Army suicides increased in 2007

WASHINGTON — The Army recorded 115 soldiers' suicides in 2007, the highest total since it started counting in 1980, the service said Thursday. That's more than twice the 52 suicides in 2001, as the war on terrorism started.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are driving up the number of suicides, said Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a psychiatric consultant to the Army surgeon general.

Nearly a third of the soldiers died at the battlefront: 32 in Iraq and four in Afghanistan. But 26 percent had never deployed to either conflict.

Some common factors among those who took their own lives were trouble with relationships, work problems and legal and financial difficulties, officials said.

Army records showed that 65 percent of the suicides were related to broken relationships and that 37 percent of the suicides came within 30 days of the end of those relationships. Multiple combat deployments of up to 15 months hurt those relationships, Ritchie said.

"When those relationships break, it tends to be a strong contributing factor to the consideration of death as an option," said Col. Charles Reese, a chaplain.

Though the Army declined to release suicide statistics for 2008, Lt. Col. Thomas Languirand said those deaths are "approximately the same as they were" this time last year.

The increased suicides came despite the hiring of more mental-health specialists and funding increases for family-support programs.

The Army approved the hiring of more than 300 additional mental-health professionals and has hired 180.

"The Army is very, very busy, and perhaps we haven't taken care of each other as much as we'd like to," Ritchie said.

The 115 deaths amount to an 18.5-per-100,000 rate, the highest rate since 1980, the Army said.

When adjusted for similar age and gender mixes, the civilian suicide rate was 19.5 per 100,000 in 2005, according to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among the 115, five were women, 22 were from the National Guard or Army Reserve, and 93 were active-duty Army.

There were also 935 attempted suicides in 2007, slightly fewer than the 948 attempts in 2006.

The suicide statistics prove the Army must meet its goal of hiring more mental-health professionals, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

"Today's numbers are a tragic reminder that repeated deployments, without the rest, recovery and treatment our servicemembers need, are taking a heavy toll," Murray said.

Suicide rates among Marines also have risen, records show. Marine suicides rose from 23 in 2002 to 33 last year, or from a rate of 12.5 per 100,000 to 16.5 per 100,000.