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“the Rise in Depression & Suicide in Veterans of the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars”

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Submitted By yvonnagu
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Yvonne Aguirre
Essay Two - PPCC
English 122

“The Rise in Depression & Suicide in Veterans of the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars” In Jared Diamond’s essay “Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions?” Diamond talks about four main points of why he believes societies make bad decisions. Diamond four main points on his reasons are as follows: “First of all, a group may fail to anticipate a problem before the problem actually arrives. Second, when the problem does arrive, the group may fail to perceive it. Then, after they perceive it, they may fail even to try to solve it. Finally, they may try to solve it but may not succeed.” Diamond has different viewpoints as to why each particular point might have happened. Our young men and women in the Armed Forces are experiencing some very hard and traumatic experiences in our current war. It seems that the very military that is supposed to help them overcome what they have helped to create is the same military that is hurting them by not providing adequate long term medical and mental treatment. Did we not learn anything from the Gulf War and the Gulf War Syndrome? These men and women are truly hurting and it seems that the military has turned a blind eye to how serious this problem is becoming. Men and women are returning from war and are acting unlike themselves before they went over there. They are committing more crimes, from simple robbery to murder and the depression and PTSD rates have steadily gone up for that group. If this rise in depression and PTSD is not addressed soon, the medical care for these veterans will become a huge burden on our current health system in the future. Could it be that the military has failed to anticipate this coming on and even though the problem is growing there seems to be and inadequate attempt to try and resolve this issue. Fred Balzac wrote an article in

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