishingly small number of soldiers start out as baby killers, but once the shooting starts, every one of them ends up killing babies and this is where it leads.
And this is how we help them through that.
While the report did not find his death was the fault of any official, it said red tape meant mentally scarred veterans faced an "almost impenetrable" maze to get help from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
It said the handling of his case was "exceedingly impersonal" and bureaucrats did only the minimum required and adopted a "hands off" approach.
Investigator Ron McLeod said Mr Gregg suffered "considerable distress" when forced to repeatedly describe his experiences to medical professionals.
His father, Phil Gregg, hoped the inquiry would improve conditions for troubled ex-servicemen.
Sorry mate, but that might lead to us collectively paying the real cost of war and that would entail raising taxes and cutting back on the ministerial Mercedes, NOT going to happen.
The veterans' suicide inquiry is separate from a review of mental health support for serving members of the military.
It was prompted by estimates that 10 per cent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans would suffer psychological trauma caused by war.
Pangloss still alive and well among the bureaucrats. More cost avoidance tactics.
Between 2001 and 2006 there were 48 suspected military suicides by men and women.
President of the Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Association, John "Blue" Ryan, who had pressed for the inquiry for years, said red tape had driven veterans to extremes.
The very few people who ever spat at a returning Vietnam vet were at least honest in their disrespect of those willing to put their lives on the line for their country. But it is the hypocrits and profiteers who promote wars and who then underfund the services the returning soldiers need to survive after what they have seen and done who should be spat on.
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