Veteran Suicides Highest Yet Recorded

Iraq And Afghanistan Vets At Greater Suicide Risk Due To Disabling Injuries, PTSD

(AP)  Hundreds of troops have come home from war, left the military and committed suicide.

That is the finding of preliminary Veterans Affairs Department research obtained by The Associated Press that provides the first quantitative look at the suicide toll on today's combat veterans. The ongoing research reveals that at least 283 combat veterans who left the military between the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, and the end of 2005 took their own lives.

The numbers, while not dramatically different from society as a whole, are reminiscent of the increased suicide risk among returning soldiers in the Vietnam era.

Today's homefront suicide tally is running at least double the number of troop suicides in the war zones as thousands of men and women return with disabling injuries and mental health disorders that put them at higher risk.

A total of 147 troops have killed themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan since the wars began, according to the Defense Manpower Data Center, which tracks casualties for the Pentagon.

Add the number of returning veterans and the finding is that at least 430 of the 1.5 million troops who have fought in the two wars have killed themselves over the past six years. And that doesn't include those who committed suicide after their combat tour ended and while still in the military - a number the Pentagon says it doesn't track.

That compares with at least 4,229 U.S. military deaths overall since the wars started - 3,842 in Iraq and 387 in and around Afghanistan.

In response, the VA is ramping up suicide prevention programs.

Research suggests that combat trauma increases the risk of suicide, according to the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Difficulty dealing with failed relationships, financial and legal troubles, and substance abuse also are risk factors among troops, said Cynthia O. Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Families see the effects first hand.

"None of them come back without being touched a little," said Mary Gallagher, a mother of three whose husband, Marine Gunnery Sgt. James Gallagher, took his own life in 2006 inside their home at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

He was proud of his Iraq service, but she wonders whether he was bothered by the death of his captain in Iraq or an incident in which he helped rescue a soldier who was in a fire and later died. Shortly before his death, her husband was distraught over an assignment change he saw as an insult, she said.

"His death contradicts the very person he was. It's very confusing and difficult to understand," said Gallagher of Lynbrook, N.Y.

The family of another Iraq veteran who committed suicide, Jeffrey Lucey, 23, of Belchertown, Mass., filed suit against the former VA secretary, alleging that bad care at the VA was to blame.

And the family of Joshua Omvig, a 22-year-old Iraq war veteran from Grundy Center, Iowa, who also committed suicide, successfully pushed Congress to pass a bill that President Bush is expected to sign that requires the VA to improve suicide prevention care.

Suicides in Iraq have occurred since the early days of the wars, but awareness was heightened when the Army said its suicide rate in 2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops - the highest level in 26 years of record-keeping.

That compares with 9.3 per 100,000 for all military services combined in 2006 and 11.1 per 100,000 for the general U.S. population in 2004, the latest year statistics were available. The Army has said the civilian rate for the same age and gender mix as in the Army is 19 to 20 per 100,000 people.

Just looking at the VA's early numbers, Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's deputy chief patient care service officer for mental health, said there does not appear to be an epidemic of suicides among those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan who left the military.

Katz said post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and problem drinking increase a person's suicide risk by two or three times, but the rate of suicide among those with such conditions "is still very, very low."

He acknowledged, however, that it is too early to know the long-term ramifications for those who served in the wars and said the VA "is very intensely involved in increasing suicide prevention."

"We're not doing it because there's an epidemic in returning veterans, though each death of a returning veteran is a tragedy and it's important to prevent it," Katz said.

The VA and Defense Department have hired more counselors and made other improvements in mental health care, including creation of a veterans suicide prevention hot line.

At the VA's national suicide hot line center based in Canandaigua, N.Y., counselors have taken more than 9,000 calls since July. Some callers are just looking for someone to talk to. Others are concerned family members. Callers who choose to give their names can opt to be met at a local VA center by a suicide prevention counselor; more than 120 callers have been rescued by emergency personnel - some after swallowing pills or with a gun nearby, according to the center.

"It's sad, but I think in the other way it's very exciting because already we've seen really sort of people being able to change their lives around because of the access to resources they've been able to get," said Jan Kemp, who oversees the call center.

Penny Coleman, whose ex-husband committed suicide after returning from Vietnam, said she doesn't buy what she calls the "we didn't expect this" mentality about suicide.

"If you'd chosen to pay attention after Vietnam you would have and should have anticipated it would happen again," said Coleman, who published a book on the subject last year: "Flashback: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Suicide, and the Lessons of War."

One government study of Army veterans from Vietnam found they were more likely to die from suicide than other veterans in the first five years after leaving the military, although the study found the likelihood dissipated over time. There is still heated debate, however, over the total number of suicides by Vietnam veterans; the extent to which it continues even today is unknown.

[godofredo29]

As former Surgeon General Satcher sought, we really need to make suicide a major men''s health issue. The problem is that we need to treat men as individuals rather than as functions of something or someone else. We all have ideals, aspirations unique to ourselves. When life strips away everything to the point where those appear no longer attainable then life is no longer worth living, even for a father, a husband, a brother, a son, a breadwinner, a soldier or whatever social function you want to attach to the guy. At that point you''ve gone beyond a point where you can care any longer about the impact your death might have on anything or anyone else. So, you can''t shame a person into not taking their on life. These are hard things for our mercenary-minded society to accept.

[tejasdemo]

Their deaths lie at the feet of George Bush, *** Cheney, and every Republican in this country.

Go to hell.

[prinzowhales]

The article fails to note how many of these men were on SSRIs or other psychoactive drugs. One of the major complaints of veterans is the VA--when they go for real complaints that can''t be pigeon-holed in a ready made diagnosis, they end up in the psych category...

Suicide is just the final act that catches the eye of the public...like a monk turning himself into a living cherries jubilee. Problems for our veterans abound after the adrenalin-exhausting tours in Iraq and the insult of health-destroying vaccines and exposure to depleted uranium.

[twylacrat]

Bush is a war monger. We all know that. I wonder just how many deaths are enough for him. Is there any end to his need for chaos and death? If he wasn''t president I guess he''d apply for a job at the dog pound putting puppies to sleep.

[finewoven]

. . . like a monk turning himself into a living cherries jubilee. Posted by Prinzowhales at 11:04 AM : Nov 01, 2007

I''d like to see that!

[speakinup]

This article also failed to show the suicide rate for Vietnam and previous war vets.

SO, one has to ask - why the article ? Was it because CBS wanted to push its liberal agenda of getting deaths out there, so Hillary can reap the benefit ?

Why is it we never heard of the resolution for the 250 surrounded ? Yet we hear of "U.S.-Led Afghanistan Raid Kills 2 Children".

Wake up folks - the media is spoon feeding you ONLY what they want you to hear. OR, ONLY what they are forced to tell you. DEMAND better.

[speakinup]

Princeowhales - why are you calling it our troops - you are from Ireland, not the US.

What a charlatan.

[mcvet]

This article also failed to show the suicide rate for Vietnam and previous war vets.

SO, one has to ask - why the article ? Was it because CBS wanted to push its liberal agenda of getting deaths out there, so Hillary can reap the benefit ?

Why is it we never heard of the resolution for the 250 surrounded ? Yet we hear of "U.S.-Led Afghanistan Raid Kills 2 Children".

Wake up folks - the media is spoon feeding you ONLY what they want you to hear. OR, ONLY what they are forced to tell you. DEMAND better.

Posted by Speakinup at 01:19 PM : Nov 01, 2007
+ report abuse

Why do you Nazi''s do this? Why attack the Free Press? Who would you people in the SS like to determine what we the people hear and see... YOU do know that MOST of us are capable of reading and understanding things for ourselves, we do NOT need someone every day to tell us what someone is saying and what they mean. So tell us Swastika Breath, who should determine what we see and hear? Should we establish a Propaganda Ministry? Personally I like the idea of a Free American going out there and reporting on what they see and here. But that''s the difference between us you refer to as "liberal''s" and you bootlickers. I trust my fellow citizen and neighbor, you don''t... Well unless they are part of the Party. Sieg Heil Bush!!

[rf36]

First I''ve heard of this and I''m in the military and have been to Iraq. Suicide prevention education is all over the place in the military. I notice the report mentioned that the suicide rate being tracked was for those who left the military. Maybe a little more suicide prevention education in the civilian world is called for. I had a close friend attempt suicide when I was in high school...if I''d had the kind of education then that I do now on the warning signs, I might have been able to get him help and prevent the attempt. Many of the signs of suicidal thouoghts were there, I just didn''t know how to recognize them for what they were.

[logicanada]

This administration and it''s war in the name of terror has exposed many honorable troops to repeated incidents of carnage and brutality against innocent people. I recall the international outrage following the exposure of the Mi Lai massacre in Viet Nam. Where is the press exposure of such incidents? Conveniently hidden. Who is there to agree with these troops that what they are being ordered to do is just plain wrong.
Men of honor have a hard time dealing with dishonorable actions or reliving the carnage in their dreams. Sometimes only death can bring peace to a troubled mind. Perhaps this is their only way to rest.

[meboard]

Good post MCVet. As an OEF VET, I concur with your support for a free press--that''s why I wear the uniform. Speakinup''s faulty logic would have us look at how many drowned on the Titanic as compared to the Lusitanian. Here''s a clue Speakiup...the end result is the same.

[feelfree1]

Re: "Veteran Suicides Highest Yet Recorded"

Leave it to "speakinup" to find the silver lining of this article.

[oldprophet]

You get the sense that our country is desperate for someone to show us the way. Not the old way. Not the same way, but a NEW WAY. Think about this for a minute. What if we pulled all of our troops out of South Korea? They''ve been there for 50+ years. What if we quit worrying about Iran, but instead, realized that its having a nuclear weapon will not mean the end of the world? What if we pulled all of our troops out of the Middle-East, and brought them all home? What if we realistically addressed the National Debt, and paid attention to REALLY DOING SOMETHING about stopping illegal immigration? These are the ideas of Republican Presidential candidate, Dr. Ron Paul. He''s a ten term Congressman and a physician who has delivered over 4,000 babies. He''s an intellectual who''s published four books, three of which are devoted entirely to sound economics. He was raised on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania as a pious Lutheran, but now he attends a Baptist church. Paul is given to mulling things over morally. Whenever he recollects the helicopter pilots he treated as an Air Force Flight Surgeon (Captain) during the Vietnam War, a war which he now says was "totally unnecessary and illegal," he laments, "They were gung-ho. I%u2019ve often thought about how many of those people never came back." Candidates with the high level of personal integrity and proven track record of adherance to The Constitution, Congressman Paul has always demonstrated only come around once in a lifetime, if we''re lucky.

[logicanada]

Oldprophet. . . in Europe a couple centuries ago a country whose populace felt that all the leaders were corrupted would accept the leadership of a clear thinker from another country. That usually got them back on track. If you want a leader who kicked the corrupt out of his country and spread the wealth of his country among the people get Castro in the Whitehouse. Trust me he will do a better job than shrub