With insufficient attention and systems in place, it may be that we’re losing the battle against military suicide, a new study suggests.

Military suicides have increased since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a Center for a New American Security Suicide report. In the fiscal year 2009 alone, 1,868 veterans of these wars have made suicide attempts, according to armytimes.com.

A veteran commits suicide every 80 minutes, a fact the study attributes to the VA.

These staggering figures underscore the need for the VA to develop more mental-health programs and an accurate system for recording the number of veterans and service members who take their lives.

“America is losing its battle against suicide by veterans and service members,” authors Dr. Margaret C. Harrell and Nancy Berglass concluded. “And as more troops return from deployment, the risk will only grow.”

Faced with the stigma of post-traumatic stress disorder, unemployment rates tipping 12 percent and a loss of the military camaraderie, many veterans report feeling purposeless upon returning home.

Marine Corps veteran Jason Christiansen, 35, of St. Paul, Minn. is one such veteran that nearly killed himself after watching his life unravel upon completing his service. He lost his job as an auto dealer in 2008, avoided debt collectors and fell into a serious depression, Minnesota.publicradio.org reports.

“At one point, I was sitting there with a gun in my mouth,” Christiansen told the news outlet.

A friend pushed Christiansen to seek help at a VA program, a key player in the rescuing of veterans in despair.

The Veterans Crisis Line, launched in 2007, has fielded more than 400,000 calls and has saved more than 14,000 lives, according to the Veterans Affairs mental health website.

The epidemic is raging among those who are currently serving too. From 2005 to 2010, approximately one service member committed suicide every 36 hours, the CNAS study revealed.

While the VA mental-health programs have proven to be effective, the authors of the report offered concrete suggestions on how to prevent even more military members and veterans from taking their lives.

Establishing an Army unit cohesion period
When soldiers are deployed to a new mission, the unit quickly disbands, leaving service members reeling from the loss of the leaders and the service members that they had learned to trust and rely on. “This lack of unit stability following a deployment has unfortunate implications for individuals struggling with reintegration,” Harrell and Berglass noted. The authors suggested that the Army follow the Marines protocol of keeping a unit together for 90 days following deployment.

Discussing personally-owned weapons with service members
Though 48 percent of military suicides in 2010 occurred at the hands of privately-owned weapons, the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act bars military leaders from broaching the topic with military members, even if they appear to be severely depressed. The authors want Congress to rescind the act, so that military leaders can, at the very least, suggest that service members purchase gunlocks or store their weapons outside of the home if they suspect that they may be at risk for committing suicide.

Improving the analysis of veteran suicide data
The VA estimates that about 18 veterans commit suicide every day, but this statistic is based on limited data. Only 16 states submit the cause of death among veterans and the VA relies on 3-year-old data for its reports. Improved information collection could help determine if veterans are committing suicide soon after leaving the military and if there’s a higher risk among post-9/11 veterans compared with earlier generations, the study noted.

“The DOD does not currently take sufficient responsibility for veteran suicide,” the authors said. “Given the potential implications of veteran suicide for the all volunteer force, the DOD should seek to understand which veterans, and how many veterans, are dying by suicide.”

Occupy Oakland: Iraq war veteran Kayvan Sabehgi beaten by police

The telephones in seattlepi.com‘s newsroom are ringing like crazy today. That’s not uncommon in a newsroom, but there’s something different about today’s calls. More often than not, you’ll pick up the phone and hear something like this: “I wanted to ask about the pepper-spray picture.”

Here’s the photograph they’re asking about.

The photo was taken Tuesday evening by seattlepi.com photographer Joshua Trujillo at an Occupy Seattle protest at Westlake Park. The elderly woman featured in the photo was pepper sprayed by police just moments before.

Her name is Dorli Rainey, and she’s 84 years old.

Rainey was participating in a march that spilled out into the downtown streets Tuesday. When police showed up to control the crowd, she was on the front lines.

The picture, showing Rainey’s face streaked with pepper spray, tears and a milky solution used to combat the spray, has connected with readers and bloggers across the country.

The Atlantic Wire called it a “defining image.” The Washington Post likened it to John Filo’s Pulitzer-winning picture of the 1970 massacre at Kent State, saying “Although there have been many striking images of violence and peace in Occupy encampments, and many faces of the movement, none may be as immediately striking as this image of Dorli Rainey, taken by Joshua Trujillo.”

“Rainey’s direct gaze at the camera as her face drips with pepper spray is a haunting, cinematic image of brutality,” writes the Post’s Maura Judkis.

So, how did the photo happened? I talked with Trujillo about capturing the iconic image, and he said it all started when he saw something unusual happening out of the corner of his eye.

“I walked up right when the spraying starting, and probably within, I’d say, five or 10 minutes of my arriving was when I saw her being rushed away,” Trujillo said. “I did not see her get the spray, I did not see the officer spraying her. But I saw the immediate aftermath within a second or two of it happening.”

He started taking pictures, thinking it was unusual to see a woman her age at a protest.

“She had her head down, and I could see the spray all over her face,” he said. “Then she lifted her head up and someone splashed another white liquid in her face, forcing her eyes open.”

That’s when Trujillo and Rainey made eye contact through his camera — and when the photo happened.

“I recognized the moment as being something unique,” Trujillo said. “Photojournalists by nature go after the things that are unique, odd or extreme. Those are the things that affect people.”

He added: “In all my years in this profession, I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Later, he saw Rainey smiling and thought she appeared to be recovering. Trujillo also came in contact with pepper spray while covering the protest — it’s the second time time in a month he’s been exposed to the substance at Occupy Seattle protests.

“It’s painful, but it washes out,” he said.

Rainey told the The Associated Press she’s “pretty tough” for an 84-year-old woman.

“It’s a gruesome picture, I’m really not that bad looking,” Rainey told the AP.

A former schoolteacher, Rainey is known around town as an activist and one-time mayoral candidate. She blogs at oldladyincombatboots.com.

Here’s where you can see more of Trujillo’s photos from Tuesday’s protest.

Visit seattlepi.com’s home page for more Seattle news. Contact Amy Rolph at amyrolph@seattlepi.com or on Twitter as @amyrolph and @bigblog.

Jackie Evancho, Ambassador for Animals

Since last year, Jackie Evancho has worked with The Humane Society of the United States to raise awareness about the need to protect baby seals from cruel hunters through the Humane Society of the United States’ Protect Seals campaign.

Because of her commitment to help not only seals but all animals, the Humane Society of the United States named Jackie an Ambassador for Animals. In her role, she shares information about important animal issues with her fans and the public in addition to encouraging kids to get involved, too.

Mission: Humane

As an Ambassador for Animals, Jackie will also be the spokesperson for Mission: Humane, a Humane Society of the United States program that guides children in helping animals. Mission: Humane provides information on animal issues and encourages kids to get involved like Jackie.

Mission: Humane focuses on specific issues and campaigns to protect animals while also providing information on everything from how to start a club at school to actions anyone can take to make a difference. Current campaigns include stopping puppy mills, preventing animal cruelty, and promoting wildlife appreciation, and plans to extend the Protect Seals campaign into Mission: Humane are in development.

For more information on Mission: Humane, visit humanesociety.org.
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The McGlynn: WOW!!!!

For more of Jackie Evancho & Other Interesting and Gifted Little People see:

The Little People, By, For & Of