Matthew Hoh & RootsAction Education Fund – 2018-04-18 20:47:27
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Former Marine Corps Captain Matthew Hoh:
Veterans’ Suicides Are Caused by Guilt, Not by PTSD
Matthew Hoh & RootsAction Education Fund
In the following video clip from a recent RootsAction Education Fund event, US veteran and whistleblower Matthew Hoh shatters the popular myth that post-traumatic stress disorder is behind the high suicide rates for US veterans. He notes that PTSD has the lowest connection to suicide of any mental health problem, according to the US Veterans Administration (VA).
Well, then what’s causing so many people so frequently thanked for their “service” to kill themselves? The answer turns out not to be a secret, but something that most people and most organizations would rather not mention.
Since 1990, Hoh tells us, the VA has known that guilt over participation in killing human beings is the best predictor of suicide. Veterans are killing themselves because they feel guilty for what they’ve done.
Ssshhh! You shouldn’t say that! It’s anti-veterans!
Really? Does it help current veterans or impede the production of more veterans to hush up the problems they face? Haven’t we learned that the first step in addressing a problem is identifying it?
Hoh is himself a veteran who has struggled with a wide array of issues, including guilt, PTSD, brain injury, and substance abuse. He has been certified by North Carolina as a Peer Support Specialist for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder. He knows of what he speaks. His interest is in helping other veterans. In the video he cites the studies that back up his statements.
Matthew Hoh had nearly 12 years of experience with America’s wars overseas with the United States Marine Corps, Department of Defense and State Department. In 2009, Hoh resigned in protest from his post in Afghanistan with the State Department over the American escalation of the war and, in 2010, he was named the Ridenhour Prize Recipient for Truth Telling.
Hoh has been a Senior Fellow with the Center for International Policy since 2010. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Public Accuracy, an Advisory Board Member for ExposeFacts, North Carolina Committee to Investigate Torture, Veterans For Peace, and World BEYOND War, and he is an Associate Member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
The event from which this video is taken marked 15 years since the March 2, 2003, story provided by whistleblower Katharine Gun revealed that the United States and Great Britain were working together to spy on other nations’ delegations to the United Nations as part of an effort to coerce them into voting for a war on Iraq.
Matthew Hoh had nearly 12 years of experience with America’s wars overseas with the United States Marine Corps, Department of Defense and State Department.
In 2009, Hoh resigned in protest from his post in Afghanistan with the State Department over the American escalation of the war and, in 2010, he was named the Ridenhour Prize Recipient for Truth Telling. He has been a Senior Fellow with the Center for International Policy since 2010.
Hoh is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Public Accuracy, an Advisory Board Member for ExposeFacts, North Carolina Committee to Investigate Torture, Veterans For Peace, and World Beyond War, and he is an Associate Member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
He has been certified by North Carolina as a Peer Support Specialist for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder. He writes on issues of war, peace and post-traumatic stress disorder recovery at MatthewHoh.com.
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Veterans Suicide Rates Much Higher
If They Were in Combat and Killed People
RT News
USMC Iraq veteran, former Afghanistan Foreign Service Officer, former State Department official, advisory board member of Veterans For Peace and an antiwar activist Matthew Hoh (@MatthewPHoh) is asking military members to speak out before it is too late. Matt has spent years speaking about PTSD, moral Injury, and life after combat to help others who might be seeking some answers.
Worth a listen. Might save a life or two . . . .
