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WORLD / America
US Army suicides highest in 26 years
(AP)
Updated: 2007-08-16 15:52
WASHINGTON -- The US Army soldiers committed suicide last year at the
highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while serving in
Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new military report.
Iraqi Army soldiers and US Army soldiers from Alpha Company, 1st
Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division run
across a street during their joint operation in the Amariyah neighborhood
of west Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007.?[AP]
The report, obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its scheduled
release Thursday, found there were 99 confirmed suicides among active
duty soldiers during 2006, up from 88 the previous year and the highest
number since the 102 suicides in 1991 at the time of the Persian Gulf War.
The suicide rate for the US Army has fluctuated over the past 26 years,
from last year's high of 17.3 per 100,000 to a low of 9.1 per 100,000 in
2001.
Last year, "Iraq was the most common deployment location for both
(suicides) and attempts," the report said.
The 99 suicides included 28 soldiers deployed to the two wars and 71 who
weren't. About twice as many women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan
committed suicide as did women not sent to war, the report said.
Preliminary numbers for the first half of this year indicate the number
of suicides could decline across the service in 2007 but increase among
troops serving in the wars, officials said.
The increases for 2006 came as US Army officials worked to set up a
number of new and stronger programs for providing mental health care to a
force strained by the longer-than-expected war in Iraq and the global
counterterrorism war entering its sixth year.
Failed personal relationships, legal and financial problems and the
stress of their jobs were factors motivating the soldiers to commit
suicide, according to the report.
"In addition, there was a significant relationship between suicide
attempts and number of days deployed" in Iraq, Afghanistan or nearby
countries where troops are participating in the war effort, it said. The
same pattern seemed to hold true for those who not only attempted, but
succeeded in killing themselves.
There also "was limited evidence to support the view that multiple ...
deployments are a risk factor for suicide behaviors," it said.
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