Suicides in Iraq; It's Worse Than You Thought

 

Many of you have seen the headlines regarding the military suicides that have reached the highest level in 26 years. There were 99 confirmed Army suicides in 2006 (2 additional deaths are pending investigations),up from 88 in 2005 and the highest since 1991 during the Persian Gulf War. The rate of suicides grew in 5 years from a low of 9.1 per 100,000 soldiers in 2001 to the 2006 rate of 19.4 per 100,000. (The suicide rate for the general population is 11 per 100,000.) Preliminary figures indicate that the number of suicides for troops that have served in either Afghanistan or Iraq will also increase for 2007.

What you did not read in the headlines is the explanation for the major increases nor the numbers of those that attempted suicide but were somehow saved at the last moment. The other items that were left out of the articles from the Pentagon were how many suicides were committed after the soldiers were back from active duty in the Middle East and how many women serving in Iraq or Afghanistan committed suicide.

For the last item, the Pentagon did not give a number for the women serving in the war zones, but they did admit that twice as many women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide as did women in the service not sent to war. As to where were the male suicides committed? Per the Pentagon report: “Iraq was the most common deployment location for both suicides and attempted suicides.” Twenty eight (28) of the suicides occurred to soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the remainder were committed after returning or stationed back in the US. The sad circumstance that has gotten very little notice is that the 99 confirmed suicides are a small number of the 900+ confirmed suicide attempts. This is an increase of 42% over the attempted suicides for military personnel in 2005.

Finally, just what are the explanations for these suicides and the subsequent increases?

(Click on source link below to read the entire article)

Source: American Chronicle: Suicides in Iraq; It's Worse Than You Thought