F Y I

[reeb]

Does anyone know the Name/Title of the theme song from MASH?

Well, just in case you dont and wondering ( i doubt ) , but here it is:

Suicide is painless is the name:

Through early morning fog I see
visions of the things to be
the pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see...

[chorus]:

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.

I try to find a way to make
all our little joys relate
without that ever-present hate
but now I know that it's too late, and...

[Chorus]

The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
so this is all I have to say.

[Chorus]

The only way to win is cheat
And lay it down before I'm beat
and to another give my seat
for that's the only painless feat.

[Chorus]

MASH
The sword of time will pierce our skins
It doesn't hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger...watch it grin, but...

[Chorus]

A brave man once requested me
to answer questions that are key
'is it to be or not to be'
and I replied 'oh why ask me?'

'Cause suicide is painless
it brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
...and you can do the same thing if you choose.


From MASH, during the Korea War.

................

[darrels joy]

Lies, damned lies, and GI suicides in Iraq
The "quality" US press has its favorite memes regarding Iraq. For the NY Times, one of these is the fate of those soldiers who suffered the loss of a limb in Iraq. (For example, see last Sunday's NY Times Magazine piece by Sara Corbett, "The Permanent Scars of Iraq", featuring a poignant cover photo of a returned veteran posing with what remains of his arm around the shoulders of his pretty wife. But there have been several NYT articles on this theme.) For the Washington Post, the story is the high rate of suicide among US troops in Iraq.

For example, Thursday's WaPo has a feature by Theola Labb? entitled "Suicides in Iraq, Questions at Home: Pentagon Tight-Lipped as Self-Inflicted Deaths Mount in Military". Its a tear-jerker, with an artful photo of a local GI's surviving family members staring off into the distance, holding a photo of the dead soldier taken in happier days. The only fly in the ointment is that the story is not true: there is no statistically significant elevated rate of suicide among US troops deployed to Iraq.

On the DoD's website, you can find data on the historical rate of "non-hostile" deaths among US soldiers going back to 1980. Suicide is the third highest cause of death, behind accidents (which accounted for more than 60% of non-hostile deathes over the last 20 years) and illness (19% of deaths). The suicide rate per 100,000 soldiers has ranged from a high of 15.9 in 1995 to a low of 8.8 in 1999, with an average of 12.2 over the period.

The WaPo's story references a briefing by William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, stating that suicides among Army forces in Iraq are occuring at "... a rate of more than 13.5 per 100,000 troops, about 20 percent higher than the recent Army average of 10.5 to 11." I was unable to find reference to this briefing on the Pentagon's web site (which is odd, since they usually post transcripts of all press briefings), but I was able to find a powerpoint presentation by an Army physician to a military healthcare conference this past January. This presentation (made by Col. Thomas Burke, MD) included the following data on US military suicides during "Operation Iraqi Freedom" or OIF during 2003:

Army
18 confirmed suicides
Suicide rate 13.5 per 100,000 soldiers
Marine Corps
2 confirmed suicides
Suicide rate 5.3 per 100,000 Marines
Navy
2 confirmed suicides in forces supporting OIF
Rate not available because of small onshore presence
Air Force
No suicides in forces supporting OIF
Burke's presentation also included more granular and up-to-date information on military suicide rates by branch of service from 1990 to 2003:


Looking at this data, and noting how the suicide rates vary significantly from year to year and from service to service, it is obvious that a suicide rate of 13.5 per 100,000 Army soldiers stationed in Iraq is statistically indistinguishable from the peacetime suicide rates among active duty military personnel. More specifically, the average suicide rate among Army soldiers over the last 14 years is 12.8 with a standard deviation 1.89. The 90% confidence interval for this sample is 0.90; meaning that for any given year there is a 90% probability that the Army suicide rate will be 12.8 ? 0.90, or between 13.7 and 11.9 per 100,000.

When you consider the stress and anxiety that serving in Iraq must produce, as well as the fact that soldiers have constant access to loaded weapons, it is perhaps surprising that the suicide rate is not higher among our troops. (But then again, that would not be a very interesting story.)

[darrels joy]

According to Andy Rooney's employer, CBS News, the suicide rate among American troops stationed in Iraq last year was 13.5 per 100,000, well above the 10.7 per 100,000 figure for all Americans, without regard to age or sex.

However, when the figure is narrowed to include only American males in the 15-to-24-year-old demographic (roughly the age of our young troops) service in Iraq suddenly looks like a good way to stop suicide.

For young males the number is 21.9 per 100,000, well above the 13.5 per 100,000 for troops serving in a theater of war.

[SparrowHawk62]

Given easy access to ways to kill one's self does make it a bit easier. Problem being there is not a whole lot of room for a second chance.

[SparrowHawk62]

I wrote this to someone who I thought was a friend, when I got in deep do do they left me to drown.

I understand life is complicated. I'm lost and confused with no light ahead to guide me. I'll stumble for a while, maybe I shall find the right path one day. It was great to have had you along side me on the path so far, now there is a fork in the path and I must travel my new path alone. No one's hand to hold, no words to soften the blows life has hit me with. I'm heading for a dark journey filled with uncertainly, along it's path I'll meet my monsters, ghosts and demons again. My sword dull from many a battle with them already, I will carry on. Weak from my beating, bleeding with the loss of every friend, weary from the journey, I will continue. Tarnished is the shield I call my name, no longer does it proudly shine, I will travel onward. Cold, worn, dishearten, blindly I shall grope along. Knees disjointed and suffering from the crawl, I will make my way.
At the end of the Journey, may my sharpened sword be blood stained from having put the monsters, demons and ghosts to rest. I want to stand proudly one more time with my eyes open. May my name glisten on the stone that bears it one warm spring day.