XPost: rec.aviation.military, sci.military.naval, soc.culture.afghanistan   
   XPost: soc.culture.iraq, us.military.navy   
   From: theprof@jonez.net   
      
   Stay the Course ... Suckers!!   
      
      
   > Army sees sharp rise in suicide rate   
      
   > It's the highest in 30 years. Military officials say in a report that   
   > prevention efforts are inadequate.   
      
   > By Julian E. Barnes and Jia-Rui Chong   
   >   
   > January 30, 2009   
   >   
   > Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington - The suicide rate among   
   > Army soldiers reached its highest level in three decades in 2008,   
   > military officials said Thursday in a report that pointed to the   
   > inadequacy of anti-suicide efforts undertaken in recent years.   
   >   
   > At least 128 Army soldiers took their own lives last year -- an   
   > estimated suicide rate of 20.2 per 100,000, a sharp increase from the   
   > 2007 rate of 16.8.   
   > It marked the first time the Army rate has exceeded the national   
   > suicide rate for the corresponding population group -- 19.5 per   
   > 100,000 -- since the Pentagon began systematically tracking suicides   
   > nearly 30 years ago.   
   > The 2008 figure does not include 15 additional deaths under   
   > investigation that officials suspect were suicides.   
   >   
   > Also Thursday, Marine Corps officials revised their suicide numbers   
   > upward, reporting a rate of 19.0 per 100,000 in 2008, the highest for   
   > the Marines since 1995.   
   >   
   > "Why do the numbers keep going up? We cannot tell you," Army   
   > Secretary Pete Geren said.   
   >   
   > Army officials believe that contributing factors include emotional and   
   > psychological stress caused by repeated combat deployments, along   
   > with the toll that the tours have taken on marriages.   
   >   
   > About a third of suicides occur during deployments abroad, a third   
   > after deployments and a third among soldiers who never deploy.   
   >   
   > "We all come to the table believing stress is a factor," said Gen.   
   > Peter W. Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff.   
   >   
   > Between 2003 and 2007, the Pentagon frequently extended combat tours   
   > and barred soldiers from leaving at the end of their enlistment.   
   >   
   > In 2007, it extended all Army deployments abroad to 15 months, from   
   > 12.   
   > The blanket extension ended last year, and units beginning new tours   
   > now will serve only a year. However, some units assigned 15-month   
   > tours must complete them before the longer deployments end later this   
   > year.   
   > Dr. Judith Broder, founder of the Soldier's Project, a counseling   
   > service for troops and their families in the Los Angeles area, said   
   > the repeated deployments caused some soldiers and Marines to lose   
   > faith in religion or themselves. Some become suicidal after abusing   
   > drugs or alcohol and they lose rational judgment.   
   > "They become extremely depressed and really hopeless, like, 'This is   
   > never going to end. I'm never going to be myself again. I'm never   
   > going to be able to be with my family again,' " she said.   
   >   
   > Jose Coll, chairman of the Military Social Work Program at USC, also   
   > blamed frequent and lengthy deployments. "And when the soldier comes   
   > back, it's not like he's on vacation. He comes back to training, and   
   > that creates a lot of stress for the family," said Coll, who served   
   > in the Marine Corps.   
   > Army officials said they realized that longer tours would increase   
   > strains on soldiers and their families, and they attempted to head   
   > off problems by increasing the money they spent on assistance   
   > programs to $1.5 billion, from $700 million.   
   >   
   > "We could feel the pressure families and soldiers were under," Geren   
   > said.   
   > The Army and Defense Department stepped up mental health screening   
   > and hired more mental health professionals. The military also devoted   
   > more resources to treating post-traumatic stress disorder and   
   > traumatic brain injuries -- battlefield wounds that have compounded   
   > stress on soldiers and their families.   
   > Still, some say those efforts -- particularly the mental health   
   > screening -- have been inadequate.   
   >   
   > "Until the Department of Defense starts taking aggressive action, the   
   > suicide crisis will get worse," said Paul Sullivan, executive   
   > director of Veterans for Common Sense. "We are looking at the tip of   
   > an iceberg of a social catastrophe unless the military and VA start   
   > fighting stigma and start getting help for the veteran."   
   >   
   > Cindy Williams, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of   
   > Technology who is an expert on military personnel systems, said that   
   > reporting a mental health infirmity cut against the ethos of the Army.   
   >   
   > "In the Army, there is a culture that says you don't get sick," she   
   > said. "Even if the Army wants to change the culture, it is hard for a   
   > soldier to go to a supervisor and say, 'I am thinking suicidal   
   > thoughts.' "   
   > In November, a Marine safety board called for bolstering suicide   
   > prevention efforts by improving training for officers and by   
   > incorporating anti- suicide training into the martial arts program.   
   >   
   > In the Army, Geren said he had placed Chiarelli at the head of a new   
   > effort to reduce suicides.   
   >   
   > As a first step, the Army will begin training soldiers in how to   
   > identify people who may be at risk of suicide and how to get help.   
   >   
   > "We obviously haven't turned this around yet," said Col. Elspeth   
   > Ritchie, the Army's top behavioral health expert. "This really has to   
   > be a national effort where everyone is reaching out to soldiers and   
   > their families."   
   > Last year, the Army announced a five-year initiative with the   
   > National Institute of Mental Health to study military suicides and   
   > ways to prevent them.   
   > The Army reported that in 2008, 31 suicides occurred in Iraq and   
   > seven in Afghanistan. There are far fewer U.S. troops in Afghanistan   
   > than in Iraq.   
   > The Marine Corps this week reported that 41 Marines had committed   
   > suicide in 2008, for a rate of 19 per 100,000 troops, the highest   
   > rate since 1995 when it was slightly under 20 per 100,000. Among the   
   > 41 Marine suicides, six were in Iraq. The Marine Corps had said that   
   > the rate for 2008 was 16.8 per 100,000, only marginally higher than   
   > the 2007 rate of 16.5. But officials said that figure was incorrect   
   > because of a computational error.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)