TW: suicide, PTSD

The military gives a ton of lip service to caring about veteran suicide. There is no shortage of hand-wringing about 22 per day.

But it all means absolutely JACK when the military is actively maintaining the service to suicide pipeline.

🧵/1 Everyone knows combat PTSD is a thing. That especially after 20 years of war, we have a lot of traumatized veterans. No secret.

But you don't come back from the war and go to therapy.

You go back to work. And maybe back to war.
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Straight folks, listen up.

As we push back against things like #DontSayGay, the right is spinning it into “liberals want to groom your children.” Fox News is running with it. Right-wing politicians are running with it.

Don’t fall for it, but don’t ignore it, either.
/1 This is part of a push from the right to repeal marriage equality and otherwise force the LGBTQ+ community back into the closet. They are claiming we’re grooming kids, but what they’re actually doing is grooming YOU. /2

A lot of people seem shocked to learn that white supremacy and right-wing nationalism are problems in the military.

You know why that is? Because we've put troops on a pedestal so no one can criticize them without being called unAmerican and unpatriotic.

This is a problem. /1 Criticizing the military is automatically twisted into "You don't support our troops!" And that "support our troops" fetishization has been weaponized to silence any kind of dissent. Why is kneeling for the anthem disrespectful to veteran? Because someone told you it is. /2

Minneapolis has, among other responses to the Floyd murder, implemented requirements for officers to intervene and report other officers for violations, excessive force, etc.

It's a good start. It is.

But it's not going to accomplish a damn thing. /1 Mandatory intervention/reporting won't do anything until other major systemic problems are resolved.

The police have a code of silence comparable to omerta. It's well-known that cops don't rat out cops because snitches get stitches.
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