Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans
They are the casualties of wars you don't often hear about - soldiers who die of self-inflicted wounds. Little is known about the true scope of suicides among those who have served in the military.
But a five-month CBS News investigation discovered data that shows a startling rate of suicide, what some call a hidden epidemic, Chief Investigative Reporter Armen Keteyian reports exclusively.
"I just felt like this silent scream inside of me," said Jessica Harrell, the sister of a soldier who took his own life.
"I opened up the door and there he was," recalled Mike Bowman, the father of an Army reservist.
"I saw the hose double looped around his neck," said Kevin Lucey, another military father.
"He was gone," said Mia Sagahon, whose soldier boyfriend committed suicide.
Keteyian spoke with the families of five former soldiers who each served in Iraq - only to die battling an enemy they could not conquer. Their loved ones are now speaking out in their names.
They survived the hell that's Iraq and then they come home only to lose their life.
Twenty-three-year-old Marine Reservist Jeff Lucey hanged himself with a garden hose in the cellar of this parents' home - where his father, Kevin, found him.
"There's a crisis going on and people are just turning the other way," Kevin Lucey said.
Kim and Mike Bowman's son Tim was an Army reservist who patrolled one of the most dangerous places in Baghdad, known as Airport Road.
"His eyes when he came back were just dead. The light wasn't there anymore," Kim Bowman said.
Eight months later, on Thanksgiving Day, Tim shot himself. He was 23.
Diana Henderson's son, Derek, served three tours of duty in Iraq. He died jumping off a bridge at 27.
"Going to that morgue and seeing my baby ... my life will never be the same," she said.
Beyond the individual loss, it turns out little information exists about how widespread suicides are among these who have served in the military. There have been some studies, but no one has ever counted the numbers nationwide.
"Nobody wants to tally it up in the form of a government total," Bowman said.
Why do the families think that is?
"Because they don't want the true numbers of casualties to really be known," Lucey said.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee.
"If you're just looking at the overall number of veterans themselves who've committed suicide, we have not been able to get the numbers," Murray said.
Four months later, they sent CBS News a document, showing that between 1995 and 2007, there were almost 2,200 suicides. That's 188 last year alone. But these numbers included only "active duty" soldiers.
CBS News went to the Department of Veterans Affairs, where Dr. Ira Katz is head of mental health.
"There is no epidemic in suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem," he said.
Why hasn't the VA done a national study seeking national data on how many veterans have committed suicide in this country?
"That research is ongoing," he said.
So CBS News did an investigation - asking all 50 states for their suicide data, based on death records, for veterans and non-veterans, dating back to 1995. Forty-five states sent what turned out to be a mountain of information.
And what it revealed was stunning.
In 2005, for example, in just those 45 states, there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That's 120 each and every week, in just one year.
Dr. Steve Rathbun is the acting head of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department at the University of Georgia. CBS News asked him to run a detailed analysis of the raw numbers that we obtained from state authorities for 2004 and 2005.
It found that veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide in 2005 than non-vets. (Veterans committed suicide at the rate of between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000, compared to other Americans, who did so at the rate of 8.9 per 100,000.)
One age group stood out. Veterans aged 20 through 24, those who have served during the war on terror. They had the highest suicide rate among all veterans, estimated between two and four times higher than civilians the same age. (The suicide rate for non-veterans is 8.3 per 100,000, while the rate for veterans was found to be between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000.)
"Wow! Those are devastating," said Paul Sullivan, a former VA analyst who is now an advocate for veterans rights from the group Veterans For Common Sense.
"We are determined to decrease veteran suicides," Dr. Katz said.
"One hundred and twenty a week. Is that a problem?" Keteyian asked.
"You bet it's a problem," he said.
Is it an epidemic?
"Suicide in America is an epidemic, and that includes veterans," Katz said.
Sen. Murray said the numbers CBS News uncovered are significant: "These statistics tell me we've really failed people that served our country."
Do these numbers serve as a wake-up call for this country?
"If these numbers don't wake up this country, nothing will," she said. "We each have a responsibility to the men and women who serve us aren't lost when they come home."
An update: The chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, responded to the CBS News story Tuesday.
"The report that the rate of suicide among veterans is double that of the general population is deeply troubling and simply unacceptable. I am especially concerned that so many young veterans appear to be taking their own lives. For too many veterans, returning home from battle does not bring an end to conflict. There is no question that action is needed."
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. But a five-month CBS News investigation discovered data that shows a startling rate of suicide, what some call a hidden epidemic, Chief Investigative Reporter Armen Keteyian reports exclusively.
"I just felt like this silent scream inside of me," said Jessica Harrell, the sister of a soldier who took his own life.
"I opened up the door and there he was," recalled Mike Bowman, the father of an Army reservist.
"I saw the hose double looped around his neck," said Kevin Lucey, another military father.
"He was gone," said Mia Sagahon, whose soldier boyfriend committed suicide.
Keteyian spoke with the families of five former soldiers who each served in Iraq - only to die battling an enemy they could not conquer. Their loved ones are now speaking out in their names.
They survived the hell that's Iraq and then they come home only to lose their life.
Twenty-three-year-old Marine Reservist Jeff Lucey hanged himself with a garden hose in the cellar of this parents' home - where his father, Kevin, found him.
"There's a crisis going on and people are just turning the other way," Kevin Lucey said.
Kim and Mike Bowman's son Tim was an Army reservist who patrolled one of the most dangerous places in Baghdad, known as Airport Road.
"His eyes when he came back were just dead. The light wasn't there anymore," Kim Bowman said.
Eight months later, on Thanksgiving Day, Tim shot himself. He was 23.
Diana Henderson's son, Derek, served three tours of duty in Iraq. He died jumping off a bridge at 27.
"Going to that morgue and seeing my baby ... my life will never be the same," she said.
Beyond the individual loss, it turns out little information exists about how widespread suicides are among these who have served in the military. There have been some studies, but no one has ever counted the numbers nationwide.
"Nobody wants to tally it up in the form of a government total," Bowman said.
Why do the families think that is?
"Because they don't want the true numbers of casualties to really be known," Lucey said.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee.
"If you're just looking at the overall number of veterans themselves who've committed suicide, we have not been able to get the numbers," Murray said.
CBS News' investigative unit wanted the numbers, so it submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense asking for the numbers of suicides among all service members for the past 12 years.Watch the complete investigation.
FYI: Suicide Warning Signs and Getting Help.
Four months later, they sent CBS News a document, showing that between 1995 and 2007, there were almost 2,200 suicides. That's 188 last year alone. But these numbers included only "active duty" soldiers.
CBS News went to the Department of Veterans Affairs, where Dr. Ira Katz is head of mental health.
"There is no epidemic in suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem," he said.
Why hasn't the VA done a national study seeking national data on how many veterans have committed suicide in this country?
"That research is ongoing," he said.
So CBS News did an investigation - asking all 50 states for their suicide data, based on death records, for veterans and non-veterans, dating back to 1995. Forty-five states sent what turned out to be a mountain of information.
And what it revealed was stunning.
In 2005, for example, in just those 45 states, there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That's 120 each and every week, in just one year.
Dr. Steve Rathbun is the acting head of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department at the University of Georgia. CBS News asked him to run a detailed analysis of the raw numbers that we obtained from state authorities for 2004 and 2005.
It found that veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide in 2005 than non-vets. (Veterans committed suicide at the rate of between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000, compared to other Americans, who did so at the rate of 8.9 per 100,000.)
One age group stood out. Veterans aged 20 through 24, those who have served during the war on terror. They had the highest suicide rate among all veterans, estimated between two and four times higher than civilians the same age. (The suicide rate for non-veterans is 8.3 per 100,000, while the rate for veterans was found to be between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000.)
"Wow! Those are devastating," said Paul Sullivan, a former VA analyst who is now an advocate for veterans rights from the group Veterans For Common Sense.
"Those numbers clearly show an epidemic of mental health problems," he said.
Read the Investigative Unit's Data and Methodology behind this story.
Read part 2 of the investigative series.
"We are determined to decrease veteran suicides," Dr. Katz said.
"One hundred and twenty a week. Is that a problem?" Keteyian asked.
"You bet it's a problem," he said.
Is it an epidemic?
"Suicide in America is an epidemic, and that includes veterans," Katz said.
Sen. Murray said the numbers CBS News uncovered are significant: "These statistics tell me we've really failed people that served our country."
Do these numbers serve as a wake-up call for this country?
"If these numbers don't wake up this country, nothing will," she said. "We each have a responsibility to the men and women who serve us aren't lost when they come home."
An update: The chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, responded to the CBS News story Tuesday.
"The report that the rate of suicide among veterans is double that of the general population is deeply troubling and simply unacceptable. I am especially concerned that so many young veterans appear to be taking their own lives. For too many veterans, returning home from battle does not bring an end to conflict. There is no question that action is needed."
I pray all the service men and woman and their families can get the help they desperately need.
My comment on the Fort Hood situation is this. Please do not get caught up in the 911 excuse related use of the incident.
The issue is the military persons must be recognized and given importance. Until this, the psychologist and psychiatrist have been give the full attention when it comes to labeling the aliments that are associated with the present occupation toll on the troops and military officials. This has given medical and psychological professionals the full ear when the injuries are being explained and their proper care. I say to you now is the time for authorities, law makers and governing facilitators to also listen to what the military personnel say they need to facilitate them. This means that some of them may not need to be seen as labeled debilitated and irresponsible to speak up for themselves. They can contribute to their well being and healing, as well. They should be heard when it comes to noting what they perceive as problems, where they are occupied and residing.
Also, if they say they do not feel a certain treatment is appropriate, because they do not feel it is precise, in an institution where economics dictate quick fix with little allowed input, assess this with respect to the possibility they may be a valuable party to give at least a fragment of general attention to. They may just need a certain amount of attention and may even help pen point their own relief, both individually and economically. You see the labeling of them as crazies and not able to contribute to the quest of facilitating themselves, offering input to even the over all security genre on a building block small basis, maybe just as helpful.
Before this doctors, psychoanalyst, and even accountants where given full credence and more attention. This should be measured and cautioned as well. How many of those military personnel treated were indeed treated without harm, opinion or without bias by this once deemed fully professional. Allow the troops the respect to be recognized and give some input when it comes to the issues of their well being that is after all the essential collective physical entity of over all security, of the nation, along with provisions, training, products and organizational structure, in which they are the key part of its very existence. Thank you.
Danny Wilson ? Masters of Management Public Administration, member of the American Sociological and Veterans of Foreign Wars, Long Beach, California.
It's been 4 years since we have been home and I still feel the same way I did the day that plane landed back in the U.S. and I don't know if it will ever go away, but I guess all we can do is try. I don't think the VA can help 100%, but they are getting somewhat better I think. Like I said though, I feel the same. I do appreciate the families efforts to make the VA system better for the soldiers. That is all for now........
God Bless Tim Bowman, The U.S. Armed Forces & F 202 ADA (D. 634th 33rd Infantry) Galva
Thank you,
Matthew J. Flynn