Published: Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Army logging record rate of suicides
WASHINGTON — The Army’s suicide rate this year is “horrible,” Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said Tuesday, adding that the problem of soldiers taking their own lives is the toughest he has faced in his 37 years in service.
As of Monday, 140 soldiers on active duty and 71 soldiers not on active duty were suspected to have committed suicide.
In all of 2008, 140 active-duty soldiers died of self-inflicted wounds.
“We are almost certainly going to end the year higher than last year,” which was also a record for Army suicides, Chiarelli said at a Pentagon news conference.
“This is horrible,” he said. “Every single loss is devastating.”
The rising suicide rate is not unique to the Army. Marine Corps suicides also are higher again this year — there were 42 reported as of Oct. 31 compared with 42 for all of 2008, 33 in 2007 and 25 in 2006.
However, Chiarelli said that despite the high total, the monthly Army suicide rate has declined since January.
In January and February, there were about 40 suicides, or nearly one-third of the total this year, and since March the general trend has been down, with the exception of a couple of months, he said.
He attributed that progress primarily to a campaign to increase the involvement of Army leaders at all ranks in suicide prevention efforts.
When asked whether the rates reflect unprecedented high stress from long and repeated deployments to provide manpower for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Chiarelli said he didn’t know.
“The reality is there is no simple answer,” he said. “Each suicide is as unique as the individuals themselves.”
Chiarelli said that in more than 40 percent of the cases this year, the soldier involved had seen a behavioral health specialist.
The Army is short an estimated 800 behavioral health specialists, he said, describing prewar authorization levels for such specialists outdated. “I have been pounding the system to ... determine what we need after eight years of war,” Chiarelli said.
As of Monday, 140 soldiers on active duty and 71 soldiers not on active duty were suspected to have committed suicide.
In all of 2008, 140 active-duty soldiers died of self-inflicted wounds.
“We are almost certainly going to end the year higher than last year,” which was also a record for Army suicides, Chiarelli said at a Pentagon news conference.
“This is horrible,” he said. “Every single loss is devastating.”
The rising suicide rate is not unique to the Army. Marine Corps suicides also are higher again this year — there were 42 reported as of Oct. 31 compared with 42 for all of 2008, 33 in 2007 and 25 in 2006.
However, Chiarelli said that despite the high total, the monthly Army suicide rate has declined since January.
In January and February, there were about 40 suicides, or nearly one-third of the total this year, and since March the general trend has been down, with the exception of a couple of months, he said.
He attributed that progress primarily to a campaign to increase the involvement of Army leaders at all ranks in suicide prevention efforts.
When asked whether the rates reflect unprecedented high stress from long and repeated deployments to provide manpower for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Chiarelli said he didn’t know.
“The reality is there is no simple answer,” he said. “Each suicide is as unique as the individuals themselves.”
Chiarelli said that in more than 40 percent of the cases this year, the soldier involved had seen a behavioral health specialist.
The Army is short an estimated 800 behavioral health specialists, he said, describing prewar authorization levels for such specialists outdated. “I have been pounding the system to ... determine what we need after eight years of war,” Chiarelli said.
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