Army's Suicide Rate At 26-Year High
Boston Globe
August 16, 2007
Army's Suicide Rate At 26-Year High
Report says about a quarter occurred during war service
By Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Army soldiers committed suicide last year at the highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a military report.
The report, obtained by the Associated Press ahead of its scheduled release today, found there were 99 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers in 2006, up from 88 the previous year and the highest since 102 suicides in 1991.
In a service of more than a half million soldiers, the 99 suicides amounted to a rate of 17.3 per 100,000 -- the highest in the past 26 years, the report said. The average rate over those years has been 12.3 per 100,000.
The suicide rate for those serving in the wars stayed about the same, 19.4 per 100,000 in 2006, compared with 19.9 in 2005.
"Iraq was the most common deployment location for both [suicides] and attempts," the report said.
The 99 suicides included 28 soldiers deployed to the two wars and 71 who weren't. About twice as many women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide as did women not sent to war, the report said.
Preliminary numbers for the first half of this year indicate the number of suicides could decline across the service this year but increase among troops serving in the wars, officials said.
The increases for 2006 occurred as Army officials worked to set up new and stronger programs for providing mental health care to a force strained by the prolonged war in Iraq and global counterterrorism war, which is entering its sixth year.
Failed personal relationships, legal and financial problems, and the stress of their jobs were factors motivating the soldiers to commit suicide, according to the report.
"In addition, there was a significant relationship between suicide attempts and number of days deployed" in Iraq, Afghanistan, or nearby countries where troops are participating in the war effort, it said. The same pattern seemed to hold true for those who succeeded in killing themselves.
There also "was limited evidence to support the view that multiple . . . deployments are a risk factor for suicide behaviors," it said.
About a quarter of those who killed themselves had a history of at least one psychiatric disorder. Of those, about 20 percent had been diagnosed with a mood disorder such as bipolar disorder or depression, and 8 percent had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, including post-traumatic stress disorder, one of the signature injuries of the conflict in Iraq.
Firearms were the most common method of suicide. Those who attempted suicide but didn't succeed more often tended to take overdoses and cut themselves.
The Army said the information was compiled from reports collected as part of its suicide prevention program, reports required for all "suicide-related behaviors that result in death, hospitalization, or evacuation" of the soldier. It can take considerable time to investigate a suicide and, the Army said in addition to the 99 confirmed suicides last year, there are two deaths suspected as suicides that are being investigated.
August 16, 2007
Army's Suicide Rate At 26-Year High
Report says about a quarter occurred during war service
By Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Army soldiers committed suicide last year at the highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a military report.
The report, obtained by the Associated Press ahead of its scheduled release today, found there were 99 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers in 2006, up from 88 the previous year and the highest since 102 suicides in 1991.
In a service of more than a half million soldiers, the 99 suicides amounted to a rate of 17.3 per 100,000 -- the highest in the past 26 years, the report said. The average rate over those years has been 12.3 per 100,000.
The suicide rate for those serving in the wars stayed about the same, 19.4 per 100,000 in 2006, compared with 19.9 in 2005.
"Iraq was the most common deployment location for both [suicides] and attempts," the report said.
The 99 suicides included 28 soldiers deployed to the two wars and 71 who weren't. About twice as many women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide as did women not sent to war, the report said.
Preliminary numbers for the first half of this year indicate the number of suicides could decline across the service this year but increase among troops serving in the wars, officials said.
The increases for 2006 occurred as Army officials worked to set up new and stronger programs for providing mental health care to a force strained by the prolonged war in Iraq and global counterterrorism war, which is entering its sixth year.
Failed personal relationships, legal and financial problems, and the stress of their jobs were factors motivating the soldiers to commit suicide, according to the report.
"In addition, there was a significant relationship between suicide attempts and number of days deployed" in Iraq, Afghanistan, or nearby countries where troops are participating in the war effort, it said. The same pattern seemed to hold true for those who succeeded in killing themselves.
There also "was limited evidence to support the view that multiple . . . deployments are a risk factor for suicide behaviors," it said.
About a quarter of those who killed themselves had a history of at least one psychiatric disorder. Of those, about 20 percent had been diagnosed with a mood disorder such as bipolar disorder or depression, and 8 percent had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, including post-traumatic stress disorder, one of the signature injuries of the conflict in Iraq.
Firearms were the most common method of suicide. Those who attempted suicide but didn't succeed more often tended to take overdoses and cut themselves.
The Army said the information was compiled from reports collected as part of its suicide prevention program, reports required for all "suicide-related behaviors that result in death, hospitalization, or evacuation" of the soldier. It can take considerable time to investigate a suicide and, the Army said in addition to the 99 confirmed suicides last year, there are two deaths suspected as suicides that are being investigated.
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Those kids are tired of being deployed, coming home just to get ready to deploy again. They need more time in their own country and with their families. This is another reason we need the draft. Let's get some new guys into the action. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by sarge_3ad
Those kids are tired of being deployed, coming home just to get ready to deploy again. They need more time in their own country and with their families. This is another reason we need the draft. Let's get some new guys into the action.
DITTO!0 -
I agree ... this is nuts!
[V]0 -
28 suicides of deployed personel, thats nothing. notice the article didnt give any statistics of the suicides from 1992-2000 ? Hmmm..... 0 -
No one forced them to join and no one promised them an easy ride. Saying the draft should be reinstated because volunteers found military duty too hard to bear is little like asking someone to perform CPR on themselves because the paramedic had a rough week.
As is, look at it this way - they went out hereoes in your eyes. No calling them cowards, no saying they let their country and their fellow soldiers down - in many ways, they got off easy.0 -
The Draft needs to return.
Doug0 -
Bring back the draft? [V]
A slightly off-topic commment: I met a Navy corpsman in Korea who was a retread from the Army. He said that many suicides by troops stationed in Germany (circa late 70's) were covered up and reported as accidental deaths so the families could collect the life insurance. I'm not sure what level that decision was made at but I would have guessed the real reason might have been for the Army to save face.0 -
That wouldn't surprise me.
D.0 -
Draft? Are you guys insane? Do you *really* want a bunch of losers in the Army who DON'T want to be there?
This isn't the 1940s, guys. This is 2007, and the draft would NOT work as selfish and self-centered as people are now.
Hell, I can't even find "kids" to run a cash register for $10/hr! You *really* think you can get them to risk their life for about the same price?????
Some of you guys really amaze me. You are soooooooooooo out of touch with the young people in this country......
Merc0 -
Check the personality problems in the article. Kind of looks like a
mirror of our society. Keep lowering the standards and see what you
get.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Mercury
Draft? Are you guys insane? Do you *really* want a bunch of losers in the Army who DON'T want to be there?
This isn't the 1940s, guys. This is 2007, and the draft would NOT work as selfish and self-centered as people are now.
Hell, I can't even find "kids" to run a cash register for $10/hr! You *really* think you can get them to risk their life for about the same price?????
Some of you guys really amaze me. You are soooooooooooo out of touch with the young people in this country......
Merc
I take it you are one of the young people? Every generation has idiots that can excel given training and the proper motivation. This one is no different.
The selfish and self-centered would be forced to learn a new way of life, especially if theirs depended on it.
This country needs to reinstate the draft.0 -
...There are millions of vets who would beg to differ about being "loosers"...speaking of being out of touch...[;)] 
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quote:Originally posted by p3skyking
quote:Originally posted by Mercury
Draft? Are you guys insane? Do you *really* want a bunch of losers in the Army who DON'T want to be there?
This isn't the 1940s, guys. This is 2007, and the draft would NOT work as selfish and self-centered as people are now.
Hell, I can't even find "kids" to run a cash register for $10/hr! You *really* think you can get them to risk their life for about the same price?????
Some of you guys really amaze me. You are soooooooooooo out of touch with the young people in this country......
Merc
I take it you are one of the young people? Every generation has idiots that can excel given training and the proper motivation. This one is no different.
The selfish and self-centered would be forced to learn a new way of life, especially if theirs depended on it.
This country needs to reinstate the draft.
Ditto! In the old days they had a way of making soldiers or Marines out of anybody. What a great way it would be to make some of these crybaby, bumming off the parent, lazy, irresponsible, no respect, nintendo playing, can't count change, young people be more responsible and respectable. Anyway, there have been alot of fine people who would not have anything to do with the military, get drafted and fell in love with the job so much that they stayed on until they retired. The Draft is not a bad thing, unless your one of those listed above. Hate to admit it, but I have a couple of boys I would love to see get drafted. It would help them out tremendously.0 -
when you draw water from a contaminated well, what do you expect? 0 -
No one mentions the obvious here...
Raise the salarys and more people will join.
Hey it's only money [:)]0 -
Here's why ?
Philadelphia Inquirer
August 17, 2007
Army Pegs Increase In Suicides To Stress
By Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Repeated and ever-longer war-zone tours are putting increasing pressure on military families, the Army said yesterday, helping push soldier suicides to a record rate.
There were 99 Army suicides last year - nearly half of them soldiers who hadn't reached their 25th birthdays, about a third of them serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Col. Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general, told a Pentagon news conference that the primary reason for suicide is "failed intimate relationships, failed marriages."
Although the military is worried about the stress caused by repeat deployments and tours of duty that have been stretched to 15 months, she said, it has not found a direct relationship between suicides and combat or deployments.
"However, we do know that frequent deployments put a real strain on relationships, especially on marriages. So we believe that part of the increase is related to the increased stress in relationships," she said.
"Very often, a young soldier gets a 'Dear John' or 'Dear Jane' e-mail and then takes his weapon and shoots himself."
The report resonated on Army bases and among war supporters as well as critics.
"It can get pretty depressing, even when you're not in harm's way," said Sgt. Carlene Bishop, 25, of Reading, Pa., who serves in the 10th Mountain Division and returned from Iraq in May. "You're away from home, you have to put your life on hold. I know soldiers whose marriages have broken up or who couldn't pay their bills."
The 2006 total - the highest rate in 26 years of record-keeping and the largest raw figure in 15 years - came despite Army efforts to set up new programs and strengthen old ones for providing mental health care.
The Army has sent medical teams annually to Iraq to survey troops, health-care providers and chaplains. It has revised trainings and bolstered suicide prevention, is trying to hire more psychiatrists and other professionals and is in the midst of an extensive program to teach all soldiers how to recognize mental health problems in themselves and others - to overcome a culture that attaches a stigma to seeking help.
Also in the new report:
Of the 99 suicides, 30 were soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan at the time of their deaths.
69 were committed by troops who were not deployed in either war, though it was unclear whether they had previously deployed.
In a half-million-person Army, the 2006 toll translates to a rate of 17.3 per 100,000.
A quarter of the suicides had a history of at least one psychiatric disorder.0 -
There was a time in my past when I was seriously thinking of killing myself...so I have a wee bit of knowledge on this...
All these Psychologist can analize all they want, but if you are traveling down a road that is wrong for you and you don't find the right one PDQ, you are a goner!!! In the military it is awful damn hard to find the opportunity the find another road. Frankly I would expect it to be higher now...reality is that a lot of these folks have joined for a job. And if that is your motive you have definately missed a road sign. There must be a thousand other "wrong" reasons for joining and you can bet every freaking one of them have been done...
Now if you are drafted into a war, then maybe you can blame that war and our policies on a suicide, but if you have volunteered your self into that situation, no, I can't and won't except the war or our policies as blame for a person who quite simply got on the wrong road!!!
Harsh maybe, the truth often is!!!0 -
quote:Originally posted by sarge_3ad
Those kids are tired of being deployed, coming home just to get ready to deploy again. They need more time in their own country and with their families. This is another reason we need the draft. Let's get some new guys into the action.
I've read a couple of posts on GB comparing the conflict in Iraq/Afganistan with the struggle against the Axis Powers in WWII and that the Islamic fanatics are the same as the Nazis. How many of our WWII vets went overseas for 15 months and then got the chance to come home for a full year before deploying again? How many ever got to go home at all before the war ended unless they were wounded or there was some sort of family crisis? Large numbers of these troops were draftees and they managed.
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