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An “FNE” Shafting

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An “FNE” Shafting
Dedicated to the spirit Jambalaya in the midst of our Culture of Death, with the prayer that STS9 will join hands in solidarity….
by Richard Martin Oxman

I talked to a vet today on the phone. He described himself as being where the buck stops. “Great,” I said, ’cause I wanted to talk to him about military suicides.

I had read that 6000 vets were slated to commit suicide in 2010. I shared that with him, but he quickly dismissed it as something blown out of proportion by the media. He flat out claimed that military suicides were on a par with the national average.

Then I hit him with THE FACT that a record number of 32 suicides were recorded for military personnel (including 27 active soldiers) for the month of June, 2010. He didn’t seem to have much to say about that. In fact, he said zip.

What’s zippin’ his lip? What’s this all about? When I called one vet outlet on the weekend, I was hit with a phone message which directed me to 911 (to be called if I had “an emergency”). [Pause.] This smells to High Heaven. Does this represent “the improvement” asserted in first link (interview) provided below? [The legless woman apologist (with a cushy position?) doesn't dismiss the 6000 figure as being equivalent to the national average, by the way, in case you miss that.]

As per http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2c662840-9b74-11df-8239-00144feab49a.html: “The report found that 160 active duty soldiers took their lives in the 2009 fiscal year, putting the army suicide rate at a record 20.2 per 100,000, exceeding the national average of 19.2 for the first time.” Now place the figures directly above next to that June record I just delineated for you. Seems to me that we’re talking about the “active military” rate being almost double the national average this year, if the pace set by June is any indication of what’s to follow.

This is serious shit. Whether or not you’re a vet. Whether or not you’re for or against our wars.

But no one I talk to is jumping out of their skin about the whole shebang. Everyone’s too busy to get down with talking about this horror, this canary in the mineshaft. This shafting of the citizenry.

You are definitely shafting yourself if you think you can ignore this historic phenomenon.

Our wars are scams, at least as serious as the shafts being sunk into waters for oil from the Gulf to Alaska and beyond. That’s my humble opinion (and Smedley’s). That said, even if you’re absolutely crazy nuts for waging war… you’re dropping the ball, honey nuts. For the crazed vets, that is.

Though… oh, I forgot. Too few people feel we’re shafting ourselves with that drilling insanity either.

[Long pause.]

I have only one question at this point: WHAT WILL GET YOU OFF OF YOUR ASS? WHAT WILL GET YOU TO TWEAK YOUR PRESENT SCHEDULE, PRIORITIES? [That's really one question.]
Contact me immediately at 831-688-8038 at any hour. Or email me at tosca.2010@yahoo.com. This all is a Fucking National Emergency (FNE), if there ever was one. And it should count for something that a veteran can be ignorantly trying to tweak my documentation… so as to be dismissive. [Pause.] You might be interested, btw, in knowing that a number of Vets groups haven’t even responded to my phone calls… without knowing exactly who the hell is trying to reach them. Fucking lucky that Mr. Plucky here isn’t thinking about killing himself. [I trust that I won't "lose you" with the curse words during these cursed times.]