Military Suicides

[Mountain Man]

I read in yesterday's newspaper that the suicide rate for the Army now exceeds losses in combat.

Frankly, I don't know what to make of it.

[lirelou]

I read that to mean that the combat losses are much lower than in previous wars, but the relative size of the Armed Forces remains large. There was a time when suicide in war time was viewed as lessening the numbers of troops likely to fail in combat.

[Mountain Man]

These are trained and experienced troops, not green troops unable to face the horrors of combat. A constantly rising suicide rate is not only cause for alarm, but a clear signal that something is very wrong with the system itself. This is especially true of enemy action is dropping off, which should decrease the stresses on the troops.

To date, the military has remained reluctant to address the problem publicly, preferring to withhold information. This is generally indicative of the kind of problems that the military feels it needs to conceal in order to survive politically.

[Centrix Vigilis]

My personal opinion and those i have heard related from associates at Hood and elsewhere, is that a significant amount, is stress, induced due to continuing rotations back and forth.

Coupled with seperations and familia difficulties that arize and while this is nothing new...it appears to be having a greater increase in the 'perception' of helplessness of the Men, who in the case of combat arms, know that a tranisition to A-gan after Iraq plus 2-3 tours, is inevitable.

I also do not have the answer other then to increase the time between tours and continued counseling and awareness of the morale factors necessary to offset the trend.