COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Service: Casualties
Army troop suicide rate at its highest in 26 years
Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press
August 20th, 2007
WASHINGTON - Army soldiers committed suicide last year at the
highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while
serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new military report.
The report, obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its scheduled
release today, found there were 99 confirmed suicides among active
duty soldiers during 2006, up from 88 the previous year and the
highest since the 102 suicides in 1991 at the time of the Persian
Gulf War.
The suicide rate for the Army has fluctuated over the past 26 years,
from last year's high of 17.3 per 100,000 to a low of 9.1 per
100,000 in 2001.
Last year, "Iraq was the most common deployment location for both
(suicides) and attempts," the report said.
The 99 suicides included 28 soldiers deployed to the two wars and 71
who weren't. About twice as many women serving in Iraq and
Afghanistan committed suicide as did women not sent to war, the
report said.
Preliminary numbers for the first half of this year indicate the
number of suicides could decline across the service in 2007 but
increase among troops serving in the wars, officials said.
The increases for 2006 came as Army officials worked to set up a
number of new and stronger programs for providing mental health care
to a force strained by the longer-than- expected war in Iraq and the
global counterterrorism war entering its sixth year.
Failed personal relationships, legal and financial problems and the
stress of their jobs were factors motivating the soldiers to commit
suicide, according to the report.
"In addition, there was a significant relationship between suicide
attempts and number of days deployed" in Iraq, Afghanistan or nearby
countries where troops are participating in the war effort, it said.
The same pattern seemed to hold true for those who not only
attempted, but succeeded in killing themselves.
There also "was limited evidence to support the view that
multiple ... deployments are a risk factor for suicide behaviors,"
it said.
About a quarter of those who killed themselves had a history of at
least one psychiatric disorder.
This archive consists of a topically organized selection of
articles culled by members of the Counter-Recruitment List Serve from printed
publications and web sites. The archive is not complete. We have chosen
material relevant to the work of