Article Regarding Veteran Suicide Rates.

[Wagon]

If only. But it comes down below the government policy scale. I don't know, mate. As long as you've got people, you've got the problem. Second oldest trade in the world, fighting.

I'd like to see other country studies on this outside of the realm of NATO. I guess the problem would be data in that area but...... One tends to wonder as we are watched more and data mined more today than ever before; is the startling data a function of more data collection? Did this happen before. What has changed with respects to training, time deployed, etc, etc....

In a large way I feel that the military has moved in the direction of the banking Industry. Short term gains at the expense of possibly very large longer term problems. Problem is those problems be us in this game.

 

[Ned]

In a large way I feel that the military has moved in the direction of the banking Industry. Short term gains at the expense of possibly very large longer term problems. Problem is those problems be us in this game.

Probably true in many ways. People don't get rotated out of the line like they once did. Society in general has shag-all awareness of what the military does, these days. (Witness some of the cheerful f*ckwits we get trespassing here).
Politicians getting away with saying 'Oh, just go and do that, five-minute job, innit?'.
Several generations ago those politicians would've all had a bit more sense of duty, a lot less ego to feed, and many would have seen active service and been a damn sight more aware of the consequences.
Harold Wilson flatly refused to get involved in Vietnam, can you imagine Tony Blair in his position?
And too many senior military are kissing politicians arses these days, rather than giving them the benefit of their experience. Not that that's a given, either.

 

[JarHed]

I'd have to agree that data mining techniques today far outstrip anything that's come before. I used to do that kind of work. Finding info about alumni at the university that I worked at to use in fund raising areas. The ideas are the same, focusing on specific parameters stored in the database. One thing about data, though, is that it can always be presented to get people to see very specific things. Our database queries were quite specific in gathering very small sections of a much larger pie, as it were.

So, especially today with so much information about everyone and in the military of course more kinds of data are available. And as you mention, the problems are about people not just records in a database. Also, it not that information about people and situations hasn't been kept in the past, it's just that today the access to it and the collection of it is at light speed.

 

[Sarg]

Hell, Jar, they're building this huge facility up in Utah just to store the stuff. And, just like a web browser, they can "bore through" all that data on a particular person and get data specific to their needs. Seems like "1984" is trying to catch up in lightspeed.

Sarg

 

[JarHed]

Yeah Sarg,

The 'info' age is so intrusive. The problem is that people just don't seem to realize how intrusive it is. Too many think, 'well if you have nothing to hide, what's the problem?' That kind of thinking and non action on the part of people is what has allowed the countries and gov't of them to create a totalitarian type of control. The balance of personal freedom vs. what's 'best' for the group is always in flux. Yeah, just as cynical as ever. As I always say, prove me wrong, please. :cautious:

 

[reddevil1111]

The real issue is not if we stand to have information of a close and personal nature gathered about us. It has already been done. The information has already been gathered. It is more a question of what to do with the info now that they have it. The "need" is just beginning to be identified. If you don't think there is already vast amounts of your personal, medical and mental heath records being accessed your wrong.
Kroll Fractural Data is just one of 4-5 corporations that does this. They sell the data to the government for background investigations, they provide info to credit reporting agency's, it just goes on and on. And its a local company. Located in Loveland Colorado. Google them and see what I am talking about.

 

[Tim Cake]

There goes the Bill of Rights...:cry:

 

[JarHed]

There goes the Bill of Rights.

Think that's been gone a while.

 

[Ned]

Yep Jar. Madison's deas got head-shot and pushed in the ditch long time ago.

 

[Tim Cake]

Think that's been gone a while.

And that situation sucks the "big onion"...

 

[Sarg]

It's only dead if we forget it, Gentlemen.

Sarg

 

[Tim Cake]

I'm too worn out and discouraged to fight:sick:.... maybe next year.