Three soldiers who fought in Gaza war commit suicide

[Jefferson23]

Army is investigating whether traumatic experiences from Operation Protective Edge led the Givati soldiers to each take his own life just days from each other.

Rotem Elizera

Three IDF soldiers who fought in Operation Protective Edge have taken their own lives in recent weeks. The army is investigating whether there was a connection between the suicides and traumatic experiences the soldiers had during the war.

The three soldiers, conscripts serving in the Givati Brigade, each ended their lives within days of each other. The three are believed to have used their personal weapons, which were found next to their bodies, to commit suicide.

The IDF's criminal investigation division (CID) opened an investigation into the three incidents.

One of the possible lines of inquiry is the possibility the soldiers were suffering serious emotional trauma as a result of their experiences in the war, and decided to end their lives as a consequence.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4576514,00.html

[BillZBubb]

1. They probably did what they were ordered to do and couldn't live with it.

Some people actually have a conscience and humanity. For them war crimes are hard to live with.

[Scootaloo]

2. That's really unfortunate

I wish their families well, and hope no others have to experience this.

[azurnoir]

3. If IDF 'believes' these were suicides why are they initiating a criminal investigation ?

Digging for something else perhaps?

Terrible for these soldiers families my condolences to them

[Israeli]

4. Its routine azurnoir....

....they have to investigate , most of the time the families have a hard time accepting it and the IDF has to have all the facts .

This is not unusual BTW .....out of 7 dead soldiers in our Kibbutz cemetery one shot himself with his own weapon ....he was only 19 years old .

Read this :

IDF: Suicide is the primary cause of death among Israeli soldiers

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/idf-suicide-is-the-primary-cause-of-death-among-israeli-soldiers.premium-1.491086

....its not behind the paywall .

The Givati brigade has been extremely traumatized by the Hannibal Directive ....
to learn more read here :

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2014/09/25/idf-givati-commander-on-goldins-capture-prefered-a-dead-soldier-to-live-one/

[azurnoir]

5. I knew they had to investigate it was that the criminal divsion was doing the investigation

and I have read about the suicides among IDF, so often we're lead to believe they're some sort of supermen or women but in reality for the most part they're kids. Sadly the same thing is happening among US service people who served in Iraq and Afghanistan

[Israeli]

6. Who leads you to believe .....

that " they're some sort of supermen or women " ?

Give me a break !!.... Hollywood has a lot to answer for .

They are kids ....its a conscript army and they dont get paid .....except if after the initial three years they choose to stay in longer .



Sure Bibi ...

Not enough the Hannibal Directive ......now read this :

About budgets and growling bellies

http://adam-keller2.blogspot.co.il/2014/09/about-budgets-and-growling-bellies_26.html

Will the army get this additional funding during the coming year? Certainly they will. The Army's hunger for additional budgets is unlimited, and so it its ability to sate that hunger. But who will not get any extras? The soldiers who serve in this army. A week ago, the topic suddenly burst into the media in big headlines: "Soldiers below the poverty line – they fought in Gaza, and have no money for food." “They risked their lives during the war in Gaza, but at the end of the operation, just before the High Holidays, many of them find it difficult to cope with fighting on another front: bank overdraft, debts and a growling belly.

Shahar (not his real name) is a Combat Engineering conscript and a lone soldier. His mother died, his father went abroad and cut off all connections, and he has no family assistance. To support himself, his superiors allowed him to work occasionally. But in the past two months, during the fighting in the South, his overdraft in the bank has risen and reached a total of 15 thousand Shekels . As soon as Shahar returned from Gaza, he discovered dozens of angry warning messages on financial obligations and was informed that attachment orders were issued against his meager possessions. "I don’t know what I'm going to eat. I am totally lost and don’t know where I will celebrate the New Year, "he said in a conversation with the Channel 2 TV news. The army is giving me 700 Shekels (appr. US$190) per month, this is beyond contempt. I have nowhere to turn to, the commanding officer told me there is nothing to be done. The banks don’t care that I fought in Gaza

And Shahar is not the only one. Idan (a pseudonym) serves at an Iron Dome battery and has a completely handicapped father and a mother who is frequently hospitalized at mental health institutions. He is due to end his term of compulsory service in a few months. "I used to work nights at a gas station and then delivered newspapers in the morning. I would return to the army after a night of hard work, nearly sleepwalking, but at least I had money, I would earn some 6000-7000 Shekels per month. But this stopped when the operation started. The officers said it is now war and I can’t go anywhere, nothing to be done about it. They told I had to be a full time soldier and not go to work outside. The war went on and my debts accrued interest, and now I'm in trouble. This is how it is to be a soldier in this country – they use you and throw you to the garbage. All the defense budgets go to the salaries of the senior officers, nobody cares about us. I am being discharged in a few months, I will go out into civilian life with huge debts. Others have parents who pay for their studies, I can’t dream of that.

Shifra Shahar, who heads the "Warm Home for Every Soldier" association which helps soldiers in distress, says that since " Protective Edge" the number of soldiers’ appeals for financial aid rose from dozens to hundreds per day. "Conscript soldiers do not get salaries, they just pocket money which is barely enough for cigarettes. They can’t subsist on that. Soldiers who manage to carry on are those whose parents support them., For more than 40% of the IDF soldiers this is not an option, and they are in a very bad situation”.

[Jefferson23]

7. Soldiers get shafted, often. n/t