U.S. Army Soldier Suicides Rise to 3-Decade High

     American soldiers are committing suicide at record rates -- a rate that is now at a three-decade high, the highest since the military first began tracking suicides within its ranks. The Army suicide rate surpassed that for civilians for the first time since the Vietnam War.

"This is not business as usual," Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli is quoted saying in The New York Times. The vice chief of staff of the Army, who is leading suicide-prevention efforts , said: "We need to move quickly to do everything we can to reverse the very disturbing number of suicides we have in the U.S. Army." 

Oops! That chance is gone, General. Soldier suicides started spiking back in 2004. Where was the Army's "we need to move quickly" back then? A lot of soldiers have killed themselves between then and now. Ignoring the problem is the same way the Pentagon has recognized post traumatic stress disorder -- not until recently have they even acknowledged PTSD is real. Does the military not recognize that there is a connection?

From 2003 to 2007, nearly 40,000 troops were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Denver Post: "spending for some pain medication, antidepressants, sleeping pills and even an epilepsy medicine used to treat PTSD and brain injuries has grown by 62 percent to 400 percent since the Iraq war began." 

Is it really denial in the Pentagon or merely denial to the public and the families of the sick and dying soldiers? Either way, denial is not a good thing.

ARMY DOESN'T KNOW WHY

The Army has not identified a specific reason for the increase in suicides. In fact, they say they just can't figure it out. A few officials, however, have suggested that maybe the 15-month deployments to war zones have played a role. Maybe? You think? And don't forget the military's promise of one deployment only, when two and three deployments are more the rule. Troops are under unprecedented stress due to these long and repeated tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Suicides among active-duty soldiers reached 102 in 2006 and 115 in 2007. The Pentagon announced this week that at least 128 active-duty soldiers took their own lives in 2008. But the final count will be higher since a number of soldiers' deaths are still being investigated, as reported by the Las Vegas Sun.

Army officials say the most common factors in the suicides were financial, personal and legal problems, and job-related difficulties. Nothing in that suggests that the Army itself is a factor. You think "job-related difficulties" could mean fighting in a war where you could be killed or maimed for life, and where you have to kill other human beings? Really, is that "difficult ?" And if you keep being sent back to a war zone time after time, deployment after extended-deployment, could that affect your family's financial, personal and legal problems? It sounds as if the Army wants us to believe that these soldiers, the ones who kill themselves, came to the Army with these problems already. It's not the Army!

Thirty percent of the suicides in the last four years took place during a deployment. Thirty-five percent took place after a deployment. The remaining 35 percent of those who killed themselves had never deployed.

ARMY RECRUITERS AND WEST POINT CADETS TOO

And here's a shocker --there's also a recent problem with Army recruiters committing suicide, reports the Houston Chronicle.  And another fact -- West Point cadets are both killing themselves and attempting other suicides in the last few months, reports the  Washington Post. Golly, do you think it just might have something BIG to do with the Army itself?

"We all come to the table believing that stress is a factor," said General Chiarelli.

I told you, the general is quick.

Perceived stigma for soldiers who seek help is a continuing problem throughout the Army and also exists at West Point. Soldiers say they are afraid their careers will be negatively affected if mental health counseling is on their military record. The hazing that results from peers is another reason the suicide-prevention programs aren't working. Puhleeze don't tell me that the military is unaware of the hazing -- It's been a tradition since the beginning of U.S. military history.

ARMY'S WARRIOR CULTURE

An expert on military personnel systems, MIT researcher Cindy Williams says that a warrior culture that discourages treatment persists. "In the Army, there is a culture that says you don't get sick," she said. "Even if the Army wants to change the culture, it is hard for a soldier to go to a supervisor and say, 'I am thinking suicidal thoughts.' "

Founder of the Soldier's Project, a counseling service for troops and their families in the Los Angeles area, Dr. Judith Broder told the Los Angeles Times that the repeated deployments caused some soldiers and Marines to lose faith in religion or themselves. Some become suicidal after abusing drugs or alcohol and they lose rational judgment.

"They become extremely depressed and really hopeless, like, 'This is never going to end. I'm never going to be myself again. I'm never going to be able to be with my family again,' " she said.

Responses from veterans groups include the following:

• "Until the Department of Defense starts taking aggressive action,the
  suicide crisis will get worse. We are looking at the tip of an iceberg of a
  social catastrophe unless the military and VA start fighting stigma and start
  getting help for the veteran." -- Paul Sullivan, executive director, Veterans for Common Sense.

• The suicide numbers "come as no surprise to veterans who have experienced firsthand the psychological toll of war. Since the Iraq war began, suicide rates and other signs of psychological injury, like marital strain and substance abuse, have been increasing every year," --Paul Rieckhoff, executive director, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

TO READ THE U.S. ARMY SUIDICE PREVENTION WARNING SIGNS & RISK FACTORS, GO HERE.

TO READ ETHIC SOUP'S ARTICLE ON POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER, GO HERE.

By Sharon McEachern

Comments

[Sharon McEachern]

Sharon -- thanks for the article. Being a soldier reauires brain-washing ('training') in order to kill fellow human beings, but eventually the reality of it sinks in. Further, state-side medics were Directly instructed to find any reason for 'mental disorders' other than PTSD; this was stupidly viewed as a 'cost-saver.' Not too many months ago, I talked with a young man awaiting his second deployment. He has a wife & child. He didn't want to go back. He talked about 'having' to kill children and about soldiers riding in humvees with Iraqui heads as 'hood ornaments.' He cried and was ashamed fro crying. He talked about defecting, but he decided to go back. The primary motive was that his buddies were facing it without him. If peace ever occurs, it will be for two reasons: 1) the U.S. gets out of the arms sales business (corporatists require wars in order to have customers) & 2) patriotic men and women refuse to fight except in defense of themselves, those they love, and our country -- no more killing to enrich the corporatist agony-profiteers.

Khovalyg