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US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

bloomberg.com

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Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#331

Post by roysting »

johnnyApplePRNG wrote: post #122
nosmokewhereiam wrote: post #111

Glad to see this brought up! My entire Air Force experience is blocked to comment on besides basic training...Tech school and forward is NDA'd, read in, etc You don't really get to sneak a glimpse of operations and write a book like the SEALs seem get to (jk!)

So just suffer in silence because you signed some papers when you were too young to understand what they really meant? That's horrible. I almost signed up for the Canadian Military back in the early 2000s and I think my lucky stars every day that I skipped that last recruitment meeting.

[dead]

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#333

Post by XorNot »

ifwinterco wrote: post #321
constantius wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The US hasn't fought a just war since WW2 and even that is actually somewhat questionable

The citizens of South Korea might have some thoughts on that.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#334

Post by breppp »

yosefk wrote: post #320
breppp wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a very weak ideological motivation for people who would never enlist in the first place. However, I think people are generally too cynical towards a very real belief system. There are multiple examples of US pushing for democracy against its own interest. Bush with the Hamas Gaza elections, Obama with the Egypt Muslim Brotherhood government and Carter with pre-revolution Iran are such examples

Bush knew what he was doing - Hamas has the influence it has because the US wants it to have it. When Trump decided he wants them to release Israeli hostages he forced them to do it rather quickly, all things considered, showing who really controls Hamas. Restraining American "allies" is key to how America understands its interests and Hamas is an excellent lever to pressure Israel, or Hamas-controlled Gaza wouldn't…

> Hamas has the influence it has because the US wants it to have it

I doubt this is backed by US intentions and actions historically

> Similarly, Obama supported the Muslim Brotherhood because he did

That seems like a tautology to me, care to expand? I vividly remember Obama throwing his autocrat ally under the bus

> in Ukraine for instance the same admin supported a coup

The protests in Ukraine hardly seem like a US coup and were organic according to my understanding, but maybe you can point exactly to the US involvement

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#335

Post by darkerside »

ajmurmann wrote: post #327
senderista wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel will happily flatten a whole apartment complex to get one guy.

They also have been giving civilians warnings to leave areas before they "flatten a whole apartment complex"

Hope they checked their text messages

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#336

Post by constantius »

woodruffw wrote: post #325
constantius wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The author of that page appears to be a Holocaust denier[1]. Not exactly the example I would put forwards, especially if I want to make an unannealed appeal against Israeli war crimes. [1]: A search for that name mostly brings up links to pages for SS apologia.

Yes: the content is very different from what I remembered it as from back when I first visited it after Aaron died, I don't know how the website went where it went, and I'm sorry I didn't check prior to posting.

Updated link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Bushnell

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#337

Post by perpetuallunch »

kstrauser wrote: post #151
YesThatTom2 wrote: post #11

I suspect the Cold War of cyber warfare that is happening is orders of magnitude bigger than the public knows. Imagine knowing this and not being able to get emotional support from your friends and family.

This was a big thing for drone people based out of Eppley AFB in Omaha. Wake up, drive to work, attack enemies, drive home, sit there eating dinner with your family trying to pretend you didn’t kill someone and can’t talk about it. Combat troops get to lean on each other after a firefight: “dude, good shot. That guy was about to get us!” You get validation that you did something to safe you and your friends, and it’s…

News just in: talking about your mental health, especially for men, does not improve your mental health.

For the majority of men, most of the time.

If it did, shouldn’t we see mental health improving by now?

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#338

Post by ryandrake »

jckahn wrote: post #180
iso1631 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that would be fine if it was defence. But it's now the department of war, led by a person who has attacked two countries this year alone.

I'm against the U.S.'s broken leadership as much as any sensible person. But even in normal times with sane leadership, national defense is often a matter of "kill or be killed." This is certainly an uncomfortable truth, but that's the way of the world.

In what "normal" times is a country down to the "kill or be killed" choice? It's only "kill or be killed" if you are under attack by an actual aggressor. When was the last time, say, Canada or New Zealand, felt their national defense choices were "kill or be killed"?

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#339

Post by AussieWog93 »

paulmist wrote: post #10
someothherguyy wrote: post #2

"Between early June and early July, as many as five individuals who worked in or closely with US Cyber Command died by suicide, based on internal communications, public records and sources. The deaths have raised concern among lawmakers and military leaders within the highly secretive command, which is responsible for defending US networks and conducting offensive cyber operations." According to https://www.gao.gov/a…

Assuming a predominantly male population, the suicide rate should be around 20 per 100000 per year. 5 people in a month gives 18x higher rate. Too short period to draw any statistical conclusions but it’s a large blip.

I mean, let's be real for a second. It's cybersecurity.

Yes, it does skew male, but you're probably looking at 10x the standard population density of Autistics, and 20x the density of trans women.

I'm sure there are other "sociologically valid" ways you can measure this too, but there is absolutely a correlation between having the type of brain that is able to perform offensive cybersecurity operations and mental illness/social rejection/isolation.

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