Daily Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 142, No. 116, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 27, 2016 Page: 4 of 12
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4 • Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune • www.dailytribune.net • Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Opinion
%
Reddell
RE-ENTRY
ts
Look deeper at military suicides
San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Express-News
MALLARD FILMORE ® by Bruce Tinsley
K
to
=
iBlfe
Value in diversity
in appointments
has been quite an adventure.
I enjoy learning a new community;
the challenge of finding a new place
and getting my collection of stuff inside
it is slightly less exhilarating.
Almost 10 years ago, I decided I
should be single. Moving day is one
of the few times I spend a moment re-
thinking that lifestyle choice. There’s
were never deployed to
Iraq or Afghanistan than
for those who had. And,
yes, veterans commit
suicide at a rate roughly
50 percent higher than ci-
vilians who share similar
demographic traits.
A number of factors
were cited as possibly
contributing. Returning
Vietnam veterans did not
take their lives in great-
er proportions than the
general population, but
many of those soldiers
were drafted, perhaps
representing a greater
cross-section of the U.S.
male population than
those who serve in today’s
all-volunteer military.
And Iraq- and Afghan-
istan-era soldiers and
veterans came back to a
troubled economy and
joblessness or lost jobs,
considered a potential
trigger for suicides.
Other possible factors:
Indications of psycho-
logical problems may
have shielded some
from deployments, and
a focus on the mental
health of those who had
experienced combat or
deployments to war zones
perhaps meant that those
who hadn’t didn’t get the
same kind of attention.
And just because you
didn’t go to combat
doesn’t mean you didn’t
lose friends to war or
didn’t deal with war in
less direct ways.
But there is also the
possibility that military
life generally is stressful.
New duty stations every
few years and separation
from family for pro-
store, I was forced to back in to a spot
to leave the trailer.
I eventually got the trailer parked
where I wanted, but after a great deal
of cranking, I could not disconnect it.
I called the boss over to help, and he
found it amusing that I had cranked up
the back end of the truck in my efforts.
Skipping a step in the process provided
a great deal of entertainment.
A short break in the rain provided a
window to rapidly unload.
That was 10 days ago. Boxes are
new home looks like I’m settling in -
at others it looks like a hoarder strug-
gling with recovery.
Has anyone seen my remote?
V
ft
longed periods alone can
make it so.
And there’s this:
Though male veterans
take their lives at three
times the rate of women
veterans, these women
are taking their lives at
twice the rate of other
women. Women were
barred from combat roles
until recently.
This indicates a need
for some introspection
about military life.
Understand, no one
should expect the mili-
tary to be touchy-feely
24/7 or that it could be
even if it wanted.
The military branches
have already done much
in recent years to make
sure their members and
their families feel more
secure. We are only
suggesting that when it
comes to military or vet-
eran suicides, perhaps the
branches — and the Vet-
erans Administration —
can explore if the culture
is a contributor.
It needn’t wait for that
conclusive study. If the
figures on suicides for
veterans and soldiers who
haven’t been deployed
are accurate, this indi-
cates the need for that
introspection.
It is undeniable that
soldiers and veterans
suffering post-traumatic
stress disorder or injury
from combat or deploy-
ments need to get appro-
priate attention. But if
early research is indicat-
ing high rates for those
who weren’t deployed,
than these warriors need
attention, too.
Published five days a week except Monday and
Saturday at 210 S. Van Buren, Mount Pleasant,
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Copyright 2016 Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune,
P.O. 1177, Mount Pleasant, Texas 75455
prep'
MOUNT PLEASANT
DAILY TRIBUNE
©2016 Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune
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• A
Moving becomes
damp adventure
By VALERIE REDDELL
editor© tribnow.com
WE'FEEL -V
THEBERN’ WASN’T 1
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“4. A
That the military had
a culture problem was
evident in the number of
sexual assaults occurring
in the ranks — soldier
on soldier, and not just
women as victims. This
prompted changes —
though more are needed
— in how the military
deals with these assaults
and spurred actions to ad-
dress the culture that may
have abetted them.
But there is some
evidence, far from con-
clusive, that perhaps the
military needs to look at
its culture to deal with an-
other problem — military
suicides. Is it contribut-
ing?
There is research to
indicate that combat and
deployments to war zones
might not be playing as
big a role as thought.
A recent Express-News
article by Staff Writer Sig
Christenson reported that
the number ofmilitary
suicides since 2003 now
amount to more than the
troops killed in Iraq. The
Army leads in this regard,
but the Marines and Air
Force also show increas-
es.
Christenson, writing of
some possible strategies
to deal with this, also had
this tidbit about some of
the research: “But war
veterans actually had a
slightly lower suicide rate
than military personnel
who had never deployed.”
A study done last year
reported that the suicide
rate was 16 percent higher
for those veterans who
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Good morning, Mount Pleasant.
It’s hard to believe I am nearing the
end of my second month in Mount
Pleasant. So far, it’s been quite an ad-
venture.
Everyone in Mount Pleasant has been
extremely welcoming, and I’m glad to
be returning to East Texas, and daily
newspapers. In the newspaper industry,
it’s pretty common for those of us in
middle management to get shuffled as
needs change in a newspaper and the
community it serves.
Being here is great... the move itself and Dallas through the less than ideal
conditions. Several of those trips came
to an unplanned end when they T-boned
the concrete median.
I arrived safely, but three hours be-
hind schedule.
My car came off the trailer easily
enough, removing the trailer from the
back of the U-Haul was more compli-
cated. Because I was apparently the
quite a bit of heavy lifting and that isn’t last person to return equipment to the
one of my better skills.
My entourage does include a couple
of great sons-in-law and a pet musician.
As luck would have it, my younger
daughter gave birth the day before my
scheduled move. My most willing vol-
unteer was changing diapers and chas-
ing a 3-year-old. The other son-in-law
had a work conflict. My pet musician
had just wrapped up a strenuous set
of performances in conjunction with
South by Southwest in Austin. One of
the things that the huge film and music
festival brings to town is a late round of slowly disappearing and, at times, my
the flu, and it landed hard on my favor-
ite front man.
Sol went to Plan B. I rented a
U-Haul and some friends helped me
load. I headed out bright and early
driving a 15-foot truck and towing my
SUV.
Then the rains started. Maybe not
started exactly. My neighbors and I
loaded the truck in
a heavy sprinkle.
When I jumped up in
the driver’s seat with
my breakfast taco on
Sunday morning, the
sky unzipped and the
deluge started.
Plenty of other
people were travel-
ing between Austin
J a O
The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing, in
the case of an alternate admissions process
at the University of Texas at Austin, whether
race can be used as one factor among many
in admissions.
No matter how the court rules, the values
driving UT’s goal of a student body that
looks like the state should be the same ones
that Gov. Greg Abbott considers in appoint-
ments.
An analysis of the governor’s appointments
so far indicates he is falling short.
Peggy Fikac and David Saleh Rauf of
Hearst Newspapers’ Austin bureau looked at
Abbott’s appointments and found that three-
fourths of his picks have been white and
more than 60 percent have been men. This,
in a state that is 43.5 percent white and a bit
more than half female.
To be precise, among his 460 appoint-
ments, 72 percent have been white, 62 per-
cent men, 45 percent white men, 27 percent
white women, 15 percent Latino and 6 per-
cent African-American.
UT and other universities defend race and
ethnicity as factors among many in recog-
nition ofdiversity’s value. There is fairness
inherent in giving access to quality education
to a broader segment of the population, and
creativity blooms when different experiences
meet — as important in classrooms as it is in
the workplace. The same applies to gender.
In workplaces in particular, different ex-
periences mean an ability to strategize, plan
and execute armed with broadened abilities
to understand markets and constituencies,
and it means an enhanced ability to commu-
nicate with them and to deliver what they
need.
In the case of government, diversity po-
tentially means fairer representation, an im-
portant concept even when positions aren’t
directly elected. And this includes regional
representation. We note that 12.6 percent of
the governor’s appointments are from South
Texas, an area that includes San Antonio.
South Texas’ population is 17.32 percent of
the total state population.
One in 4 of his appointees has been a cam-
paign contributor, but we’re assuming that
most are, in fact, qualified for their posts. And
we know that this record of appointments that
do not reflect the state’s demographics is one
shared by Abbott’s predecessors, including
the last Democratic governor, Ann Richards.
But we also know for a certainty that race
and ethnicity — and gender and the region
you live in — don’t spell lack of qualifica-
tion.
Fikac and Rauf explained that the governor
has the potential to make as many as 3,000
appointments in a four-year term. We urge
him to consider diversity — and the state’s
demographic composition. It will make for
fairer — and more knowledge-based — rep-
resentation.
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Reddell, Valerie. Daily Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 142, No. 116, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 27, 2016, newspaper, April 27, 2016; Mount Pleasant, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1428901/m1/4/?rotate=180: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Mount Pleasant Public Library.