Army Reserve and Guard suicide rates more than doubled last year

Suicides of Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers more than doubled to 145 in 2010, up from 65 in 2009, while the suicides of soldiers on active duty declined by six -- or 4 percent -- to 156 last year, down from 162 in 2009, top Army officials reported Wednesday.

Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing he could point to no single causal factor for Army suicides, but said they were the result of high operational tempo, relationship issues, and abuse of alcohol and prescription drugs when troops return from combat deployments.

Chiarelli said psychologists have told Army leaders the stress of repeated deployments on individual troops during the past six years equals the stress of a civilian who "lives to be 80 years old."

He said the high operational tempo is a contributing factor to suicides, and he believes a new policy, which calls for active Army units to remain at home for at least two years between deployments, will make a "huge" difference in the suicide rate of the active-duty Army.

The Army also instituted a number of programs that helped the service modestly cut the suicide rate of active-duty soldiers last year, including the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, which includes resiliency training for troops, post-deployment health assessments, and family counseling, Chiarelli said.

The Army also plans to provide counseling to active-duty soldiers through telehealth systems to make up for a shortfall of behavioral health professionals. Margaret Tippy, a spokeswoman for the Army surgeon general, said the service has 106 psychiatrists on active duty and another 70 in training, as well as 3,804 Army civilian or contract psychiatrists.

Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, head of the Army Reserve, and Maj. Gen. Raymond W. Carpenter, acting director of the Army National Guard, said deployments and operational tempo are less of a factor in the increase in reserve troop suicides than in the active-duty force, as roughly 50 percent of their soldiers have never deployed.

But, Stultz said, reservists, aside from monthly drills, do not have the same connections with their units or commanders as active-duty troops. Stultz said he would like to use technology, including Apple iPhones, to ensure more regular communication between Reserve soldiers and their commanders.

Last year, when the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force released its comprehensive report on the issue, Chiarelli said abuse of prescription drugs was a contributing factor to suicide. A recent Nextgov investigation found 20 percent of the total active-duty military force is on some type of psychotropic medication.

Chiarelli said Wednesday abuse of prescription drugs remains a contributing factor in suicides, but "we are doing our best to lower [the use of prescription drugs] as much as we can."