Is suicide not an individual choice?
BTW the numbers we are comparing concern veterans who have as much freedom or more than these welsh teens.
The gist of the article concerning the VA was that they were covering up numbers of suicides for veterans in response to an expose by CBS which emotionalized the issue as well as castigated the VA for not doing enough to help its clients. My point was that in comparison with Bridgend, they were doing a bang up job.
Apples may not be oranges, but numbers are numbers and Bridgend is in the lead.
Speaking strictly from a statistical point of view, no they aren't comparable. Bridgend is a town of something like 40,000 people in a specific geographic location with a shared culture, weather, environment. The VA is scattered across the country with a very diverse population, though with a somewhat similar shared experience, yet varying backgrounds and a substantially higher base population. Naturally the rate out of 100,000 will be slightly skewed when a Bridgend teen decides to take his or her own life. The teenage population of Bidgend cannot possibly be very high. Compare that to the veteran population (even if simply drawn from just the Iraq War).
It is just not comparable data, there are far too many differing variables.
Having said that, I'm not saying that I agree with the premise of the article you mentioned. The Army has come a very long way in treating mental illness and identifying those who are at-risk of suicide. People should keep in mind the extremely difficult situations these soldiers are placed in.
