Army Suicides
According to this report, there were 25 soldier deaths in the month of April that are being investigated as "potential suicides." If confirmed, that would be approximately a suicide a day for that month. Sixteen of the cases involve active duty members; nine involve reserves.
In this article, an explanation is offered, and the future seems grim. I can't really process or assess this information well. I'm too sad about it all. Any ideas? Disagree? Agree?
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are being fought by a tiny percentage of our population - less than 1% of Americans participate. Most soldiers and Marines I know have served multiple combat tours. Also, the day-to-day action is significantly different than our predecessors' wars.
In WWII and Korea there was a front line and combat units were rotated up and back as needed to allow the men to rest and refit. In Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no front line. Every step out the front gate is a combat patrol; every conversation with a local is a political act. There's no rest.
In Vietnam our troops served one-year tours and then went home. The combat tour was tough - don't get me wrong - but when it ended, it ended. For our troops today, there is no end in sight. The idea of a draft has proven anathema to Congress and to most of America it seems, so we're fighting two (or three) wars with the thinnest slice of the population imaginable. Soldiers are going to war two and three times, some even more.
On top of that, they don't get sufficient time between rotations. Dwell time, the period of time spent at home after a combat tour, is too short right now. We need to adjust the combat rotation schedule - less time in the sandbox and more time at home. Until that happens, I think the number of mental health casualties and suicides will remain high.
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Comments :
Feb '11
Re: Army Suicides
I don't see anything in the linked piece which tells us if these suicides (or as they say, potential suicides) are men (or are some women?) who are there for the first time or who have been deployed repeatedly. I would think that is relevant to the questions being raised.
Jul '10
Re: Army Suicides
Ursula, perspective is required here. The Army's suicide rate is 22 per 100,000, versus 18 per 100,000 for a demographically-similar sampling of the general, non-military population.
Yes, the Army's rate is 22% higher, but that's not a catastrophic disparity. We need to be careful not to amplify the Left's meme that military service is a deleterious occupation.
Re: Army Suicides
Kenneth: Ursula, perspective is required here. The Army's suicide rate is 22 per 100,000, versus 18 per 100,000 for a demographically-similar sampling of the general, non-military population.
Yes, the Army's rate is 22% higher, but that's not a catastrophic disparity. We need to be careful not to amplify the Left's meme that military service is a deleterious occupation. · May 16 at 10:26am
Please don't be condescending, Kenneth. You can say the same thing without acting like I'm a 2-year-old puppet.
Re: Army Suicides
I'd be curious to hear from people who have family members in the service or, like Dave Carter (& others I know who are on Ricochet), veterans.
Feb '11
Re: Army Suicides
Perhaps I am naive, but I would want my military to have significantly better mental health than the general population.
May '10
Re: Army Suicides
I don't think anyone could say with a straight face that deployments and the threat of deployments are not a contributing factor behind military suicides. We don't have to give in to a left-wing mentality on war to conclude that the military can be a deleterious occupation - as in detrimental to one's body and mind.
May '10
Re: Army Suicides
Ursula, I asked my husband what he thought and this was his two cents via text...
"Stressful lives of low paid males separated from families with access to weapons... Any population subjected to those stresses would respond similarly. War and frequent deployment makes it worse."
Re: Army Suicides
Michael and Andrea, thank you for your considered (& considerate!) views based on experience.
I wonder how you feel about the "no front line" part of the excerpt. Is that a fair description of how much [more?] stressful things are today.
Also, is it possible to extend "dwell time"? Or would that not be possible with the current defense budget/protocols? And, would that help do you think?
Finally, and somewhat tangentially, do the leaps and bounds in technology help at all (more immediate communication w/ family, Skype, etc.)? How much does the increase/addition of new technologies in the past 20 years influence such statistics? Not just in communication with families back home, but with the increase of tech-y type jobs in the service. Is there any connection?
May '10
Re: Army Suicides
By the way, I'll keep within the CoC and not mention what my husband said about Kenneth, but he did say that your post discusses a legitimate concern. The Army and other services are trying to be proactive managing it and getting them help. The Vikings had a suicide right before my husband deployed with them the second time.
Mar '11
Re: Army Suicides
As an Army nurse, I hope I can lend a little perspective. On top everything that has been discussed about multiple deployments and and family separations, I have my own opinion to why we have seen an increase in suicides in the Army.(This is my opinion, not official US Army conclusions). First of all our force is very young, most just out of high school, and they are just starting to learn how to cope with the emotional strife of being out of the family home for the first time. Many come from broken homes and join up for security and a sense of family; while the Army provides that core family/unit structure and cohesiveness, many young people are just not equipped to cope. The service is also a very competitive, with an extraordinary emphasis' on achievement; failing to achieve in such a competitive environment too takes its toll. These are some of the situations I have come across, and that's all I have to say. Please continue to pray for our Soldiers in and out of harms way.
May '10
Re: Army Suicides
Though I have not been deployed (oddly enough) I'm certain that the non-existence of a front yields a negative effect upon deployed personnel because the absence of a front increases uncertainty. When a front is established, then belligerents can be reasonably certain as to where they can expect to be engaged, hence they are capable of knowing when to keep their guard up and when they may relax for a moment. Within asymmetric warfare, belligerents must maintain a kind of 24 hour vigilance; being engaged by enemy forces is on their minds any time they are not asleep because they know that combat is not constrained to a specific, linear, geographic location. As a rule of thumb, certainty is desirable and uncertainty is undesirable. Anything that increases uncertainty will increase stress.
Aug '10
Re: Army Suicides
The USAF is also experiencing this problem - our suicide rate is increasing, but we are unable to determine any trend information from the phenomenon. Those that have killed themselves are not fitting any pattern that we can discern (there is no clear age, gender, combat experience, facing deployment, vs just getting home pattern) it really has us stumped. Yes, it is above our historical norms - but we don't have a handle or data to show why.
May '10
Re: Army Suicides
Special forces candidates catch a taste of this uncertainty during their selection course. Instructions to the candidates are posted on a community board. Instructors will frequently change the posted instructions to keep the candidates uncertain. As a result, candidates become nervous wrecks and must scramble every now and then during the middle of the night to check the community board.
May '10
Re: Army Suicides
Special forces candidates catch a taste of this uncertainty during their selection course. Instructions to the candidates are posted on a community board. Instructors will frequently change the posted instructions to keep the candidates uncertain. As a result, candidates become nervous wrecks and must scramble every now and then during the middle of the night to check the community board.
Re: Army Suicides
Thanks so much for this insight, James. And for the reminder to pray.
May '10
Re: Army Suicides
Ursula Hennessey
Kenneth: Ursula, perspective is required here. The Army's suicide rate is 22 per 100,000, versus 18 per 100,000 for a demographically-similar sampling of the general, non-military population.
Yes, the Army's rate is 22% higher, but that's not a catastrophic disparity. We need to be careful not to amplify the Left's meme that military service is a deleterious occupation. · May 16 at 10:26am
Please don't be condescending, Kenneth. You can say the same thing without acting like I'm a 2-year-old puppet. · May 16 at 10:36am
I'm afraid I don't see what was so offensive about Kenneth's comment, but a few other commenters on this page apparently also found it grating. I was going to post almost the same thing, and mention a New York Times story that tried to pin the blame on George W. Bush for increasing domestic violence in the military. A closer look at the data revealed it to be a nonstory. This is not a nonstory, but I don't know why a more detailed discussion of the data and its implications is inappropriate.
Apr '11
Re: Army Suicides
I am retired military and currently work as an Army contractor, so I've been around the military for a long time. To show how serious they are about suicide prevention, we are required to attend an annual class on the topic, where we are given ACE cards. It is about the shape of a playing card with an ace of hearts and tips how to help your buddy through a crisis that could lead toward suicide. A=Ask your buddy. C=Care for your buddy. E=Escort your buddy.
I agree with James' assessment above. In my opinion, many of the suicides can be attributed to 1) The difficulties in being so far away from home when spouse / fiance / significant other finds someone else because military life is just too hard, 2) financial problems, 3) the transition between a very structured lifestyle with 24/7 duty at war and the usually far-from-structured home life upon return, and/or 4) the stress of having to be constantly alert when in the war zone.
On the positive side, the military has some amazing chaplains who are trained to help. They make a big difference.
Re: Army Suicides
I'm not sure what you are saying here, Mark. No one has said a detailed discussion is inappropriate. In fact, that's why I posted! I linked to a DoD press release w/ the figures. Then, I linked to one veteran's view. A veteran of 25 years, according to the bio. He brought up several factors. I was curious about Ricochet members' views. How this lacks "perspective" or "amplif[ies] the Left's meme" is beyond me. I'm talking about soldier suicides. A tragic topic that deserves some thought/conversation from the 'center-right,' in my opinion.
Apr '11
Re: Army Suicides
Well, I find it hard to believe this something you don't already know frankly. I am from Texas, which is sadly, one the last states in the Union willing to defend that Union anymore and everyone I know served. Many came back horribly wounded, dead, mentally damaged, and that is the true cost of freedom.
However, this article seems to not consider that there are replacements coming in all the time. The services do understand that there is a threshold that a man in combat situations can stand and they do rotate them elsewhere. Thankfully our Army is not that stupid anymore.
Re: Army Suicides
I knew suicide rates were high among servicemembers. I didn't know they were up so sharply in April. Could be random. Could be meaningful. Figured you guys would have some insightful things to say. And, mostly, you all have. Thanks.