Active duty military suicides drop; Reserves go up

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

WASHINGTON (AP) - Suicides among Army National Guard and Reserve members increased last year, even as the number of active-duty troops across the military who took their own lives dropped by more than 15 percent, according to new data.

The overall totals provided by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps give some hope that prevention programs and increased efforts to identify troops at risk may be taking hold after several years of escalating suicide rates. But the increase among Army National Guard and Reserve members raises questions about whether those programs are getting to the citizen soldiers who may not have the same access to support networks and help that their active duty comrades receive.

Not only did suicides among Army National Guard and Reserve members increase from 140 in 2012 to 152 last year, but the 2013 total exceeded the number of active-duty soldiers who took their own lives, according to the Army. There were 151 active duty soldier suicides last year, compared with 185 in 2012, Army officials said.

The Pentagon released a report Friday that provided final data for 2012 suicides and some preliminary numbers for 2013. But the department data differs a bit from the totals provided by the services because of complicated accounting changes in how the department counts suicides by reservists. Some of the Pentagon numbers were finalized a year ago, while the services have more recently updated totals that reflect the results of some death investigations.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140425/DADDA89G1.html

---

Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a doctor in the Office of the Army Surgeon General, discusses efforts to study and understand suicide among American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, in this May 29, 2008 file photo, during a news conference at the Pentagon. The Pentagon plans to release a report Friday April 25, 2014on military suicides. But those numbers differ a bit from the totals provided by the services because of complicated accounting changes in how the department counts suicides by reservists. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

[James48]

1. And they don't count those who have been discharged.

I lost one of my former soldiers in 2013- these stats do not include any that have been discharged or retired from the military - and it is those- who are now, in many cases, separated from friends, co-soldiers, and instutional medical/ psychological help, that are suffering the most.


He served several tours- and spent 20 years in the Army and Army National Guard. He had only been retired from drilling reservist status for a little over a year- but he does not count in those God-awful suicide statistics.


I miss you, Ben.

[kimbutgar]

2. My mother's caregiver is in the reserves and was over in Kuwait winding down bringing equipment back

She is now at a hospital in Washingtion battling breast cancer. We are worried about her depression. I chipped in to fly her mother to go see her. I really worry about her state of mind, there is no cancer in her family and she is upset she couldn't finish her mission in Kuwait with her squad. I found out there are a lot of reservists returning who have cancer.