Grim trend in Army suicides continues

Last year 238 active-duty and reserve soldiers reportedly committed suicide, according to new data released by the Army. That's a significant jump over the 197 suicides in 2008 among active and reserve Army personnel.

Service leaders are increasingly worried about the trend and have devoted unprecedented attention and resources to the issue during the last two years.

"There's no question that 2009 was a painful year for the Army when it came to suicides," said Col. Christopher Philbrick, deputy director of the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force, in a statement.

"We took wide-ranging measures last year to confront the problem, from the servicewide stand-down and chain-teach program, to enhanced suicide prevention programs and guidance for our Army units," he said.

In addition, last summer, the Army partnered with the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct an unprecedented five-year study of the factors that contribute to military suicides.

Traditionally, military suicide rates have been much lower than those of the general population, but in 2008, the Army surpassed the civilian suicide rate for males aged 20 to 29, which has hovered just under 20 per 100,000 in recent years. The Army's rate in 2008 was 20.2 per 100,000. The Army is still working to confirm the manner of death for 75 of the reported suicides in 2009, so comparative statistics are not yet available for that year.

The rate of suicide among male veterans aged 18 to 29 -- those most likely to have served in Iraq or Afghanistan -- also has risen considerably in recent years. Using data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Violent Death Reporting System for 16 states, officials at the Veterans Affairs Department found suicide rates among that group rose from 45 per 100,000 in 2005 to 57 per year in 2007.

Department officials took heart in the finding that among veterans in that age group who used VA health care services, suicide rates dropped during that period from 53 per 100,000 in 2005 to 47 per 100,000 in 2007.

According to department spokesman Drew Brookie, "In 2005, veteran men aged 18-25 who came to VA were about 20 percent more likely to die from suicide that those who did not, probably because the veterans who came to VA were more likely to have risk factors for suicide like [post-traumatic stress disorder] and depression. However, by 2007, they were 20 percent less likely to die from suicide."

The department began improving mental health services in 2005, Brookie said. In 2007, VA implemented a suicide prevention hotline.

"The impact of those initiatives should show up first for veterans using VHA health care services and those with the most acute problems," he said. The findings suggest the department's suicide prevention programs are having a positive effect, he added.