From: rpattree2@gmail.com   
      
   U.S. special forces struggle with record suicides: admiral   
   By Warren Strobel   
   TAMPA, FLORIDA | Thu Apr 17, 2014 6:40pm EDT   
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   By Warren Strobel   
      
   TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Suicides among U.S. special operations forces,   
   including elite Navy SEALs and Army Rangers, are at record levels, a U.S.   
   military official said on Thursday, citing the effects of more than a decade   
   of "hard combat."   
      
   The number of special operations forces committing suicide has held at record   
   highs for the past two years, said Admiral William McRaven, who leads the   
   Special Operations Command.   
      
   "And this year, I am afraid, we are on path to break that," he told a   
   conference in Tampa. "My soldiers have been fighting now for 12, 13 years in   
   hard combat. Hard combat. And anybody that has spent any time in this war has   
   been changed by it. It's that    
   simple."   
      
   It may take a year or more, he said, to assess the effects of sustained combat   
   on special operations units, whose missions range from strikes on militants   
   such as the 2011 SEAL raid that killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden to   
   assisting in humanitarian    
   disasters.   
      
   He did not provide data on the suicide rate, which the U.S. military has been   
   battling to lower. In 2012, for example, more active duty servicemen and   
   servicewomen across the U.S. armed forces died by suicide - an estimated 350 -   
   than died in combat, a U.   
   S. defense official said.   
      
   That trend appears to have held in 2013 although preliminary data is showing a   
   slight improvement, with 284 suicides among active duty forces in the year to   
   December 15, the official added.   
      
   McRaven's command, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, oversees   
   elite commandos operating in 84 countries.   
      
   The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps special operations commands   
   comprise about 59,000 people, according to Pentagon documents.   
      
   Special operations forces have been lionized in popular culture in recent   
   years, in movies such as "Zero Dark Thirty," about the hunt for bin Laden, and   
   "Act of Valor," as well as a National Geographic special.   
      
   Kim Ruocco, who assists the survivors of military members who commit suicide,   
   said members of the closely knit special operations community often fear that   
   disclosing their symptoms will end their careers.   
      
   Additionally, the shrinking size of the U.S. armed forces has put additional   
   pressure on soldiers, whose sense of community and self-identity is often   
   closely tied to their military service, said Ruocco, director of suicide   
   prevention programs for the    
   Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, an advocacy group for military   
   families.   
      
   (Additional reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Jason Szep and Cynthia   
   Osterman)   
      
      
      
   http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA3G2EK20140417?irpc=932   
      
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