IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 907-12 November 15, 2012
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Army Releases October Suicide Data
The Army released suicide data today for the month of October. During October, among active-duty soldiers, there were 20 potential suicides: five have been confirmed as suicides, and 15 remain under investigation. For September, the Army reported 15 potential suicides among active-duty soldiers: four have been confirmed as suicides, and 11 remain under investigation. For 2012, there have been 166 potential active-duty suicides: 105 have been confirmed as suicides, and 61 remain under investigation. Active-duty suicide number for 2011: 165 confirmed as suicides, and no cases under investigation.
During October, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were 13 potential suicides (nine Army National Guard and four Army Reserve): three have been confirmed as suicides, and 10 remain under investigation. For September, among that same group, the Army reported 16 potential suicides. Since the release of that report one case was added for a total of 17 cases (13 Army National Guard and 4 Army Reserve); five have been confirmed as suicides, and 12 remain under investigation. For 2012, there have been 114 potential not on active-duty suicides (75 Army National Guard and 39 Army Reserve): 83 have been confirmed as suicides, and 31 remain under investigation. Not on active-duty suicide numbers for 2011: 118 (82 Army National Guard and 36 Army Reserve) confirmed as suicides, and no cases under investigation.
“Suicide is preventable, and its prevention is a shared responsibility among all members of the Army family,” said Gen. David M. Rodriguez, commanding general, U.S. Army Forces Command. Rodriguez said that everyone is empowered to intervene and save lives, “effective intervention requires leadership involvement and support, an environment that promotes help-seeking for hidden wounds like depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress and prior knowledge of available local and national resources. We all must take the time to do a self-inventory to assess the presence and impact of stressors in our lives. Of equal importance is the awareness of the needs of others around us. There are no bystanders in our Army family.”
Soldiers and families in need of crisis assistance can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Trained consultants are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and can be contacted by dialing 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or by visiting their website at http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org .
Army leaders can access current health promotion guidance in newly revised Army Regulation 600-63 (Health Promotion) at: http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r600_63.pdf and Army Pamphlet 600-24 (Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention) at http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/p600_24.pdf .
The Army's comprehensive list of Suicide Prevention Program information is located at http://www.preventsuicide.army.mil .
Suicide prevention training resources for Army families can be accessed at http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicide/training_sub.asp?sub_cat=20 (requires Army Knowledge Online access to download materials).
Information about Military OneSource is located at http://www.militaryonesource.com or by dialing the toll-free number 1-800-342-9647 for those residing in the continental United States. Overseas personnel should refer to the Military OneSource website for dialing instructions for their specific location.
Information about the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program is located at http://www.army.mil/csf/ .
The Defense Center for Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) Outreach Center can be contacted at 1-866-966-1020, via electronic mail at Resources@DCoEOutreach.org and at http://www.dcoe.health.mil .
The website for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is http://www.afsp.org/ and the Suicide Prevention Resource Council site is found at http://www.sprc.org/index.asp .
Once they have seen the horrors of war, maybe it is too much.
Unending war for inchoate purposes at the behest of an amoral system will sap morale.
“When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.
Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.
Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.”
- Sun Tzu
I’d sure be curious to hear from veteran FReepers about what might be causing these tragedies and what might be done to prevent them.
I’m not sure the rest of us are qualified to speculate since we can’t know what it’s like to have been in combat.
let su not forget how rapes on men has jumped immensly since don;t ask was done away with last year.
19.000 rapes on reported rapes on men in the military in one year.
Maybe it is time for the left to admit their social changes have made the military worse, their changes have brought in PC and now we et a lesser person serving because Generals , officers and other NCO’s are being promoted based on color, homosexuality etc
In the aftermath of WWI, they were dropping at the rate of two per day. The numbers have only climbed since then.
They need God, not pills.
Compare suicide numbers of enlisted combat MOS types with officers/non-combat. Then study day-to-day relations (actual comments and deeds) between soldiers and lifelong civilians in the world (here, at home)—especially when they’re out and working jobs (or looking for jobs). Then you’ll be closer to the truth.
We live in a very “politically correct” (socially pathological, morally bankrupt) and deluded society, and our leadership began to turn against its own nation decades ago. An occasional holiday for false praise, psychological introspection and government offices won’t repair the general disdain and disrespect for men (real heterosexual men, who work with both their minds and their hands).
I think this problems stems from a convergence of several things. Many young men have grown up without fathers. Even when there is a father figure it may be some metrosexual, PC wus of a man.
Government schools are filled with PC bull crap and no tolerance policies that do not even let boys get a little bloodied in a fist fight.
As a nation we no longer clearly identify our enemies and then vilify them. In WWII we fought against Japs and Krauts. In Vietnam we fought against Gooks. The effect of dehumanizing our enemies is a coping mechanism for the horrors of battle.
As a nation we are not willing to quickly destroy our enemy and we have hideous rules of engagement. This has resulted in multiple deployments, increased stress on military families and soldiers and marines have increased exposure to front lines compared to previous wars.
We need to teach boys to be men instead of focusing on being nice and accepting of faggots. Political correctness needs to be eliminated. Our enemy needs to defined. It is Islam and anyone that is part of that death cult. I don’t care how nice anyone’s Muslim friend is, they still worship a pedophile prophet and pray in the direction of a space rock. It is not a religion. Our war against Islam needs to be brief and brutal. They will never like us, but we can force them to submit to our will. They will fear us and at most respect us. If we don’t, they will certainly do it to us.
This is what it means to live in a culture of death.
If Bush were president this would be all over the news. 0bama is president, and the media hide it.
A reporter in 1941 wondered aloud if American men were strong enough to bridge the comforts of civilian life to the rigors of war. It’s still a good question.
Not sure where the VA got those numbers. There are more than 38,000 suicides in the US each year. If US service members commit suicide at a rate of 1 per day (from the article) that represents about 1% of the suicides per year not 20%.
The rate of suicide for Americans aged 15-54 is about 15/100,000. The rate of suicides for service members is 13/100,000. Each one of these deaths is a tragedy but it would be hard to say that suicides among service members is "out of control" when they are at a rate lower than that of the general population.
An experiential chasm now separates veterans from the general citizenry. During the Second World War, 11 out of every 100 served, making unavoidable continuous associations with veterans and their families. Currently only 1 in 200 serve their country, and only 7 out of every 1,000 have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Our civilians pursue mundane, quiet lives among unfathomable luxuries compared to other countries. Too often they regard with indifference, and/or bewilderment, and/or loathing those choosing honor, duty, and sacrifice with the attendant consequences. If loathing seems excessive consider Homeland Security withdrew its profile of domestic terrorists, because veterans were stereotyped as potential Timothy McVeighs.
Next consider the perplexity of PTSD. People too often perceive as disorders the adaptive skills veterans learn through training and experience to overcome the extremes of combat and non-combat situations. For example, high situational awareness finding clues signaling threats can be labeled “hypervigilance”. Detailed mission rehearsal enhanced by instantaneous recall of violent encounters becomes “flashbacks” at home.
You cannot restart the human being like a computer, so the transition can take years. The many skills that were imperative to military success must be dialed back at home.
However, at home veterans do not encounter the all encompassing love and understanding their grandparents’ generation found, when most had experienced the war in one way or another.
We should first view the warrior as dealing with PTS. First reserve the “D” for the mental disorder of civilians who can’t or won’t interact positively with veterans.
I invite people contact Dr. Charles W. Hoge at hoge@onceawarior.com , or read his book titled Once a Warrior – Always a Warrior: Navigating the Transition from Combat to Home. Another source would be his article in Disabled American Veteran titled “The Paradox of PTSD” at http://digitaledition.qwinc.com/article/The+Paradox+Of+PTSD/835300/0/article.html.
Numer One: No one has their back. Thanks to this WH's and DOD's ridiculous ROEs, their neglect of their military and their obvious disdain and repulsion towards the very men and women they ask so very much from, these people have no one on their side. Even as they continue to give and fight and sacrifice, their benefits are getting stripped away as those who contribute nothing to society are rewarded and seemingly coveted. The media trashes them, their fellow soldiers et. all betray them, their leaders abandon them.
Number Two: Thanks to our nanny state and the whiny crybaby society we now live in, they have sissified our military. I mean no disrespect to our fighting forces, but due to the desperate need for all things to be PC, our drill instructors and those in training positions are no longer allowed to toughen these kids up. You cannot train people to kill and try to teach them to be PC at the same time. You cannot treat them like porcelain figurines and expect to turn out warriors. It isn't rational. It isn't possible. And these horrifying statistics are a direct result of these ridiculous attempts.
Where are all the sanctimonious FReepers crowing about how cowardly people are who commit suicide?
Much of today’s U.S. society does not respect the military and those that disrespect our military men and women are increasing in numbers.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier disrespect not tolerated
Examiner.com ^ | Nov 20, 2012 | Scott Paulson
Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2012 9:03:42 AM by KeyLargo
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier disrespect not tolerated
November 20, 2012 By: Scott Paulson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2961825/posts
This story just posted on the Army Times site.
My experience (and unfortunately, I have some), these service members all had something else going on (legal charges on one for sexual impropriety, 3rd DUI on another, shoplifting arrest on another). Two of the four I’ve dealt with never served overseas. One had just returned from basic/AIT.
Regarding the subject of the article, he is referred to as a 23-year old Specialist (E4). His mother says he was Airborne, Ranger and Special Forces. The class-A uniform in the picture show Staff Sergeant rank on the sleeves, metal SSG rank on the shirt collar (Specialist is the last rank you do that), and green leader tabs on the epaulets (since when does a SSG in SF wear that?). His Regimental Affiliation insignia is not placed right. His collar insignia is infantry rifles (not properly placed), but if he had earned that beret and tab he’s wearing, he would have SF insignia.
His ribbons show what looks like multiple awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, multiple Bronze Stars, three purple hearts, and too many Good Conduct Medals to be believable for his age.
There’s more, but it paints a pretty questionable picture.
I’m sorry for his mother and sisters.