June’s Record Number of Army Suicides
EmailABC News' Luis Martinez reports: June was the worst month ever for Army suicides, according to Army figures released today that include suicides among active duty soldiers as well as inactive Guardsmen and Reservists .
There were 21 active duty Army suicides in the month of June and 11 on the inactive Guard and Reserve side, totaling 32 for the month. The 21 active duty suicides ties the monthly record set in January of 2009.
Earlier this month, Army officials had been encouraged by a 30 percent reduction in the number of suicides (through June 10) over last year’s record high of 162. However, the final monthly numbers released today indicate the 80 active duty suicides so far this year are on pace with last year’s numbers. There were 88 suicides through the first six months of last year.
Through the first half of this year, the number of inactive Guard and Reserve suicides stands at 65, which is 24 more than last year’s total for the whole year.
Despite this year’s trends, Army leaders say the programs they have instituted in recent years to prevent suicides in their ranks are having a positive impact.
Col. Chris Philbrick, Director of the Army’s Suicide Prevention Task Force, said at a news briefing today, ”the help is there in ways that have never before been seen in relationship to how the military is dealing with the situation.” He acknowledged the difficulty in dealing with the issue, but said it extends beyond the Armyto American society as a whole. “ This is not just a military issue, it is one that the entire nation is facing. The rise in the rate of suicides is not exclusive to the Army. So we believe that help is there and the opportunity to raise their hands and say, “I need help “ and to get them to that help is improving each and every day.
At a Senate hearing last month, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said a look at the previous four months data showed that soldiers with one or no deployments represented 79 percent of all suicides and “first termers represent 60 percent of all suicides.”
The Army keeps track of inactive Guard and Reserve soldier suicides who have not been mobilized for active duty and spend most of their time in the civilian world. Army officials admit it’s a challenge to try and help these citizen soldiers, but that regardless of their status it is their duty to help a fellow soldier. Says Col. Philbrick, “Once they raise their right hand and swear that oath that all of us do they become the responsibility of the U.S. Army. “
It’s difficult to assess what pressures are leading to the increase in suicides among Guard and Reservists who have not been mobilized because it is not as simple as saying previous combat experience has increased their mental stress when they return to their civilian lives. For example, in April, of the 7 confirmed suicides on the reserve side, 5 of them had never deployed overseas. For the month of June, four of the 11 who committed suicide had never deployed and five had at least one deployment.
Col. Gregg Bliss, from the Army National Guard said today “We notice that a good portion of our soldiers who commit suicide have yet to deploy. Therefore they lack some of the status necessary that afford them the substance abuse, the behavioral treatment, if we identify them. We think that is a facet we consider indicative of soldiers in need and our ability to provide the clinical help that may be necessary to preempt some of the choices they may be making.”
The Army released a new slickly produced counseling video today that will be shown to Army soldiers as part of the ongoing efforts to raise awareness about suicide in the ranks. Including testimonials from actual soldiers who attempted suicide, Army officials say the new video will be a helpful tool to raise awareness. It replaces a video rushed into production last year for an Army-wide stand-down to raise suicide awareness.
Col. Philbrick said it was his experience that soldiers who saw last year’s video failed to make a connection with the message it was conveying and in some cases laughed at by soldiers as they viewed it. Speaking bluntly he said the previous version “sucked”. He said the Army has already received positive feedback to the new video which will become a regular part of training.
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“It’s difficult to assess what pressures are leading to the increase in suicides among Guard and Reservists who have not been mobilized because it is not as simple as saying previous combat experience has increased their mental stress when they return to their civilian lives.” – ABC News
Hang in there Soldiers!
You’ll be getting a new Commander in Chief soon.
2012 is not that far off.
Posted by: Noz | July 15, 2010, 9:13 pm 9:13 pm
Any suicide is a horrible loss/tragedy, but in a population the size of the active and inscribe/reservists it is inevitable that some will occur, in both peace time and during times of armed struggles.
I wish we had some bore datapoints in the report, mainly around how many suicide ‘normally’ occur when America isn’t involved in two wars, and I’d also like to see numbers on the trending over the history of this conflict, not just a few selected months over the past year and a half…
I guess what I’m saying is that this report sparked an interest, but it left me with questions… I do appreciate your inclusion of data indicating that a non-trivial number of suicides occur with soldiers and reservists that have never been to war. People will imagine reasons, motivations and justifications for these tragic deaths that support their own personal views of this war, but they would be wrong – the majority of these suicides may be related to personal struggles dealing with family life, substance abuse, psychological issues and myriad other issues only tangentially related to their enlistment.
Jake, any numbers/breakdowns based on age?
Thanks, Ken
Posted by: N2vip | July 15, 2010, 10:02 pm 10:02 pm
That should read “inactive/reservist” – my iPhone auto-corrected my spelling… Sorry.
Posted by: N2vip | July 15, 2010, 10:04 pm 10:04 pm
“Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step over the
ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! — All the armies of Europe, Asia
and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own
excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander,
could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the
Blue Ridge, in a trial of a Thousand years. At what point, then, is the
approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it
must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction
be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation
of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
-Abraham Lincoln
“I think that an objective analysis of events that are taking place on this earth today points towards some type of ultimate showdown. You can call it political showdown, or even a showdown between the economic systems that exist on this earth which almost boil down along racial lines. I do believe that there will be a clash between East and West. I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation.”
Malcom X
Posted by: Colonel Rebel | July 15, 2010, 10:04 pm 10:04 pm
“President Obama’s administration is the one that just increased post traumatic stress syndrome capabilities for American military people.” – Rene
The President and his Administration are also the ones sending more troops into Afghanistan without any intent to win. No one likes to be killed for political cover. He was right though to increase the post traumatic stress syndrome capabilities, considering there are now going to be so many more soldiers in need due to his ineptitude.
Posted by: Noz | July 15, 2010, 10:22 pm 10:22 pm
How dumb can you get? President Obama’s administration is the one that just increased post traumatic stress syndrome capabilities for American military people.
Posted by: Rene | Jul 15, 2010 10:22:04 PM
I am sure that the soldiers that are in and coming out of combat are feeling better already. Thank you oh thank you President Barry for increasing our post traumatic stress syndrome capabilities.
Maybe instead of a second or third tour of duty Barry will decide to send us home soon and just end this meaningless war…
Posted by: bl | July 15, 2010, 10:51 pm 10:51 pm
One thing we do know, Bush’s war against Iraq and his touting ‘the mushroom cloud’ that might come from Iraq was truly a war sold to Americans with a bunch of phony slogans.
That is the Republican neo-con agenda for you.
Posted by: Rene | Jul 15, 2010 11:00:12 PM
Okay back to the Democrats play-book..
Top Democrats led their party in making the “Bush lied, people died” charge because they wanted to defeat him in 2004. That didn’t happen.
Maybe just some real facts will help…. Several bipartisan commissions would later catalogue the serious errors in the intelligence on which Mr. Bush and Democrats relied. But these commissions, particularly the Silberman-Robb report of March 31, 2005, found that the “Bush lied” charge was false.
Of the 110 House and Senate Democrats who voted in October 2002 to authorize the use of force against his regime, 67 said in congressional debate that Saddam had these weapons. This didn’t keep Democrats from later alleging something they knew was false—that the president had lied America into war.
Senate Intelligence Chairman Bob Graham organized a bipartisan letter in December 2001 warning Mr. Bush that Saddam’s “biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs . . . may be back to pre-Gulf War status,” and enhanced by “longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies.” Yet two years later, he called for Mr. Bush’s impeachment for having said Saddam had WMD.
Go figure….
Posted by: bl | July 15, 2010, 11:09 pm 11:09 pm
The troops have been deployed too many times, stretched too thin.. there should be a limit to how many times they can send you back.. and these are strange wars, winning hearts and minds wars.. not shoot them up and go home wars.
Posted by: Dontget818 | July 16, 2010, 8:17 am 8:17 am
The opposition is trying to find new soldiers who will kill themselves.
Posted by: Dontget818 | July 16, 2010, 8:33 am 8:33 am
Rene: “One thing we do know, Bush’s war against Iraq and his touting ‘the mushroom cloud’ that might come from Iraq was truly a war sold to Americans with a bunch of phony slogans.”
Dan: “There was no impending ‘mushroom cloud’ as Bush said.”
Bush: “Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
Bush never said that there absolutely were WMDs. He said that’s what the evidence suggests. Even in the statement you reference, Bush admits that “we cannot wait for the final proof” to defend ourselves, an admission that we don’t have that absolute proof. Instead, we have Saddam doing nearly everything he can to maintain his threat against the US. He continued to develop WMDs, continued to work with terrorists, and continued to obstruct inspectors. Post 9/11, the threat posed by Saddam prompted the reasonable among us to not wait for that “final proof,” and the world and the region is much better off because of it.
It is people like you that make the soldiers feel like all their hard work and sacrifice is for nothing — all to suit your politics. If you care to educate yourself, you’d know that it wasn’t just “neo-cons” that thought Saddam was a threat. Democrats sounded nearly indistinguishable from Republicans on the issue until it was clear that Bush was going to actually enforce the UN security council resolutions one way or another. Not to mention, the coming election. If the UN resolutions and our security meant anything, we were absolutely right for invading Iraq. I, for one, salute the troops and thank them for successfully completing the mission of deposing one of the greatest threats to America and the world in modern times.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 16, 2010, 10:58 am 10:58 am
Suicide numbers are extremely underestimated and are written off as heart attacks. Most do not leave a note and an examination of the diseased is not thorough unless foul play is suspected, only then is an autopsy ordered. Suicides are rarely caused by violent means and are due to an overdose of medications. Families of the deceased prefer the examining doctor to avoid a diagnosis of suicide. Life insurance policies do not pay in cases of suicide.
Posted by: morris wise | July 16, 2010, 11:36 am 11:36 am
If the troops are not being supported by this administration and given the tools and rules to fight, bring them home. It is wrong to send more troops not give them what they need and tie their hands with ineffective rulle of engagement. the enemy does not fight that way. we need to meet them on equal footing.
Posted by: mj | July 16, 2010, 12:58 pm 12:58 pm
Guess the policy is working, right Barky!
Posted by: CBA | July 18, 2010, 12:57 am 12:57 am