To the Editor:

Re “All the Lonely People,” by Ross Douthat (column, May 19):

There is an eerie parallel between the rising number of suicides among men over 50 and the rising number of suicides among young veterans in their 20s and 30s. Twenty-two veterans commit suicide each day, on average.

There is also a connection between suicide and unemployment, especially for men in their 50s, whose economic prospects take a dive.

This is also true for the once immensely responsible young men in the military who now face employment they view as valueless among co-workers with little sense of team loyalty or understanding of the greater mission that propelled these veterans to volunteer for the military.

These veterans were once part of a military that knew them intimately, with team members they could lean on and battlefield companions who would defend them with their lives. For many veterans, these elements have vanished in the civilian world, and the ensuing loneliness coupled with hopelessness at never finding them again is the motivation for ending it all.