A record number of active-duty soldiers killed themselves last year, top Army leaders reported Thursday, acknowledging that they are losing a battle to reverse a years-long rise in suicides, many of them by soldiers deployed to Afghanistan 0or Iraq.
The 128 confirmed suicides last year — with 15 others pending confirmation — mark a new high since the Army began tracking them in 1980. Soldier suicides have risen each year since they totaled 67 in 2004, the first full year of the Iraq war. At least 171 soldiers, including those in the Army Reserve and National Guard, have killed themselves while deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq from the start of the military operations there in 2001 and 2003, the Army reported.
On Thursday, Army Secretary Pete Geren and other top Army officials unveiled training programs and initiatives aimed at reaching soldiers on the brink. They noted that, for the first time, the Army suicide rate exceeded the adjusted national suicide rate of about 19.5 people per 100,000.
“This is not business as usual. We need to move quickly to do everything we can to reverse this very disturbing number of suicides,” said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff. “We need to help our soldiers and their families understand that it’s OK to ask for help.”
Defense officials have not released overall suicide statistics in the military, but the numbers for Marines also reportedly rose in 2008. Army doctors said that troubles with intimate relationships, poor job performance, alcohol or drug abuse sparked some of the suicides. Stress from long deployments and multiple tours can play a role, often straining relationships at home; some soldiers have killed themselves after returning home and receiving new deployment orders, the Army confirmed.
However, officials also said that most of the suicides for deployed soldiers came during their initial deployments. Overall, the suicides were split about evenly among deaths in Afghanistan or Iraq, soldiers who had returned from deployment and those who never deployed.
“The numbers represent tragedies that have taken place across our Army,” Geren said. “As long as there is a single soldier out there struggling with this personal crisis, we are going to consider that a crisis of our Army family.”
In October, the Army announced it would embark on a $50 million study with the National Institute of Mental Health — the largest suicide study ever by the military. On Thursday it announced plans to step up its suicide training regimen, and ordered a “Stand Down” for suicide outreach beginning Feb. 15 that is designed to reach every soldier. However, the Army already has added hundreds of psychiatrists and psychologists and pushed videos and training through the ranks, with no sign of a turnaround. continued at Mercury News.
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