There is hope among the experts that 2015 turns out differently than the past five years. According to a preliminary report released by Department of Defense, the total number of suicides among U.S. active-duty service members was virtually unchanged from 2013 to 2014.
This would be reason to celebrate if the number was zero. Unfortunately, it is not.
While the Army reported a decline in soldier suicides for the second straight year (135 in 2014 vs. 146 in 2013), suicides among sailors and airman last year raised the total suicides among active-duty personnel to 288, up from 286 in 2013.
Despite the millions of dollars devoted to reducing suicides, the numbers clicked up – not down.
In 2009, military suicides reached historic highs and have continued to hover at around 300 a year. The one exception was 2012, when there were a record 352 suicides. The suicide rate for the Army that year was nearly 30 suicides per 100,000 soldiers, well above the national rate of 12.5 per 100,000 for 2012.
The numbers include confirmed and suspected suicides, and suicides among National Guard or reservists who died while on active duty.
The Pentagon issued a statement acknowledging that suicides have remained constant but said there are encouraging signs that more service members are seeking help for emotional issues.
Suicides among veterans over the past five years climbed from 18 a day to 22 a day.
Bottom line: Those who serve and have served continue to fight the emotional battles only to lose the war. One of the keys to overcoming the issue of suicide is helping transitioning service members find a new sense of mission. In doing so, a new purpose is born. From this, one can design an action plan and build a support network.
Until we focus on new mission instead of new medications, many of us in the field expect the suicide rates to continue to climb.
— By Michael Schindler
Michael Schindler, Navy veteran, and president of Edmonds-based Operation Military Family, is a guest writer for several national publications, author of the book “Operation Military Family” and “The Military Wire” blog. He is also a popular keynote and workshop speaker who reaches thousands of service members and their families every year through workshops and seminars that include “How to Battle-Ready Your Relationship” or “What Your Mother-in-Law Didn’t Tell You.” He received the 2010 Outstanding Patriotic Service Award from the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs.
Suicides are often tragic, especially when it’s young, healthy people. But this U.S. military suicide “epidemic” scare is pretty much nonsense. It turns out that — adjusted for demographics (age and gender) — the military suicide rate is roughly equal to the U.S. civilian suicide rate — especially for military not in combat.
The AP “news” report never mentions that fact. But this MILITARY TIMES URL link DOES properly report this:
https://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/01/16/defense-department-suicides-2013-report/21865977/
For further verification, peruse these this website link run by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention — citing CDC data:
https://www.afsp.org/understanding-suicide/facts-and-figures
Richard, you are close to accurate in a portion of your comments – “especially for military not in combat.” Those who are in the military and have not seen combat do account for a significant number of active duty who commit suicide. Those who are in combat tend not to commit suicide because they are “on mission.”
Regarding Veteran suicide, those numbers have clicked up in the past four years from 18 per day to 22 day. That number is higher compared to civilian counterparts.
Those of us who are in the day to day of this issue tend to know the “real” data – and we are also aware of the manipulation of data. Suicides are a lousy recruiting tool. What the data doesn’t show or account for is those “unusual” deaths that appear to be suicides but are inconclusive.
I welcome your visit – and any time you’d like to share your opinion that this “U.S. military suicide “epidemic” scare is pretty much nonsense” to some of the young combat veterans, you are welcome to do so.
thanx to both of you . . .
statistics don’t tell us anything about the context
as you call it, Mike, “mission”, i would guess is what i would think of as having a feeling of belonging and making a contribution in some way that fits the personality
i would also hazard a guess that many suicides are in some way related to the lack of . .. money
it might be interesting to have an ongoing (?) discussion series for anyone interested regarding something along these points…
feel free to contact me if you’re interested
Michael, good article. FYI, the health care community at large is also hoping for an improved trend soon. To help make way, the WA State legislature passed ESHB 2366 then SHB 1376 requiring all Dept. of Health licensees to obtain continuing education and/or training for suicide screening and then referral strategies. Providers who might treat these conditions must also have continuing education over and above that. The hope is that if all licensed health care providers are adept @ screening and recognizing the telltales of ideation, then more of us will successfully get a patient to the right resource and we might save a few. I believe that the recent trending with veterans has been one of the triggers for this legislation.
US Senate just passed Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans. All it needs now is a signature from President Obama.