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A Sad Statistic : Army Suicides Up

14:14 H | Topics: Health - Military

Just as the number of casualties of both civilians and soldiers in Iraq continues to rise, the military reached another sad milestone today. Last year saw an increase in the number of army suicides, up to 108.

The 108 confirmed deaths in 2007 among active duty soldiers and National Guard and Reserve troops that had been activated was lower than previously feared. Preliminary figures released in January showed as many as 121 troops might have killed themselves, but a number of the deaths were still being investigated then and have since been attributed to other causes, the officials said.
Suicides have been rising during the five-year-old war in Iraq and nearly seven years of war in Afghanistan.
The 108 deaths last year followed 102 in 2006, 85 in 2005 and 67 in 2004.

There is much talk of supporting the troops with little analysis of what that means beyond wearing U.S. flag pins and sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your gas guzzler. There is too little talk about the mental health of soldiers who are repeatedly sent back into Iraq or about post-traumatic stress syndrome and other mental health issues of soldiers returning from the Middle East. When there is little talk and even less action, the rise in suicides is understandable. Not forgivable but completely understandable.

The numbers kept by the Army only show part of the picture because they don't include guard and reserve troops who have finished their active duty and returned home to their civilian jobs.

The Department of Veterans Affairs tracks the number of suicides among those who have left the military. It says there have been 144 suicides among the nearly 500,000 service members who left the military from 2002-2005 after fighting in at least one of the wars.

Via / Yahoo! News

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