44+ a day - Gross under reporting of veteran suicide

Here is the link to the article this post is based on: 44 A Day    A deep dive into the stats and facts that the VA puts out on just about all veteran issues, seems to show an eerie and horrifying pattern of under reporting, which no I am not surprised.  To make themselves look justified in "solving," "addressing," or "ending" a  problem...especially when they take X amount of money for addressing these issues, they have to make the frosting on the crap cake look elegant and palatable for We The People to want to swallow down.  Opposition to their findings, including their veteran homelessness stats, is simply deemed "conspiracies" put out by anti-American fire starters.  The truth, should the American people accept it, would force the VA to justify and account for every cent of every dollar they have taken over the years, and well that wouldn't be kosher or pretty.  Imagine that kind of accountability!

But lets not stray from the topic too far...Every single life lost in this country, including veteran lives, is a life of value.  Each of us was put on this earth for a purpose, and hundreds of thousands have given their lives defending and protecting those rights and freedoms.  Why are we so easily soothed by false facts, and watered down stats? Do they really think that We The People are genuinely that lazy and uncaring that we wont take a dive into the life trenches, or ask the tough questions? I have this new obsessions for auditors, who claim to want to be holding our government and its various branches, accountably..that transparency and public knowledge are vital....but I cannot tell you how many times i have sat through a youtubers live audit and asked myself, why arent we doing the same for our government officials? 

When its nearing term time expiration, and their positions are up for grabs, our government representatives put on their best faces and attire, and parade around preaching the hot issues that they know we care about and worry about...that they know will stir up the tensions and divisions..with little deep dive and public audit on how they have voted on these issues, or why they chose to sit that vote out.  SO if we circle back to veteran suicide, veteran mental health, and veteran value.....They know the numbers are high, they can hear We The People crying out that the system is killing them off, that inaction, ignorance and greed are the driving force behind the loss..and how preventable this number is.  Yet, they parrot the words the VA puts out, justifies their action or in this case, inaction, and simply carries on.  22 A Day sounds so much less horrifying that 44 A Day.  But lets keep it real, and speak the truth.  44+ Veterans, who took an oath to protect and defend this countries rights and freedoms, take their lives every damn day and none of us should be quiet or ok with that...period.

Here is part of the article that we all need to read:

"Officials from America’s Warrior Partnership, in a joint study with University of Alabama and Duke University, reviewed census death data from 2014 to 2018 for eight states and found thousands of cases of suspected or confirmed suicides not included in federal calculations."

    If those figures were to be repeated across the other states, it would push the veterans suicide rate from about 17 individuals a day (the official estimate released by the Department of Veterans Affairs last year)  to 44 veterans a day.

    "The largest category of overlooked deaths — about 60% of the uncounted cases, by the report’s estimate — concern drug overdoses. Lorraine said that in the states his researchers reviewed, many drug deaths were classified as accidents or unknown intent even though indications were that the fatalities should be grouped alongside suicides."  

“Whether it’s an accident or a suicide doesn’t really matter. The point is these are preventable,” he said. “So that means we can address them.”  Researchers also found numerous cases where deceased individuals’ military history was incorrectly reported, either by coroners or family members. More often, those mistakes lead to undercounting the number of veteran deaths.

When do We The People, start caring as much for our fellow americans, as we do our right to bear arms? 44 a day, is 44 too many, and being comfortable believing the VA spun stats, just isnt changing anything.  We await the great uprise, where the very people who preach pride and love for their country, stand up for every life, every veteran family who has lost a loved one to this stat, and get them some answers...some justice...some accountability..