How many times does one talk about it before one does something to help. Hell they know the answers already.
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Panel to probe suicides among veterans
Two special panels are forming to make recommendations to VA on how it can improve programs in suicide prevention, research and education.
The first panel, the "Blue Ribbon Work Group on Suicide Prevention in the Veterans Population," will include government experts in various suicide prevention and education programs. Those experts come from agencies that include the Department of Defense, the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The five-member work group is set to meet June 11-13, and will submit recommendations within two weeks to VA Secretary James Peake.

The second group has nine national experts in public health suicide programs, suicide research and clinical treatment programs. They will offer advice, information and data to the work group. This panel will also advise the work group on how to improve VA's programs.

Members of the "Blue Ribbon Work Group on Suicide Prevention in the Veterans Population" include:


Cmdr. Alex E. Crosby, M.D., medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
Col. Charles W. Hoge, M.D., director, division of psychiatry and behavior services, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research;
Col. Robert Roy Ireland, M.D., program director for mental health policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs;
Richard McKeon, Ph.D., special advisor for suicide prevention with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; and
Jane Pearson, Ph.D., associate director for preventive interventions, National Institutes of Mental Health.
Appointees to the expert panel include:
Dr. Dan Blazer II, professor of psychology at Catholic University of America;
Greg Brown, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania;
Martha Livingston Bruce, Ph.D., professor in clinical epidemiology and health services research at Weill Medical College of Cornell University;
Dr. Eric D. Caine, chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of Rochester;
Dr. Jan Fawcett, professor of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine;
Robert D. Gibbons, director of the Center for Health Statistics, University of Illinois at Chicago;
David Alan Jobes, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Catholic University of America;
Mark S. Kaplan, Ph.D., from Portland State University and a member of the Suicide Prevention Action Network-USA National Scientific Advisory Council; and
Thomas R. Ten Have, director of the Biostatistics Analysis Center at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

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Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

Here come da probe! (sound of latex glove snapping on).

Is it just me or does that list of names above look excessive. Then they meet, get paid, have discussions, get paid, make recommendations, get pad, then opinionate about the recommendations, get paid, then opinionate about opinionating about the recommendations, and get paid some more, etc...

Vet suicides are high percentage linked to PTSD. In fact, it is a major driving force behind vets losing jobs, losing marriages, going homeless, substance abuse, etc... So you have an outstanding NEED for treatment. On the other hand, you have long waiting lists to simply make a claim for treatment and get evaluated. In some urban areas, the wait time can be as much as a half to a full year. That means it is likely people have committed suicide while on a long list and waiting to get evaluated for treatment for being a suicide risk.

So why not take 100 percent of the money devoted to the blue ribbon study group (sounds like the turkey contest at the state fair) and SHORTEN THE WAIT TIME!!!

The question isn't coming up with state of the art treatment, its any treatment ASAP.

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