U.S. Soldiers' Suicide Rate Is Up in Iraq

AP breaking ^ | Jan 14, 2004 | Matt Kelley

[hotpotato]

according to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, 180,000 Vietnam veterans have since taken their own lives.

Wonder how many in the statistics above were veterans. How does the Vietnam vet honestly figure in that data. Suicide rates among the elderly is complicated. It's been 30 years since the war.

[Kaslin]

That's a suicide rate for soldiers in Iraq of about 13.5 per 100,000,

That is horse$hit! That would be 13,500 committing or trying to commit suicide.

Reread again. It says 13.5 per 100,000 not 13.3% (percent) per 100,000

[Kaslin]

Disregard post#22

[OPS4]

It sure is a tragedy, on how concerned the media is about
the treatment of todays soldiers, when in fact they were the reason the Viet Nam soldiers and vets were spit on by the likes of the New York Times and the LA Times.

This War is being fought to protect the homefront, that means North, Central, and South America. We must not let propaganda defer us from our mission.We all share a continent, and we must protect it.

Soldiers must see us back home as supporting the war on terror, and not the nay saying voices from the Hollywood left and the Media they control.
OPs4
God BLess America!

[DCPatriot]

The Army's highest suicide rate in recent years came in 1993, when the rate was 15.7 per 100,000.

Well, Bill Clinton was Commander-in-Chief...so that explains that.

[Recovering_Democrat]

That's a suicide rate for soldiers in Iraq of about 13.5 per 100,000, Winkenwerder said. In 2002, the Army reported an overall suicide rate of 10.9 per 100,000.

Wouldn't this be expected in a war? I would think so. No one wants more suicides, but this is a statistical blip, in my opinion.

[Dr. Frank fan]

First of all, speaking about "suicide rates" based on a total of 21 suicides is, barring something really dramatic, pretty much bound to be statistically meaningless.

Moreover they compare the suicide rate in 2002 with the suicide rate in 2003 (and, it's up), without even mentioning that in 2003 much of the armed forces were employed in invading a country, unlike in 2002. They also compare 2003 suicides for soldiers in Iraq with the *overall* 2002 suicide rate, for some reason. (At times it's also not clear whether they're talking about all soldiers, or just Army.)

That being said, the difference (13.5 per 100000 instead of 10.9 per 100000) is still so small that it's almost not worth discussing. This gets back to that whole "statistically meaningless" issue, I suppose. If 21 suicides (18 of them Army) represent a rate of 13.5 per 100000 then I can only conclude there are (or have been?) some 155555.555.. soldiers, 133333.333.. of them Army, in Iraq in 2003. Had the Army rate not gone "up" from 10.9 to 13.5, and instead remained at the 2002 rate, then 15 instead of 18 Army suicides would have occurred. Three additional suicides. Is this significant, or random fluctuation? Given that we invaded and occupied a country I guess I'd have expected *more* of an increase than this. (Course I may have misinterpreted some data here but the article is somewhat fuzzy about quantities.)

The article also reveals that the Army suicide rate was 14.4 in 1991, when we didn't even invade the country. So the rate "went down" and we accomplished more this time! Isn't that good news?

[hotpotato]

Fortunately, today, the mainstream media no longer has a monopoly on information. Their propoganda has been permanently threatened. Their misinformation is being exposed and challenged. The public is learning to seek further details.

[hotpotato]

That being said, the difference (13.5 per 100000 instead of 10.9 per 100000) is still so small that it's almost not worth discussing. This gets back to that whole "statistically meaningless" issue,

That's what I was thinking. I hope the public being fed this data will think about it, too.

[Kaslin]

The article also reveals that the Army suicide rate was 14.4 in 1991, when we didn't even invade the country. So the rate "went down" and we accomplished more this time! Isn't that good news?

Yes it is, but the liberal media likes to spin negativity even when there is none

[Cicero]

Thanks for finding that chart. I was about to post a comment that the suicide rate for men is much higher than that for women, and although there are some women in the military, I would bet that the vast majority of the troops in Iraq are male.

So the rate is a good deal less than among a comparable civilian population in America.

This is the SECOND time this nonsense has been run, that I have seen. There was one last fall, and they obviously ran this follow up as soon as they had the full year's statistics. But the basic premise and the headline are totally false. As we would expect from the liars at AP.

[CPOSharky]

And the suicide rate for some other wars is????

[Kaslin]

Good point