Suicide total for Minnesota's Guard members ranks among nation's worst

Battle on home front is Guard's most perilous
Article by: Star Tribune Updated: June 25, 2011 - 12:20 AM
Suicide total for Minnesota's Guard members ranks among nation's worst.

Their names are tucked into the Minnesota Department of Health database that catalogues the state's suicides, with no hint of their common bond.

There is the 17-year-old girl from Kerrick who shot herself on the railroad tracks in Pine County. The 38-year-old man who made his living selling rides on a World War II-era tank until he killed himself in Inver Grove Heights. The 19-year-old born in Thailand who shot himself in Minneapolis.

Some were mechanics, some were students, some worked construction. All were soldiers in the Minnesota National Guard.

Their deaths have helped give the state Guard an unwanted distinction: It's second in the nation in the number of suicides that occur in its ranks.

Since 2007, 18 members of the state National Guard have killed themselves. Only Oregon, with 20, has had more. The Minnesota cases have been part of a worrisome trend of more suicides in the military, one which saw more service members kill themselves last year than died in combat.
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Battle on home front is Guard's most perilous