Soldier Suicide Rate May Set Record Again
Soldier suicides this year could surpass the record rate of last year, Army officials said Thursday, urging military leaders at all levels to redouble prevention efforts for a force strained by two wars.
As of the end of August, there were 62 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers and Guard and Reserve troops called to active duty, officials said. Another 31 deaths appear to be suicides but are still being investigated.
If all are confirmed, that means that the number for 2008 could eclipse the 115 of last year - and the rate per 100,000 could surpass that of the civilian population, Col. Eddie Stephens, deputy director of human resources policy, said at a Pentagon news conference.
"Army leaders are fully aware that repeated deployments have led to increased distress and anxiety for both soldiers and their families," Army Secretary Pete Geren said.
"The Army is committed to ensuring that all soldiers and their families receive the behavioral health care they need," he said in a statement distributed at the press conference on National Suicide Prevention Week starting Sunday.
"Installations and units across the Army have been directed to redouble their efforts in awareness and prevention training and soldier care and support services," Stephens said.
To try to stem the continually growing number of suicides, the Army already has been increasing the number of staff psychiatrists and other mental health staff as well as chaplains and bolstering programs both at home and at the battlefronts. Officials also are about to issue a new interactive video for troops and will be adding a new program on resilience to basic training starting in January, said Brig. Gen. Rhonda L. Cornum, an assistant Army surgeon general.
"There are no simple problems and there are no simple solutions," Cornum said. "There is no program that has been shown to be truly effective at preventing suicides ... Success will be the sum of a number of smaller steps."
The Army has come under unprecedented stress as the main force in the two largely ground wars.
Of the confirmed deaths so far this year, three soldiers were in the Army Reserves and four in the Army National Guard.
If the overall numbers continue through December as they have been, Stephens said, they would eclipse the 115 of 2007, 102 in 2006, 87 in 2005 and 67 in 2004.
The rate per 100,000 soldiers also has been rising and could be surpassed. It was 18.1 per 100,000 last year - the highest since the Army started keeping record in 1980. That compared to a rate of 17.5 in 2006 and 9.8 in 2002 - the first full year after the start of the war in Afghanistan.
The rate for 2008 has not been calculated, officials said, but if the trend holds, it would surpass the demographically adjusted rate of 19.5 per 100,00 for the civilian population, Stephens said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the suicide rate for U.S. society overall was about 11 per 100,000 in 2004, the latest year for which the agency has figures. But the Army says that when civilian rates are adjusted to cover the same age and gender mix that exists in the Army - a younger and largely male population - the civilian rate is more like 19.5 per 100,000.
The Army has come under unprecedented stress as the main force in the two largely ground wars.
The Marine Corps, the second biggest force in Iraq - and even younger and more male than the Army - had a rate of 16.5 per 100,000 in 1007, the last year readily available. The Air Force and Navy had rates of a little over 10 per 100,000, according to defense records.
Col. Carl Castro, director of military operational medical research for the Army, said that in addition to the many programs officials are trying, there needs to be a cultural shift in the military to get people to focus more on mental health and fitness.
"It takes some time ... to get a cultural shift," he said "Sometimes they take decades."
In addition to suicide prevention programs, the Pentagon also has been working to encourage troops to seek mental health care by reducing the stigma associated with getting help. Officials believe many who need help don't get it because they fear it will hurt their careers.
Officials last year also budgeted $25 million for the "Strong Bonds" program, run by chaplains and aimed at strengthening personal relationships strained by long and repeated separations as well as other stresses.
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, an increasing number of troops have been turning to medication to deal with the stress of battle. Each year, between 20 and 40 soldiers are evacuated from war zones for mental problems brought on by combat, reported CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin, and many more stay in the battle with the help of medication.
A recent survey found 12 percent of soldiers in Iraq reported taking either anti-depressants or sleeping pills. That works out to about 19,000 soldiers, half of them using anti-depressants.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. As of the end of August, there were 62 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers and Guard and Reserve troops called to active duty, officials said. Another 31 deaths appear to be suicides but are still being investigated.
If all are confirmed, that means that the number for 2008 could eclipse the 115 of last year - and the rate per 100,000 could surpass that of the civilian population, Col. Eddie Stephens, deputy director of human resources policy, said at a Pentagon news conference.
"Army leaders are fully aware that repeated deployments have led to increased distress and anxiety for both soldiers and their families," Army Secretary Pete Geren said.
"The Army is committed to ensuring that all soldiers and their families receive the behavioral health care they need," he said in a statement distributed at the press conference on National Suicide Prevention Week starting Sunday.
"Installations and units across the Army have been directed to redouble their efforts in awareness and prevention training and soldier care and support services," Stephens said.
To try to stem the continually growing number of suicides, the Army already has been increasing the number of staff psychiatrists and other mental health staff as well as chaplains and bolstering programs both at home and at the battlefronts. Officials also are about to issue a new interactive video for troops and will be adding a new program on resilience to basic training starting in January, said Brig. Gen. Rhonda L. Cornum, an assistant Army surgeon general.
"There are no simple problems and there are no simple solutions," Cornum said. "There is no program that has been shown to be truly effective at preventing suicides ... Success will be the sum of a number of smaller steps."
As officials have said before, Cornum said the main factors in soldier suicides continues to be problems with their personal relationships, legal and financial issues, work problems and the repeated deployments and longer tour lengths prompted by an Afghan war entering its eighth year and Iraq campaign in its sixth.Members of Congress heard testimony in early May from VA officials - following CBS News reports that the department tried to cover up an epidemic of suicide among veterans. report.
The Army has come under unprecedented stress as the main force in the two largely ground wars.
Of the confirmed deaths so far this year, three soldiers were in the Army Reserves and four in the Army National Guard.
If the overall numbers continue through December as they have been, Stephens said, they would eclipse the 115 of 2007, 102 in 2006, 87 in 2005 and 67 in 2004.
The rate per 100,000 soldiers also has been rising and could be surpassed. It was 18.1 per 100,000 last year - the highest since the Army started keeping record in 1980. That compared to a rate of 17.5 in 2006 and 9.8 in 2002 - the first full year after the start of the war in Afghanistan.
The rate for 2008 has not been calculated, officials said, but if the trend holds, it would surpass the demographically adjusted rate of 19.5 per 100,00 for the civilian population, Stephens said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the suicide rate for U.S. society overall was about 11 per 100,000 in 2004, the latest year for which the agency has figures. But the Army says that when civilian rates are adjusted to cover the same age and gender mix that exists in the Army - a younger and largely male population - the civilian rate is more like 19.5 per 100,000.
The Army has come under unprecedented stress as the main force in the two largely ground wars.
The Marine Corps, the second biggest force in Iraq - and even younger and more male than the Army - had a rate of 16.5 per 100,000 in 1007, the last year readily available. The Air Force and Navy had rates of a little over 10 per 100,000, according to defense records.
Col. Carl Castro, director of military operational medical research for the Army, said that in addition to the many programs officials are trying, there needs to be a cultural shift in the military to get people to focus more on mental health and fitness.
"It takes some time ... to get a cultural shift," he said "Sometimes they take decades."
In addition to suicide prevention programs, the Pentagon also has been working to encourage troops to seek mental health care by reducing the stigma associated with getting help. Officials believe many who need help don't get it because they fear it will hurt their careers.
Officials last year also budgeted $25 million for the "Strong Bonds" program, run by chaplains and aimed at strengthening personal relationships strained by long and repeated separations as well as other stresses.
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, an increasing number of troops have been turning to medication to deal with the stress of battle. Each year, between 20 and 40 soldiers are evacuated from war zones for mental problems brought on by combat, reported CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin, and many more stay in the battle with the help of medication.
A recent survey found 12 percent of soldiers in Iraq reported taking either anti-depressants or sleeping pills. That works out to about 19,000 soldiers, half of them using anti-depressants.
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The reason the US wants to stay in Iraq is they don t want the Russians signing contracts for Iraqi oil.
Before the Iraq invasion & occupation Russia was one of Iraqs largest oil customers. Russia is the second largest supplier of Oil on the planet. They are the Saudis competition.
The Saudis and BIG OIL used Bush to get rid of Saddam because he was undercutting their oil sales and profits by selling cheap to Russia. This caused a depression of oil market prices which hit historic lows prior to the Iraq invasion.
That is why I think Americans like their guns so much. It makes them feel "powerful" instead of "powerless".
I read an article on here a long time ago, saying that the military was going to stop the physical and mental abuse. I wonder if they have?
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Posted by erasmus81 at 01:14 PM : Sep 05, 2008
The "gun" as you imply isn''t the problem. It''s the trama of what they have seen and experienced. Stress is a deadly thing if not handled properly and these numbers are a reflection of the militaries inability to develope an effective solution.
And when they are in "training", they are physically and mentally abused. Their self-esteem is crushed. They feel hopeless and powerless. And after they finish doing that, they stick a gun in their hand and are told to KILL. That gun would make them feel powerful, but when they return home, that gun is taken away. No gun, no more power. Where does that leave them? Back with the low self-esteem and it is going to be much worse now.
"No gun, no more power."
That is why I think Americans like their guns so much. It makes them feel "powerful" instead of "powerless".
I read an article on here a long time ago, saying that the military was going to stop the physical and mental abuse. I wonder if they have?
Interesting that Patriot Day falls on 9/11 this year...
The point I was trying to make is that too many people, like yourself, look at a "statistic" then have a knee jerk reaction.
We are dealing with small numbers here...that is why the story is using the percent analogy.
If the story simply said "There has been an additional 10 suicides among veterans out of 140000 troops...." it wouldn''''t carry the same umph.
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Posted by tiddsanbeer at 11:20 AM : Sep 05, 2008
Thanks, but I don''t need to listen and learn from you. I have seen enough statistical manipulation the last 8 years to last a lifetime. The service members are being abuse, that is fact. The number of rotations has increased and intervals beteen deployment and home has decreased. Couple that with decreasd enlistment, calling up inactive reserve troops, stop loss, the uncertain combat conditions with friend from foe being hard to determine, family probelms from separation, feeling neglected when returning, horrendious injuries being survived at an unprecedented rate but requiring extensive therapy that isn''t always being given, you are full of Bullsh1t if you dismiss this as a manipulation of numbers. I''m so sick of these people having to die so you fake a@@ "patriots" can thump your chest. Anyone who votes for another 4 years of the treatment the Republicans have delived to our troops is guilty of treason in my opinion.