The statistical question isn’t whether returning vets have a higher homicide rate than the general population, other things being equal.
It’s whether returning combat vets have a higher homicide – and other violent crime – rate than military members or vets without combat experience.
The military is an elite slice of the population and without a doubt has a much lower crime rate than the general population. Therefore, just because returning vets have a lower homicide rate than the general population doesn’t prove that waging war didn’t factor into the criminal behavior of some dozens of returning vets.
Whether such stats are available, or not, the story still stands on the far-flung reporting. There’s no doubt, based on the well-sourced accounts, that many (dozens is many, right; and too many, can we agree?) combat veterans are affected by waging war to the point that it contributes to criminal actions on their part back home.
That’s always been the case, it’s nearly an irrefutable fact, and it in no way is a slur against soldiers in general. It’s just part of the horror of war.
And acknowledging it as such isn’t an anti-war position, per se.
We better take care of our soldiers and we can do so better if we have the best information about what they need.
