arah
2012-06-08 18:41:19 UTC
Soldier suicides shoot up among US troops
Jun 8, 2012
Washington Suicides are surging among America’s troops, averaging
nearly one a day this year — the fastest pace in the nation’s decade
of war.
The 154 suicides for active-duty troops in the first 155 days of the
year far outdistance the U.S. forces killed in action in Afghanistan —
about 50 percent more — according to Pentagon statistics obtained by
The Associated Press.
The numbers reflect a military burdened with wartime demands from Iraq
and Afghanistan that have taken a greater toll than foreseen a decade
ago. The military also is struggling with increased sexual assaults,
alcohol abuse, domestic violence and other misbehavior.
The number of suicides in US troops have gone up in the recent times.
Because suicides had leveled off in 2010 and 2011, this year’s upswing
has caught some officials by surprise.
The reasons for the increase are not fully understood. Among
explanations, studies have pointed to combat exposure, post-traumatic
stress, misuse of prescription medications and personal financial
problems. Army data suggest soldiers with multiple combat tours are at
greater risk of committing suicide, although a substantial proportion
of Army suicides are committed by soldiers who never deployed.
The unpopular war in Afghanistan is winding down with the last combat
troops scheduled to leave at the end of 2014. But this year has seen
record numbers of soldiers being killed by Afghan troops, and there
also have been several scandals involving U.S. troop misconduct.
The 2012 active-duty suicide total of 154 through June 3 compares to
130 in the same period last year, an 18 percent increase. And it’s
more than the 136.2 suicides that the Pentagon had projected for this
period based on the trend from 2001-2011. This year’s January-May
total is up 25 percent from two years ago, and it is 16 percent ahead
of the pace for 2009, which ended with the highest yearly total thus
far.
Suicide totals have exceeded U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan in
earlier periods, including for the full years 2008 and 2009.
The suicide pattern varies over the course of a year, but in each of
the past five years the trend through May was a reliable predictor for
the full year, according to a chart based on figures provided by the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner.
The numbers are rising among the 1.4 million active-duty military
personnel despite years of effort to encourage troops to seek help
with mental health problems. Many in the military believe that going
for help is seen as a sign of weakness and thus a potential threat to
advancement.
Kim Ruocco, widow of Marine Maj. John Ruocco, a helicopter pilot who
hanged himself in 2005 between Iraq deployments, said he was unable to
bring himself to go for help.
“He was so afraid of how people would view him once he went for help,”
she said in an interview at her home in suburban Boston. “He thought
that people would think he was weak, that people would think he was
just trying to get out of redeploying or trying to get out of service,
or that he just couldn’t hack it – when, in reality, he was sick. He
had suffered injury in combat and he had also suffered from depression
and let it go untreated for years. And because of that, he’s dead
today.”
Ruocco is currently director of suicide prevention programs for the
military support organization Tragedy Assistance Programs, or TAPS.
She joined the group after her husband’s suicide, and she organized
its first program focused on support for families of suicide victims.
Dr. Stephen N. Xenakis, a retired Army brigadier general and a
practicing psychiatrist, said the suicides reflect the level of
tension as the U.S. eases out of Afghanistan though violence
continues.
“It’s a sign in general of the stress the Army has been under over the
10 years of war,” he said in an interview. “We’ve seen before that
these signs show up even more dramatically when the fighting seems to
go down and the Army is returning to garrison.”
But Xenakis said he worries that many senior military officers do not
grasp the nature of the suicide problem.
A glaring example of that became public when a senior Army general
recently told soldiers considering suicide to “act like an adult.”
Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard, commander of the 1st Armored Division, last
month retracted — but did not apologize for — a statement in his Army
blog in January. He had written, “I have now come to the conclusion
that suicide is an absolutely selfish act.” He also wrote, “”I am
personally fed up with soldiers who are choosing to take their own
lives so that others can clean up their mess. Be an adult, act like an
adult, and deal with your real-life problems like the rest of us.” He
did also counsel soldiers to seek help.
His remarks drew a public rebuke from the Army, which has the highest
number of suicides and called his assertions “clearly wrong.” Last
week the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin
Dempsey, said he disagrees with Pittard “in the strongest possible
terms.”
The military services have set up confidential telephone hotlines,
placed more mental health specialists on the battlefield, added
training in stress management, invested more in research on mental
health risk and taken other measures.
AP
Jun 8, 2012
Washington Suicides are surging among America’s troops, averaging
nearly one a day this year — the fastest pace in the nation’s decade
of war.
The 154 suicides for active-duty troops in the first 155 days of the
year far outdistance the U.S. forces killed in action in Afghanistan —
about 50 percent more — according to Pentagon statistics obtained by
The Associated Press.
The numbers reflect a military burdened with wartime demands from Iraq
and Afghanistan that have taken a greater toll than foreseen a decade
ago. The military also is struggling with increased sexual assaults,
alcohol abuse, domestic violence and other misbehavior.
The number of suicides in US troops have gone up in the recent times.
Because suicides had leveled off in 2010 and 2011, this year’s upswing
has caught some officials by surprise.
The reasons for the increase are not fully understood. Among
explanations, studies have pointed to combat exposure, post-traumatic
stress, misuse of prescription medications and personal financial
problems. Army data suggest soldiers with multiple combat tours are at
greater risk of committing suicide, although a substantial proportion
of Army suicides are committed by soldiers who never deployed.
The unpopular war in Afghanistan is winding down with the last combat
troops scheduled to leave at the end of 2014. But this year has seen
record numbers of soldiers being killed by Afghan troops, and there
also have been several scandals involving U.S. troop misconduct.
The 2012 active-duty suicide total of 154 through June 3 compares to
130 in the same period last year, an 18 percent increase. And it’s
more than the 136.2 suicides that the Pentagon had projected for this
period based on the trend from 2001-2011. This year’s January-May
total is up 25 percent from two years ago, and it is 16 percent ahead
of the pace for 2009, which ended with the highest yearly total thus
far.
Suicide totals have exceeded U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan in
earlier periods, including for the full years 2008 and 2009.
The suicide pattern varies over the course of a year, but in each of
the past five years the trend through May was a reliable predictor for
the full year, according to a chart based on figures provided by the
Armed Forces Medical Examiner.
The numbers are rising among the 1.4 million active-duty military
personnel despite years of effort to encourage troops to seek help
with mental health problems. Many in the military believe that going
for help is seen as a sign of weakness and thus a potential threat to
advancement.
Kim Ruocco, widow of Marine Maj. John Ruocco, a helicopter pilot who
hanged himself in 2005 between Iraq deployments, said he was unable to
bring himself to go for help.
“He was so afraid of how people would view him once he went for help,”
she said in an interview at her home in suburban Boston. “He thought
that people would think he was weak, that people would think he was
just trying to get out of redeploying or trying to get out of service,
or that he just couldn’t hack it – when, in reality, he was sick. He
had suffered injury in combat and he had also suffered from depression
and let it go untreated for years. And because of that, he’s dead
today.”
Ruocco is currently director of suicide prevention programs for the
military support organization Tragedy Assistance Programs, or TAPS.
She joined the group after her husband’s suicide, and she organized
its first program focused on support for families of suicide victims.
Dr. Stephen N. Xenakis, a retired Army brigadier general and a
practicing psychiatrist, said the suicides reflect the level of
tension as the U.S. eases out of Afghanistan though violence
continues.
“It’s a sign in general of the stress the Army has been under over the
10 years of war,” he said in an interview. “We’ve seen before that
these signs show up even more dramatically when the fighting seems to
go down and the Army is returning to garrison.”
But Xenakis said he worries that many senior military officers do not
grasp the nature of the suicide problem.
A glaring example of that became public when a senior Army general
recently told soldiers considering suicide to “act like an adult.”
Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard, commander of the 1st Armored Division, last
month retracted — but did not apologize for — a statement in his Army
blog in January. He had written, “I have now come to the conclusion
that suicide is an absolutely selfish act.” He also wrote, “”I am
personally fed up with soldiers who are choosing to take their own
lives so that others can clean up their mess. Be an adult, act like an
adult, and deal with your real-life problems like the rest of us.” He
did also counsel soldiers to seek help.
His remarks drew a public rebuke from the Army, which has the highest
number of suicides and called his assertions “clearly wrong.” Last
week the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin
Dempsey, said he disagrees with Pittard “in the strongest possible
terms.”
The military services have set up confidential telephone hotlines,
placed more mental health specialists on the battlefield, added
training in stress management, invested more in research on mental
health risk and taken other measures.
AP