Quote:
Originally Posted by UGAalum94
I wonder if it's just incidental or if it's that the rate would be less dramatic in that comparison.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UGAalum94
(Since some old people have some of the highest suicide rates, it's possible that the whole general population's rate is actually lower than one more comparable to the group who is serving right now and the problem could be a whole lost worse than the comparison suggests.)
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Part of the reason for my first post was the
less dramatic comment in bold above. I took that to mean that you think the statistic might be misleading in an overblown manner, which to me was trivializing the fact that servicemen and women are taking their lives at a higher rate.
The second bolded statement seems to say the opposite. So, I'm truly confused as to whether you are arguing that the statistic might be under- or overblown.

If the concern is that the statistic is masking the potential that it is worse than we think, I guess I'm ok with that line of thought. If the concern is for the reverse, I repeat my original statement that the bottom line is that the number is up, and it seems really wrong to try to justify it or explain it away.