Daily Gut: Soldiers on Drugs
by Greg Gutfeld
Their valor is second to none. But are drugs helping them get the job done? According to Men’s Health, American troops are taking piles of prescription meds – citing a U-S army survey that found 12 percent of soldiers in Iraq and 15 percent in Afghanistan reported taking antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, or sleeping pills.
But– not mentioned in this strange article: Their prescription med use is actually lower than the national average.
Funny, that. We actually did some digging and found that 10 percent of Americans take drugs to combat depression and 25 percent take sleep medications. That’s a total of 35 percent – double that of those brave folks in the military.
In short, Men’s Health should stick to flat abs.
See, I was once the editor of Men`s Health, and I can attest that health editors are, for the most part, the unhealthiest people I know. They`re a mix of hypochondriacs and boozers, shoveling pills and pilfering smokes at night – then hectoring the masses about vitamins in the day. They take loads of meds, but unlike our military, they don`t have the excuse of being shot at by terrorists, or watching their friends die. Their biggest concern? Whether there are high fiber muffins in the cafeteria. You have to stay regular, people.
To say it`s disingenuous to do a story about soldiers’ drug use and not mention it’s far less than the country as a whole is an understatement. It`s actually great news that our brave soldiers – who face death daily – aren’t as hooked on pills as we are. (And I`m sure if the writer discovered that the soldiers weren`t getting proper medication, they would have done an even more damning portrayal of the military.)
So why did this story run? Well, because the media doesn`t understand the military or why soldiers would actually like their jobs. Soldiers don`t join because they were out of options, and they aren`t crazy for wanting to defend our country. The sad fact is, this article is just one of many that enjoys painting the military as dangerous dudes with guns. If you remember the recently pulled DHS report on right wing extremism, you know Janet Napolitano felt the same way.
It`s no wonder our guys need pills.
Tonight – a crazy awesome show!
Penn Gillette, Rick Leaventhal, Remi Spencer, Newt Gingrich, and comedian Jamie Lissow.
Also, catch me on Glenn Beck at the top of the show!
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91 Comments
it is just a continuation of the 'returning vets commiting murders' nonsense the execrable New York Times ran with last year- when properly examined their murder rate was considerably less than the national average- and is just more of the cluelessness of civilians trying to report on military issues.
We agree with Mr Gutfeld that this is more of a case of editorial laziness than a deliberate attempt to paint vets as addicts. Still, it is these careless observations that cloud people's minds to former military types in general.
Most veterans will tell you about how they will not share any experiences with strangers due to the inevitable shunning that occurs.
This stuff doesn't help…
Well said. That magazine is pretty worthless and my guess is the editors are jealous as hell of the moxy most soldiers possess.
I kinda like the government believing I am a "dangerous dude with a gun."
The MSM either use the monster template or the victim template when describing the USA military; they have no other templates in their tiny little brains. The journalists & editors are like a 1984 version of a computer while the rest of use have been in 2009 for quite some time.
The newsrooms & magazines are too incestuous in the sense they allow no other thought than a liberal point of view for the most part.
To buttress dcase's point. The media also tried to damn the military regarding suicide rates. The actual truth was rates among the vets were no higher than the civilian population. The anti-war, anti-military, anti-vet crowd will try to feed dung to their followers because they know this crowd will swallow it. Buon apetite! More here
http://shermansmarch.blogspot.com
Greg, it lost a lot when you were gone and I lost all respect for it when it had that little mutant Ted Rall write his unfunny "testosterone diaries"…Ted Rall and testosterone…don't really go together.
Antifascist:
Fascism arose out of the Progressive movement, along with eugenics. If by anti-fascist are you saying you are anti-Progressivism? I just fret that you may come off as confused, or worse, ignorant. Please clarify what you're trying to say.
Sounds like somebody needs a hug. A little pie might help.
good to see you back and just brimming with yummy pie filling… first of all, hate to tell you this, but most combat vets are conservative, studies by the Army Times and others have shown the numbers at well over 70%,, so the body of your piece is flat out inaccurate. We have been involved with PTSD issues for years and it is not a political issue- both Bush and Hillary were strong on this- so much for THAT part of your post as well.
As far as treating the returning vets well there is no comparison. The Left- You- despise and distrust the military. It's in every fiber of your being… don't kid us.
We know.
thanks for a much-needed clarification about that article. i've always said that you gotta look at what ISN'T being said in some splashy cover article.
I can't decide whether auntie is high, young or unbelievably misinformed. I'm hoping s/he hangs out here because of a subconscious desire for real info.
I would go with all three.
We can only hope about the subconscious, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
so true. We like to call this the 'Barnaby Jones' syndrome. Not to pick unduly on that old chestnut, but the de riguer' plot device of every drama in the 70's was the homicidal returning Vietnam veteran. Next to retrograde
amnesia, it was the hack writer's favorite fallback.
Everyone we knew created elaborate fictions to cover up their service to their country. If you admitted you not only were in the military but- egads!- you saw action the looks people with third eyes get would appear on their faces, conversation would dry up and drift away…
We cannot and will not allow this to recur.
"See, I was once the editor of Men`s Health, and I can attest that health editors are, for the most part, the unhealthiest people I know. They`re a mix of hypochondriacs and boozers, shoveling pills and pilfering smokes at night ".
The same could be said for our family doctors, mine's overweight, smokes and probably takes at least a dozen scripts himself and yet they are telling US how to fix OUR problems, somehow it just doesn't fit.
Yeah, it was all the right wingers wearing the pink shirts in this century and spitting on veterans back in the 60's & 70's, I see what you mean puddin.
Feeling a little warm and fuzzy today anti? Awwww, isn't that sweet. ((((((anti)))))
No slight on you Greg but I canceled my "Men's Health" subscription when I saw pictures of the so-called health gurus at one of their parties. And they have the nerve to give health and sex advice? Study after study after study show our men and women in the armed forces are smarter and healthier than the general public. Especially more so than the "Men's Health" editors. Physician, heal thyself!!
No slight on you Greg but I canceled my "Men's Health" subscription when I saw pictures of the so-called health gurus at one of their parties. And they have the nerve to give health and sex advice? Study after study after study show our men and women in the armed forces are smarter and healthier than the general public. Especially more so than the "Men's Health" editors. Physician, heal thyself!!
Kumbaya M'lord, Kumbaya
I'm reminded of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers…
"Happiness consists in getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more. All the wealthy, unhappy people you've ever met take sleeping pills; Mobile Infantrymen don't need them. Give a cap trooper a bunk and time to sack out in it, and he's as happy as a worm in an apple—asleep."
it is indeed amazing the dustups one can get into when the obvious is spelled out- fascism is 'communism lite'… and the Nazis were leftists. Since they are so invested in this fiction that communism is far left and fascism/nazism is far right- which,of course makes no sense whatsoever- pointing out the truth makes 'em crazy, Auntie really is a fascist, believing in some commerce and private property but the power ultimately rests with the state…
Sounds like totalitarianism to us…
The statistics are misleading in other ways. To get an accurate picture of the army, you need to include all soldiers in AND OUT of Iraq and Afghanistan. I wonder how many don't need medication once they return (conversely, how many finally take time to seek treatment and start). Second, I'm sure that there's some overlap between the 10% of civilian men taking antidepressants, and 25% taking sleeping medication, so the combined number is probably closer to 30% than 35%. But that's still a lot!
But ultimately, this is additional proof that the Army personnel are more stable than civilians.
Great points. It would also be interesting to examine the number of pills Hollywood actresses and lame liberal editors swallow before 9AM.
Nice article. Screw that magazine. I don't even know how it exists. And thanks for revealing the truth about the d-bags that run that mag. I too have magazine experience (I've written and edited for a few music mags) and I also know firsthand how much B.S. magazine writers/editors shove down readers throats. If it weren't for the ads (that they receive for LYING about their circulation/readers) they'd be out of business. Typical liberal b.s. Thank GOD I left that industry and started my own business 'cause after so many butcher-jobs they did on my articles (purposely misleading and flat out lying to readers) and reviews, I just HAD to get out of there.
Anti-war is the antithesis of fascism. Were the Nazis anti-war or pro-war? How much more clear does it have to be? This is a very simple concept to understand. You kill and torture in the name of nationalism and God. You are a fascist. You are a proud fascist. The only thing you disagree with is the semantics.
The left has been trying to create the "Vietnam Syndromization" of our involvement in the Middle East since just after boots hit the groung in Afganistan. Quitely at first, and with a louder drum beat culminating with Harry Ried's "the war is lost" speech.
The left has been trying to create the "Vietnam Syndromization" of our involvement in the Middle East since just after boots hit the groung in Afganistan. Quitely at first, and with a louder drum beat culminating with Harry Ried's "the war is lost" speech.
you ain't kidding- the desire to make our middle east involvement analagous to Vietnam is in hyseria overdrive… first of all, this is not a conscript army. Second, we were attacked by Islamic fanatics, and third today's soldiers and marines see the nobility of the cause.
The Left, blinded by their ideological fervor, refuses to accept the obvious. Which is why we are left with this utter nonsense…
Speak for yourself, little man. Personally, I support the troops and was quite incensed when your hero, OBAMA tried to dump there healthcare needs in the gutter.
Wake up turd.
Again, you have a hard time sep. fact from fiction. No one here is killing and torturing. Of course, your boys of Islam are picking up the slack.
Hollywood types live at the Betty Ford clinic. Fortunately for them, this is considered GOOD if you are Hollywood type. I understand Robert Downey has his own suite?
Their suicide rate is lower as is their crime rate. If the general population behaved like the military, this would be one helluva lot nicer and safer place to live.
"We actually did some digging and found that 10 percent of Americans take drugs to combat depression and 25 percent take sleep medications. That’s a total of 35 percent – double that of those brave folks in the military."
As A.C. said, That's assuming that there is no overlap between the two groups. But, it still shows that military men are more stable than civilian men — something that matches my personal experience.
Anyway, I've come to come to distrust almost all statistics (liberal ones especially). Try reading "How to lie with statistics" sometime.
HOW DARE YOU!!!! GUYS I SERVED WITH CAME HOME TO BEING TREATED LIKE TRASH BY SCUMBAGS LIKE YOU! CONSERVATIVES AND REAL AMERICANS ALWAYS HAVE TREATED ME WELL UNLIKE COWARDS LIKE YOU LEFT WINGERS. THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT HAVE EVER CALLED ME AND MINE BUMS ARE TRASH LIKE YOU! SO CRAWL BACK UNDER THAT ROCK AND STAY THERE. IF YOU WONT DO THAT THEN HAVE THE COURTESY AND THE COURAGE TO THANK US FOR THE JOB THAT YOU ARE UNWILLING AND UNABLE TO DO! NOW SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH AND get us some pie YOU MISERABLE LITTLE MAGGOT!
SUA SPONTE
Brother, all I can say is that the lefties best be thanking their lucky stars that we are NOT the psychopaths they want us to be. Think about it.
Don;'t hold back, oldsoldier1, tell him how you REALLY feel. Thank you for your service.
Almost 4,300 soldiers have DIED for a LIE that did not protect our freedom or make us safer. You are so blinded by conservatism that you don't even care if your fellow soldiers are dying in vain. You have been brainwashed to never question the mission, just like an Islamic extremist.
auntie said your brain was washed- was it a strong detergent? Ours was washed with good ol' 20 mule team Borax… don't let this needle#%&** get under your skin- we like to say that we did much harm to people we didn't dislike any where near as much as you… B Co. 2nd Btln sends their best, bro…
you really are a vile troll, aren't you…
Everytime I think the Troll-B-Gone is working, he/she shows up! Can someone call the extrollinator again.
I haven't bought a magazine that wasn't a National Rifle Association publication in a long time. I used to read Vogue but the Obama love fest got old really fast. I have bought Men's Health when certain actors were featured. However I am even bored with them now. Soooooooooo…………………….
This artical doesn't surprise me. Again it just goes along with the fact that most people in that business or in Hollywood think soldiers are psychopaths or freakish bible thumpers. That could not be more untrue.
yeah- DHS would be in deep you know what if we were the nutjobs they make us out to be… of course, with proper motivation…
no, dearie… fascism is a left wing construct that has nothing to do with war… Mussolini and Hitler were proud socialists like you. Fascism allows for some private ownwership and business and is very similar to communism. The antithesis of fascism is anarchy. This is your lesson of the day sweetie pie…
oooh! Yum! Pie….
Tell me about it. And still no pie. . . no pie at all.
The only time people like you show any degree of sympathy for anyone in the military is when you can paint them as victims of some foul conspiracy, otherwise you're happy to either hold them in contempt, paint them as unhinged psychopaths, or at best ignore them. How many people in the military do you actually know Auntie? Not that many I'd wager because if you did, and spoke that way to their faces you would have had a little common sense "nudged" into you by now.
The editors most likely wrote that article whilst snuggling in the sauna at the local bath house.
Love it! LOL
Anyone who would believe something Men's Health has to say about drugs and the military would probably believe Nancy Pelosi is a nationalist and patriot.
Thank you for your service. My family & I appreciate your service to our Country. If anyone talks bad about you, just remember, there are more Americans who love you & our military than these cowards. I'm proud of you, my family members & friends who stand up & protect our Country! God Bless You & God Bless America!!!
I still have my fingers crossed for some rhubarb pie.
Auntie your logic has more holes in it than your panties.
So by your logic being anti-war automatically makes you anti-fascist, which means that the people who were opposed to the US entering WWII before Pearl Harbor and thus opposing FDR's goals were anti-fascists, making FDR ipso facto: a fascist. So you think FDR was a fascist now too? The same logic could be applied to those who dissented against WWI, Korea and Vietnam, all of which started under Democrat administrations, which again are now fascists too by your very own definition.
LawhawkSF
The general population could not cut it in the military. One of the reasons the Sergeants are such hard cases and boot camp so interminable is that it weeds out the losers who end up having to take drugs to cope with their lives. The fact is the military officers understand that quality people are required because you might end up literally having to put your life in the hands of the recruits you graduate from boot camp.
This is a fact someone whose biggest risk taking is "speaking truth to power" on an anonymous blog will never understand.
xcept magpie maybe
You're such a pathetic ,useless ,piece of garbage.
I can't even feel sorry for you
You were a drill sergeant weren't you Oldsoldier1
What Lie please cite a reference…….
This reminds me of the "news story" a while ago about soldiers murdering people when they returned home only to discover the murder rate among soldiers were only one-fifth the murder rate among civilians in the same age bracket.
Lies, damn lies, and statistics.
More than 4,300 Iraqis died in enforcing the No Fly Zones over Iraq from the time Bill Clinton took Office until he left offie. The bombings of that country were daily. In the first nine months of 1999 over 1,100 misiles struck 359 targets. More bombs were exploded on Iraqi soil in this "peace" time period than were used in the conduct of both Gulf I and Gulf II.
So you tell me since you are the morally superior know it all Auntie. If we did not end this GD conflict by putting boots to ground exactly when and how were we going to end this campaign of bombing. Or is it that so long as no real effrort is spent you have no problem with push button death. Are you really this blind and arrogant. Tell me what the correct plan of action was with your superior 20/20 hindsight. Cause I have yet to hear one of you ridiculous liberals explain yourselves.
Franco of Spain was a Fascist and was reviled by the poipulace of Spain.
Spain never went to war……………
Please Explain All units! Norman Coordinate. Liberal Circular logic group overload……
Boooooooooooooooop!
Because of course Commies never killed anyone……..
What a masochist you are, Auntie. And unbelievably ignorant. Try that line in a VFW hall some time.
(Incidentally, the German-American Bund organization ran a very successful "peace" movement right up until Pearl Harbor. Face it, Auntie: you aren't anti-war. You're pro-the other side.)
Guys: I haven't looked at 'Mens Health' in over a decade; I tried to read it once at the 'Y' & I found the ads & columns & the sniggering 'nudge, nudge' tone to be more akin to 'FMH' or 'Maxim'—more than that, it struck me that parts of it were being written by guys who couldn't 'get lucky' with fistful of $100 bills at the Mustang Ranch;
What is truly sad is that fifty years ago, that wasn't true. People from every walk of life and every social class could go into the military, and have a good shot at making it. Even young men with minor criminal records would be taken in, shaped up, and returned to society as decent people. Today half the potential recruits would be ineligible because of serious felony records and multiple drug busts. Another huge bloc has no moral training, no sense of purpose, very little education, and zero sense of patriotism. Reinstating the draft right now would be far more dangerous to us than to any enemy. But at least the military would do a better job with them than their out-to-lunch parents and illiterate school teachers have done. A sad commentary on the society we have created since the 60s.
Additional thought I should have included originally. Despite the disdain shown by the John Kerry's and lefty propagandists, our military is solidly better educated than the general population.
most in the media are LOSERS anyway. These soldiers are real men and women..better than me for sure (The thought of the heat in the middle east alone is enough to make me sleep)…so when some paid to type monkey makes a comment, its about as useful as Perez Hilton being used to procreate.
You hypocrite. You love PTSD, the left loves PTSD; you can´t get enough of it. You need it to validate your views and especially your view of yourself. But please spare me the lie that you care about our soldiers unless they provide bloody shirts for you to wave around.
Bitching about the Right is cheap. If you want to help wounded soldiers, send money.
I can't reply to this anti-American coward any more. It has crossed the threshold of trying to provoke thoughtful comments and is just trolling for hate. I'm going into the boycott antifascist mode. I'm hoping this troll will dry up and disappear if nobody rises to take its bait. Vile creatures like this get sexual thrills when they can provoke people into anger. I'm thinking they're into S&M, making the sadistic, hateful comments, then sitting back and masturbating to the angry responses. No more from me – go somewhere else and get your thrills from someone else. For me to reply to you any more would make me a little bit of a sadist myself, and I'm not, so just…go away. Take your hatred and your psychoses and go away.
damn, dude, you're a certified internet hardass! go to fort cambell or bragg and start spouting that leftist pussy propaghanda and see how long it takes you to get your teeth kicked and your copy of "the audacity of hope" to get shoved up your ass. instead of criticizing the military you should just thank us for doing a job that allows to vent your frustrations at not making the football team in high school or never having consensual sex behind a keyboard. you stay here on the internet and let the real men protect the country.
Major thumbs up for this one Greg… any comparisons of a "subset" of society are worthless without the baseline numbers to work with…
Agree completely. My husband and I have had many arguments on the draft. He's for, I'm agin. He was drafted in the mid-sixties and it was a different world. Even the screw-ups were patriotic and some of the young men he served with were sent by a Judge who told them "jail or the Army" so they chose to serve Uncle Sam. Those young men made good soldiers and as you said, shaped up for the most part. I really don't want to be defended by the tweakers and morons that are on the loose now.
A LIE? YOU SORRY LITTLE MAGGOT! IF IT WERE MY DECISION I WOULD DRAG YOU TO THE LINE BY YOUR TINY LITTLE BALLS AND STICK A WEAPON IN YOUR LIMP WRISTED HANDS AND HAVE YOU TELL THE IRAQIS THAT WE ARE DYING IN VAIN! BETTER YET I WOULD HAVE YOU TELL THE FAMILIES OF THE MEN I LOST THAT THEY DIED IN VAIN! YOU ARE A REAL BASTARD! I GOT AN IDEA FOR YA GO AWAY AND THANK GOD THAT YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO SACRIFICE FOR THIS COUNTRY!
LOL! At one point in my career I was an RI.
I wouldn't call it brain washed. But I have damn sure been up to it in the blood of our enemies. SUA SPONTE BRO.
If I did that, BH would ban me and it would scare the hell out of the decent folks on this blog.
Counselor, I would rather give this pinhead a jump boot to the behind.
Wow, Antifascist……..were you abused as a child and hate all forms of discipline and control? You are a piece of work, and shame on you for downplaying, actually puking on, the role our military plays in allowing you to make your pathetic arguments in this forum. I know several that have PTSD and nobody has thrown them under the bus. It is real and manageable. You need a little waterboarding to get your head straight.
I'll bring a food taster.
Honestly, the soldiers themselves don't want to deal with recruits from a draft. There is some comfort in the understanding that guy standing next to you is there because he chose it, because he asked for the opportunity to stand there, not because he was coerced and might possibly resent the chance.
And thanks for remembering the education of our troops, too. There are precious few weapons in our military arsenal these days that can be utilized by uneducated ninnies. Even our grunts require a certain degree of understanding in mechanics and mathematics. That fellow operating the artillery piece better know his math, mind you, because he's targeting close as heck to our own guys and gals regularly. College is actually stressed, over and over, for every one of our troops at every chance.
My husband IS a veteran of Iraqi Freedom, thank you very much. He turns no blind eye to anything, most certainly not PTSD, especially since he's struggled with it once himself. Not, mind you, because of anything dealing with Iraq. His bout with PTSD happened as a result of a peacekeeping operation he endured during Clinton's presidency. Do you even remember those adventures we sent our soldiers on during Clinton's tenure as president? When you consider "blind eyes", mind you, look to your own before pointing fingers all around. As for me, here on the Right where I'm most comfortable, I'll continue to do the real work of supporting our soldiers enduring PTSD. You know, like actually standing in front of them, reaching out to them, and helping them find the help they need. When you can say you've done that much, then you can say who cares and who doesn't.
just kidding- we willingly accept all logic here- and freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is worth everything. Life's losers like auntie have never tasted the fruits nor experienced the despair that all of our brothers have endured; consequently their opinions mean little. It bothered us greatly to see this rat fire you up so… makes us want to do, well, THINGS- you know.
Do not like my brothers being harassed or insulted… Pointe Du Hoc- Mytkyina- SUA SPONTE!
we sympathize… PTSD strikes not just combat soldiers but ER doctors and nurses, first responders, rape victims- the list goes on. It is real, and can be deadly. It takes years of understanding to undo minutes of terror… God bless both of you.
Be fair! Auntie has tasted the fruits!
Lemon meringue, key lime, peach cobbler, holiday cherry…
LOL! Your way is probably better!
Actually, the real question is not whether the number of soldiers on these medications is higher or lower than the general population (the military make up a small number of our general population) but whether those that have fought or are currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan who are currently on medications is higher than the military population itself. This is not to make out these soldiers as evil people on drugs but to actually demonstrate the severe psychological toll that war has on many service men and that PTSD has actually only been a recognized psychological disorder since the 1980s. Our soldiers often come home with coping skills that are for the battlefield and need help with transitioning into needing different coping skills when they are home. The military is doing a better job with helping vets and active duty service men with psychological issues, but there is still a great deal of stigma around this. Perhaps letting people know what is going on raises awareness on the help these brave men and women need when they retrun home. Sadly most are forgotten and the former administration even cut vet benefits.
I respect those who suffer trauma. I'm only leery where my husband is concerned because he can suffer repeated traumas of the same kind, over and over. When he got orders for Iraq, I nearly collapsed with the fear of it. Not that he'd die but that he'd struggle, he'd hurt like that again. It was purely difficult for me, just to let him go, without chasing after him so that I could stand in front of him and anyone or thing that tried to cause him harm. That's MY struggle, MY pain, MY trauma. Recent studies have been done, in fact, to verify the simple fact that spouses of soldiers can suffer from PTSD, as well. I would never go so far as to so label my own pain that way but I wouldn't be shocked or surprised if continued studies indicate that it's possible, nonetheless. Thanks, Dcase!
no, dear friend- it's more like mud, poop, and an occasional rhubarb… we are waiting for some yum stuff but it has not been forthcoming!
Ma'am, trust me when I say we grunts know who our angels are. We go through the pain of wounds physical and psychological. You go through the pain of watching the ones you love. And I have no doubt that your husband knows EXACTLY how lucky he is.
On the contrary- I think we should sacrifice "Anti" for the good of the country.
PS. Thanks for your service!
You need to check your facts.
http://www.factcheck.org/funding_for_veterans_up_...
You need something more recent than 2004. Thank goodness Bush is no longer in office and hopefully these cuts won't be taking place as he planned.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-soltz/cuts-to-v...
Look at the suicide rates for psychologists and psychiatrists. I do not know if it is the same now as it was when I was in college but at the time, these professions were among the highest for committing suicide … and telling others how to fix their problems …
The movie was terrible but the book was pretty awesome. Then again, Heinlein was just as prophetic as Ayn Rand, George Orwell and CS Lewis in many ways. You have to read the books though … especially with Hollywood being what is is these days.
Actually, you may not be far off the truth when you say nationalist. (Remember the Nationalist/Socialist party?)
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