The Military Occupational Skills Conversion Institute will reduce Veteran Suicides

You read that title right America, my school will reduce veteran suicides because the numbers do not lie and it is clear that what has been attempted in the past is not working.  We have assumed that throwing money at veterans would be the answer.  We have assumed that holding job fairs and offering businesses tax credits for hiring a veteran would do it.  We have assumed that placing them on disability and welfare would do it.  We have been convinced that donation and charity would answer the screams of veterans all over this nation demanding help and getting none.  We have assumed that saying “thank you” would quiet the voices within the heads of these veterans and within our own very souls.  We were and still are so very wrong.  We are wrong because we lack the understanding that the main underlying issue faced by veterans who contemplate suicide has nothing to really do about money.  It simply has something to do about dignity and respect.

According to the Civilian Medical Resources Network, military members who obtained the rank of E1 (Enlisted 1) accounts for 18.1% of those who commit suicide; E2 through E4 accounts for 54.4% and E5 through E7 account for 16.7% within the U.S. Armed Forces.   Notice that mostly career service members and officers are excluded from this list and the Military Occupational Skills Conversion Institute or MOSCI believes this is because they are aided in the securing of civilian jobs by automatic pensions and that little piece of paper called a degree or diploma.  Since MOSCI is now opened and accepting students to give all E1 through E7s that same piece of paper, we believe that these numbers will drop if not completely disappear.  Why you ask?  Simply because MOSCI’s issuance of degrees and diplomas based solely upon the skills E1 –E7’s learned, honed, practiced and mastered while serving in the military.  MOSCI will not issue degrees or diplomas for anything that cannot not be verified and proven by anyone who can read a DD-214.  This action calms the number one and underlying reason for veteran suicides.  This action restores the pride, honor and dignity that are missing from today’s attempts.

Simply put, in order to be willing to sacrifice your very life for a nation, one has to obtain a much higher level of patriotism than anyone has ever thought possible.  With attaining that level of patriotism comes an enormous sense of pride not only in your country but in its people and most importantly in yourself.  When you are trusted to lead others into battle, carry a weapon and defend an entire country, you develop a sense of belonging, a sense of pride not like any other currently known to man.  To survive all that instills within you a sense of honor so every time you hear that National Anthem, see that American flag or even hear the word “veteran” your shoulders square, your back stiffens and your head raises.  All this is involuntary actions because what you have accomplished very few ever will and all this is what is lost when you return home, transition out of the military and is essentially told all that you did is worthless. 

Think about this and place yourself in the very large shoes of a veteran.  Imagine spending years learning a particular job, mastering it and being the best ever then being told that you have no proof of those years and that experience and skills so you have to start again at the very bottom within that field.  Would this make you feel the love and support that so many say they have for you?   Another faucet of this that no one is talking about.  The reason many veterans choose suicides is the love, compassion and sensitivity that these veterans have for others because suicide is a very close neighbor of homicide.