Marine Lieutenant General Keith Stalder sounds alarm on suicide

Suicide Numbers Raise Alarm for Marine Lieutenant General Keith Stalder
Jennifer Hlad


Jacksonville Daily News

Jun 16, 2008

June 16, 2008 - Ten Marines assigned to II Marine Expeditionary Force have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since Oct. 1. Twelve have taken their own lives in the United States. Those statistics are troubling for Lt. Gen. Keith Stalder, commander of II MEF.

"My intuition tells me that we've seen a significant increase, in at least attempts and ideations, and maybe in suicides themselves," said Stalder, who pours through every agonizing detail of every II MEF death - whether from combat, a traffic wreck or the Marine's own hand - in an effort to prevent future losses.

"I don't know, statistically, if (the number of suicides in this fiscal year) compares with last year. I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about trying to understand if we can do something to knock this out," Stalder said. "It breaks your heart when you lose a Marine."

Though suicide data provided by the Marine Corps shows no consistent up or down trend within the service since January 2003, the rate of suicides in calendar year 2007 was significantly higher than 2006 - with 16.5 suicides for every 100,000 Marines, or a total of 33 suicides. In 2006, the rate was 12.4 suicides per 100,000 Marines, or 24 total suicides.
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