on Wednesday night, about 60 miles south of Los Angeles. A man in waterproof dark approach of a crowded bar, unloads his Glock into the crowd, and then turns the gun on himself. 12 dead, over 20 injured. Quickly identified, the author of the slaughter of the mass of Thousand Oaks, the 307th of the year, is called Ian David Long, a veteran of the Marine corps. At age 28, he has just added his name to the list of the 7,000 veterans who are killing themselves each year, or twenty per day. A dramatic phenomenon that the american administration can barely contain it.

“The number of suicides has soared since 2008, to such an extent that the army, which is used to lock its communications, has decided to make public this malaise, notes Romain Huret, a researcher at the EHESS and specialist of the history of the United States of the Twentieth century. This calls also for the opinion on the level of violence, unknown, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the difficult return to the fire for the fighters”.

In 2016, the Department of veterans publishes an analysis of river of these suicides, presented as “the most comprehensive of history,” segmenting the dramas by age, sex, social context or academic background. A link was established with the main public health challenge in the country: the crisis of opioids, anti-pain, highly addictive which have carried away more than 60,000 Americans, only the year 2016. Veterans, subjects with chronic pain, consume plenty through the prescriptions issued by the medical centers to which they are dedicated. Seized by the magnitude of the phenomenon, the Department of veterans had reduced his prescription of opioids to 41% between 2012 and 2017. Between 2004 and 2012, they had jumped by 270%.

The veterans, “an electorate pampered” by Donald Trump

If the Department says, “working tirelessly to develop ways to fight against suicide”, it also pulls the sleeve of the policy to claim the means of its ambition. Throughout his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has hammered his support to the 21 million veterans in the country. “This is an electorate that he particularly cherished. It has increased spending on the military, reminiscent of Romain Huret, a part of which are now being used to treat the problems for post-traumatic stress directly in medical units present on the ground”.

A support and follow-up of psychological need. In April, police alerted the neighbourhood had visited the home of Ian David Long, because it was behaving “irrationally”. “He was kicking in the wall,” says a neighbor to Reuters. The police officers couldn’t get out of the house, this went on for four or five hours.” The police suspect a disorder of post-traumatic stress disorder. After consultation, the mental health professionals do not believe are not necessary internment of the former machine gunner deployed to Afghanistan.