The Washington Post reports:
Suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 reached their highest
level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980, according to a
draft internal study obtained by
The Washington Post. Last year, 121 soldiers took their own lives, nearly 20 percent more than in 2006.
At the same time, the number of attempted suicides or self-inflicted
injuries in the Army has jumped sixfold since the Iraq war began. Last
year, about 2,100 soldiers injured themselves or attempted suicide,
compared with about 350 in 2002, according to the U.S. Army Medical
Command Suicide Prevention Action Plan.
The Army was unprepared for the high number of suicides and cases of
post-traumatic stress disorder among its troops, as the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan have continued far longer than anticipated. Many Army
posts still do not offer enough individual counseling and some soldiers
suffering psychological problems complain that they are stigmatized by
commanders. Over the past year, four high-level commissions have
recommended reforms and Congress has given the military hundreds of
millions of dollars to improve its mental health care, but critics
charge that significant progress has not been made.
The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed severe stress on
the Army, caused in part by repeated and lengthened deployments.
Historically, suicide rates tend to decrease when soldiers are in
conflicts overseas, but that trend has reversed in recent years. From a
suicide rate of 9.8 per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2001 -- the
lowest rate on record -- the Army reached an all-time high of 17.5
suicides per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2006.
Last year, twice as many soldier suicides occurred in the United States than in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After 200 interviews, the picture of what is behind the trend begins to emerge:
200 interviews in the United States and overseas, and found that the
common factors in suicides and attempted suicides include failed
personal relationships; legal, financial or occupational problems; and
the frequency and length of overseas deployments.
This dramatic rise in solider suicides should not surprise anybody. Here is a 2004 CBS News story that predicts the trend.
The media, from news to Hollywood, feeds the stigma of...
