Our Deadliest Enemy -
Military suicides are up. Again. It’s an all too common story, but the dimensions of the problems are growing. The latest statistics show that more military personnel killed themselves so far this year than died in action in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to Congress.org
[Rising military suicides — Congress.org, Nov. 25, 2009]
So far this year, at least 334 servicemembers have committed suicide compared with 297 killed in Afghanistan and 144 in Iraq, according to Congress.org.
The Army in particular has been aware of the alarming trend for years, and has been stepping up programs aimed at improving mental health services to soldiers and raising awareness of the signs that a soldier might take his life.
It might seem obvious that the spike is due to the psychological stress and uncertainly of multiple combat tours, but there are many factors at work here. But in fact a third of the active-duty soldiers who committed suicide have never deployed to the war zones, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli, told Congress.org.
And the numbers could be even higher if they accounted for people who killed themselves after they got out of the military.
Is the combat? Is it the economy? Is it a societal trend?
From my years of covering military suicide rates, I know that traditionally the military rate is lower than for civilians, once you adjust for age, gender, etc. But because civilian statistics are not as current, we can’t tell how much worse the situation may be in the military.
Still we know something’s wrong when more of our fighting men and women are dying by their own hand than from the Taliban or al Qaeda.
Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, Suicides
I’m awaiting why I should be threatened to be beheaded again…it ought to be one heck of an explanation.…
