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| Posted: November 20, 2008 |
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The Army says that suicides among its active duty personnel have doubled in recent years, and multiple deployments may be contributing to the increase. A veterans' advocate, an Army psychiatrist and the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs took your questions. |
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Retired Lt. Gen. James B. Peake is the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. A Vietnam veteran and medical doctor, Peake served as the U.S. Army Surgeon General from 2000 to 2004. He now heads the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides health care, including mental health care, to the nation's 25 million veterans. Col. Elspeth Ritchie is the Army's top psychiatrist in the U.S. Army Surgeon General's office. She's also an associate professor of psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. She holds a medical degree and a master's degree in public health, and published a book last year called "Interventions Following Mass Violence and Disasters: Strategies for Mental Health Practice." Her assignments have taken her to Iraq, Israel, Korea, Somalia and Vietnam. Paul Sullivan is the Executive Director of Veterans for Common Sense, a non-profit veterans' advocacy organization in Washington, DC. Sullivan served in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq as a Cavalry Scout with the Army's 1st Armored Division during the 1991 Gulf War. From 2000 to 2006, he was a project manager at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he produced reports related to the Gulf War, Iraq War, Afghanistan War and PTSD. |
 Transcript: Military, VA Confront Rising Suicide Rates Among Troops
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