Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
US Army Suicide Rate at 30 Year High, Nearing Vietnam Era Levels
Share:
by Tina Kells | January 29, 2009 at 11:35 am
2143 views | 4 Recommendations | 6 comments
Photos
Videos
The suicide rate among US Army troops is at a 30 year high according to senior officials with the Army command. Citing "tremendous and unprecedented stress" due to long tours of duty in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, US Army command says that the suicide rate among soldiers is nearing Vietnam era levels.
At least 128 soldiers killed themselves in 2008, said two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the data has not been formally released.The final count likely will be considerably higher because more than a dozen other suspicious deaths are still being investigated and could also turn out to be self-inflicted.
The new figure of more than 128 compares to 115 in 2007 and 102 in 2006 - and is the highest since record keeping began in 1980.
It also calculates to a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers - which is higher than the adjusted civilian rate for the first time since the Vietnam War, officials said.
The rising US Army suicide rate has been attributed to battlefield stress and the associated issues this stress causes in the personal lives of soldiers. For the first time since Vietnam the suicide rate for soldiers is higher than the adjusted suicide rate in the general population.
The statistics released today are staggering and add another sad chapter to the ongoing saga of the US offensives in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The previous number of suicides, combined, among the Army's active-duty soldiers and National Guard and Reserve troops also was the highest on record - 18.8 per 100,000. But the new pace of 20.2 suicides per 100,000 soldiers is startling because it for the first time surpasses the civilian number, when adjusted to reflect the Army's younger and male-heavy demographics.
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 the civilian rate is more like 19.5 per 100,000 when adjusted.
The new rate of 20.2 - which also will be higher if more suicides are confirmed - compares to 18.8 per 100,000 in 2007, 17.5 in 2006 and 9.8 in 2002 - the first full year after the start of the war in Afghanistan
The new Army report follows one earlier this month showing that the Marine Corps recorded more suicides last year than any year since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
That report said 41 Marines were possible or confirmed suicides in 2008, or 16.8 per 100,000 troops. The Marine rate remained unchanged because the Corps is increasing in size, officials said.
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Most Recommended Comment
MAJ John Breland (not verified)
Crowd Power
Jeff_Werner
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Tina Kells
Vancouver, Canadalubinski
United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
at 07:23 on January 30th, 2009
To see the official article from the US Army, visit our page:
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/army-addresses-rising-suicide-rate-highest-four-years
Thank you for shedding light on this topic and for supporting the troops.
at 09:43 on March 6th, 2009
The Army cannot solve its suicide problem, because neither the Army nor its deployments are the underlying cause. The underlying cause is the weakening character of the American people. Americans used to take pride in their rugged individualism. No longer. We have become soft and psychologically unprepared for even the slightest hardship. (And, besides, calling today's deployments a "hardship" experience is a joke compared to what soldiers in previous generations endured--I've been overseas three times during the GWOT, so I know). Many Americans simply can't handle the real world. It's a disturbing trend, because it bodes ill in many areas, military and otherwise.
at 11:54 on March 28th, 2009
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
Rugged individualism? Excuse me sir, are we not taught since basic training that we are a whole and when one part fails we all fail? There is no room for this rugged individualism in the US military, for this is the underlying problem; people who should seek help do not and suicide is the result. It is people like you who are in charge of us lower enlisted, that cause this problem, for those individuals who cannot mentally cope with the stresses of combat are scared into a stoic state, hide their true feelings and are ultimately are consumed by their emotions; resulting in suicide, friendly fire and murders on the civilian side.
If the "powers that be" would open up their eyes, give a damn about somebody other than themselves and this "John Wayne" mentality; maybe we can prevent things like this from happening.
Oh yes and then there are the officers..... What can I say, there the only people I know that can catch a cold in the desert if you catch my drift, those air conditioners sure are cold! I have met only a few respectable officers, many from my experiences cannot or will not get down from their ivory tower and actually do the job their MOS states. Hell all of them are so far removed from the reality of the situation of the grunts that it is almost laughable that they have the Gaul to tell them to "suck it up" from their private living quarters.
How does one mentally prepare for seeing someone being exploded like a balloon or seeing people dismembered and put in trash cans on the side of the road, or donkey carcasses with explosives shoves up their rectum? If you can prepare anybody for that and are withholding this information; then you are the biggest ass I have ever heard of.
Also too I bet you anything that you at one point complained about something, regardless of what it was, humans have emotions and to ignore them will lead to tragic results.
I implore you go out, if you are still in service, in your PT's to an area where nobody knows who you are or your rank. Pal around and find out how people really feel. Because if you haven't figured it out by now, everybody blows smoke up officers asses, because we are afraid of what you people will do to our careers if we actually tell you the truth.
I cannot believe your comment on the hardship. Did you know the US Navy had ships out fitted with machinery to make ice cream in WW2? Soldiers in Vietnam had beer; Soldiers in Desert Storm had special chocolate in their rations that would resist the heat of desert. Sir, point is that the goal of the Military is to REDUCE the hardship of combat in order to allow for prolonged combat, I would say that if the technology exists today was economically feasible and available in wars gone by the military would utilize it.
Please do yourself a favor and research before you make such unfounded claims.
I look forward to your response.
at 03:05 on May 28th, 2009
Young Sergeant,
I do not understand how in the world you can compare WWII and Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. You spineless ass. Those men died by the thousand and we have only scratched the surface of deaths. Just because a few Soldiers die each week or month you think you have it hard. Check it out high speed, You have AC in chu's in Iraq a PX with all the little gadgets to wast your extra pay on, you have burger kings and food courts in a "Combat Zone" and you are going to bitch on a blog about how hard you have it. Do you think that you are the only one that has seen a peer or Soldier killed in action. I am not sure how long you have been in but I will say that you haven't got a clue. Have you even been to WLC, are you even a leader? You talk about grunts well unless you are an 11B or one of our combat brothers kicking down doors then shut your mouth! If you allow your officers to sit in their "Private Quarters then it is your fault! You are a NCO ( or maybe you really are a sergeant) if you don't know the difference ask someone or even better yet, do us all a favor GET OUT!! Let someone who is not a detrament to their unit handle the day to day business of an NCO, because you obviously cannot. You get on here and tell us that we do not care about our Soldiers well bud I do and I know of alot of people who do. Soldiers are the reason I train, fight, and win. If this hurts your feelings get over it grow some thick skin. By the way I will tell you how to prepare for combat, "Train" train in your specific MOS as you call it. Lead your Soldiers if you have any. Be a Leader!!
at 09:34 on July 13th, 2009
Sir well said, SGT get tuff or get out,
at 13:58 on July 22nd, 2009
SGT O'Neill has it right! I myself have been on the other end of that spectrum. I have been on the killing field with mortuary affairs and theres no way to get or be prepared for that. When you pick up body parts and dead bloated remains of what used to be life it changes you, I dont care who you are or what you think you are made of. Late at night when your thoughts overwhelm you and you have no one that you can turn to out of fear from people like you its a miracle theres not more suicides than there already are. Six months I burned bodies and parts thereof and after that I got out, a week later I had to look my family in the eyes. What do you say when they ask you about your service? The same thing I did... nothing , why? Cause you cant! I guess that means im not tuff....asshole