Posted on 08/13/2011 7:52:08 PM PDT by Mikey_1962
There were 32 Army suicides in July, the highest monthly toll ever recorded. The grim figure underscores the military’s continuing inability to find ways of preventing troubled soldiers from taking their own lives.
Military officials said 22 active-duty soldiers were thought to have taken their own lives last month, along with 10 reservists. The incidents are under investigation, and it'll be several weeks before the Army definitively rules on each case. If the numbers hold up, July will be the worst month for Army suicide in two years, since the Army first began releasing monthly suicide data. The previous record was June 2010, when 31 soldiers committed suicide.
Senior Army generals have devoted considerable resources towards suicide prevention in recent years, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to develop new military-wide training programs and to hire thousands of additional mental-health personnel. Top officials have also fought the stigma surrounding mental health in the military by encouraging soldiers to seek help, and stressing that psychological maladies like post-traumatic stress disorder should get the same respect as physical injuries like scars or lost limbs.
Still, the military’s suicide problem—fueled by the strains of repeat deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—shows no signs of abating. In 2010, 301 active-duty, reserve, and National Guard soldiers committed suicide, up from 242 in 2009. In 2008, the military’s suicide rate exceeded that of the general population for the first time ever. All told, more than 1,000 military personnel have taken their own lives since the start of the two wars.
"Every suicide represents a tragic loss to our Army and the nation,” Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff, said in a written release. “While the high number of potential suicides in July is discouraging, we are having a positive impact.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
Our military can only take so much. Ten years of war is very trying on anyone. It’s time to end this crap and bring them home. I don’t want to give Obama credit for doing this but put and end to it....NOW.
</sarcasm tag for the idiots who cannot recognize sarcasm>
Great sarcasm. I wonder is any left a suicide note disgusted by POSOTUS or ROE.
Condolences to families and friends.
During Casualty Notification Officer training, those of us who do that duty are told that informing a family of a suicide is the hardest kind of notification to make.
I had to make that kind of notification. I will never forget the look on the mother’s face.
Another aspect of the repeal of DADT...gay (homosexual and lesbian) suicide rates are higher than for straights. The repeal of DADT will import more suicides and health-related issues into the military. Nice job, Democrats and RINOs!
0bama will call it Bush’s fault???
Thank you for your service to this Republic. May the soul of each departed rest in peace.
Amen!
While Obama thinks his stress has been so great he requires repeated vacations to Martha’s Vineyard.
This is just another example of 0bama destroying the country from within. He is trying to gut the military not just financially but psychologically.
Treason every day from this guy. It is sabotage. He executes his evil brilliantly. Rev Wright and Bill Ayers must be proud.
Can’t imagine the state of mind that leads to a serviceperson to take their own life. Nor can I think of anything more painful for their families and loved ones.
Prayers for all affected by this.
I don’t think it is the gays coming in that caused the suicides to increase. They at most are in Basic Training right now. They just lifted it a minute ago. In fact, come to think of it, the ban is not lifted until September.
I’d really like to see the stats on how many were taking the ‘stop smoking’ prescription drug Chantix (suicide and suicidal tendencies/thoughts is one of the side effects)and other psych drugs with the same side effects.
"In 2010, 301 active-duty, reserve, and National Guard soldiers committed suicide"
"As of 30 September 2010, 1,430,895 people were on active duty[15] in the military, with an additional 848,000 people in the seven reserve components.[3]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Armed_Forces
"National Guard: Size 467,587 end strength (FY2009) Part of National Guard Bureau"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Guard_of_the_United_States
Therefore, the Suicide Rate in the Army then is 301 Suicides for 1,430K Regular Army Active, 848K Reserve, and 467K National Guard. OR:
Suicides: 301
Personnel: 2,746,000
A suicide rate of about 0.011%, or 1 in every 9,122 troops.
Another fact: "Risk factors for suicide: As well as being male, several other risk factors for suicide have been identified. Age: suicide in men peaks in the 20s and again in the 60s and 70s."
Given a large bias in that community of young males, let's see what the suicide rate is among young males in the United States:
"21.9 per 100,000 people", or a rate of 0.022% among tthe general young male population in the U.S.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_sui_rat_you_mal-health-suicide-rate-young-males
Therefore, we can conclude that the annual rate of suicide among U.S. troops (0.011%) is roughly half that of their cohort (0.022%).
Reduce American Suicides: Join the Army!
Beware MSM Spin in Full Anti-American Mode!
Lousy POS “Journalist.”
We had a Guardsman take his life here in Vermont a few days ago.
Wife, 3 children, 18 years regular and 3 years in the Guards, numerous decorations and mulitiple tours in Iraq and Af-Gan.
Though we Nam Vets had more than our share of suicides, I'm thinking percentage-wise the rate is much higher now than we exerienced and confounding, considering the strives made about exposing and treating PTSD, which was not very well known or discussed back then, at least not until well afer the end of that little "conflict."
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