High suicide numbers in the U.S. Army get a second look

High suicide numbers in the U.S. Army get a second look
By Steve Wideman • Gannett Wisconsin Media • July 17, 2009


APPLETON — Scott Adler, a veteran of the first Iraq war, wasn't surprised at news earlier this week attributing record numbers of Army suicides to a failure of commanders to monitor returning combat veterans.

Adler, of Brillion, knew four soldiers who killed themselves during his 13 years in the Army, including a man who shot himself as Adler listened in horror on the telephone.

"That suicide changed me forever," said Adler, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder to the point he can't hold a job. He manages to volunteer as a veterans' advocate at the Fox Valley affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, which has the only veterans support group among state NAMI chapters.

The head of an Army suicide task force, Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, said Monday a three-month review of 143 suicides last year — the highest since records were kept in 1980 — found "we have young leaders who have not been trained in the art of just taking care of soldiers," particularly after they come home from combat.
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