The Department of Defense has give Florida State University a 17 million dollar grant to attempt to
find out why more Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are committing suicide than those who fought
in previous US wars.
More than 1,100 veterans have died at their own hand between 2005 and 2009. This pushes the veteran
suicide rate higher than the general population, while in the past the rate has been lower than the general population.
The three year long grant and research will try to find the cause and attempt to develop a treatment.
So not only are veterans becoming homeless at a rate greater than normal, but also they are turning to
drugs, alcohol and other methods to ease their pain and suffering. When those attempts fail, and the
veteran does not get help, they fall back on the only thing that will stop the anguish; they take their
own lives.
Something must be done, and done quickly to stop this horrific and needless torture our veterans face
every day.
It is time for our country to step up and accept the fact that veterans are being ignored, misdiagnosed, and mistreated. We owe it to every man and women who ever wore a military uniform, and served our country; now we must serve them.
Jerald Terwilliger
National Chairman
American Cold War Veterans
"We Remember"
---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996
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