Leaders testify in D.C. on high suicide rates - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Leaders testify in D.C. on high suicide rates

The suicide rates in all four services last year were higher than the national civilian average, significantly higher in the Army and Marines and rose overall in the two ground services, uniformed witnesses told the Senate Armed Services military personnel subcommittee Wednesday.

But calls by troops and former troops to a Veterans Affairs help line indicate that the problem may be even larger that the alarming statistics provided at the hearing.

In calendar year 2008, the Army reported 140 confirmed or suspected suicides. That’s 20.2 suicides per 100,000 troops — an all-time high that is nearly twice the national average of 11.0 suicides per 100,000. The service’s suicide rate has more than doubled since 2004.

The Navy reported 41 suicides in 2008, a rate of 11.6 per 100,000. The Marine Corps lost 41 Marines last year to confirmed or suspected suicides — up from 25 two years earlier — a rate of 19.0 suicides per 100,000. The Air Force lost 38 airmen in 2008, a rate of 11.5 suicides per 100,000.

More ominously, 780 callers to a national Veterans Affairs suicide prevention hotline in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2008, identified themselves as active-duty troops, said Kathryn Power, director of the Center for Mental Health Services in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Since Oct. 1, on average, three hotline callers a day have identified themselves as being on active duty, Power said.

That, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., indicates that many conflicted troops feel a continued sense of stigma over reporting suicidal thoughts to superiors or military mental health officials.

“When you’ve got this many people feeling they can’t talk to someone within the system,” he said, “that’s a problem.”

The leaders said they understand the enormity of the problem.

“We must eliminate the perceived stigma, shame, and dishonor of asking for help,” said Adm. Patrick Walsh, vice chief of naval operations. “This is not simply an issue isolated to the medical community to recognize and resolve. Commands have a critical role to play and setting a supportive climate for those who need to admit their struggle and seek assistance.”

In the Army, deployment stress is the primary cause of its high suicide rate, said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff and the officer charged with overseeing the service’s suicide prevention efforts.

“We are dealing with a tired and stressed force,” Chiarelli said. “And the effect in the most extreme cases has been, unfortunately, an increased incidence of suicide.”

Leaders in the Marine Corps, which along with the Army has borne the brunt of high deployment and combat action in Iraq and Afghanistan, are not as convinced.

“We have been concerned that one outcome of the stress from operational deployments might be increased suicides,” said Gen. James Amos, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, in his prepared remarks. “However, to date, we have not seen that hypothesis prove out.” He noted that in 2008, 68 percent of the Corps’ confirmed or suspected suicides had a current or past deployment history to the two wars, “which is almost exactly the same as the percentage of all Marines with deployment experience” — 69 percent.

The Navy’s suicide rate has remained roughly even over the past four years, but it ranks as the service’s third-leading cause of death, said Walsh. In his prepared remarks, he said analyses show a “weak correlation between suicide and deployment history.”

Air Force vice chief Gen. William Fraser said he also has not seen a strong correlation between deployment stress and the service’s suicide rate, although he said that taking the 1990s-era Operation Southern Watch patrols over Iraq, the service has been deployed steadily for 18 consecutive years and increasingly so over the past four years. The Air Force suicide rate has fallen over the past four years.

“The reality is there is no simple solution,” said Chiarelli, a thought that the other service leaders echoed. “In fact, it is going to require a multi-disciplinary approach and a team effort at every level of command and across all Army components, all services, and jurisdictions as well as partners out of our organization.”