Attempted suicides at Fort Hood up from last year

It is good that there have been less funerals this year at Fort Hood than last year, but the troubling aspect in all of this are the number of soldiers suffering to the point where they don't want to live.

Suicide Prevention Month: Engaged leaders have impact, but efforts must continue
By Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, III Corps and Fort Hood Commanding General
SEPTEMBER 19, 2013
EDITORIAL

For the roughly 7,000 Soldiers from Fort Hood currently deployed in Afghanistan, vigilance saves lives every day. We watch our surroundings, we watch for threats, and we watch out for each other. We protect our force with a simple phrase:

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING.

Just as this philosophy saves lives in Afghanistan, it also saves lives throughout the Army as we fight this battle against suicide.

As leaders come up through the ranks, one of the first things that we learn is that taking care of Soldiers is one of our primary responsibilities. The Army is not tanks, armored vehicles or helicopters; the Army is the people in its ranks – Soldiers, civilians, Families. No mission is possible without them. And, for a leader, there is no more heart-wrenching way to lose a Soldier than by suicide.

The Department of Defense recognizes September as Suicide Prevention Month, and this year there is both good news and bad news. The bad news is that suicide is still the No. 1 cause of death for Soldiers. The good news is that efforts by leaders at all levels, but particularly at the platoon level and below, are having a positive impact.

Suicides at Fort Hood have dropped from 19 confirmed suicides in 2012 to only five confirmed and one pending case so far in 2013. This is good news, but we still have a lot of work to do.

This year, Fort Hood Soldiers have reported more suicide attempts and ideations than they had at the same time last year. In the first nine months of 2012, there were 260 ideations and 60 attempts reported. Thus far, in 2013, Soldiers have reported 306 ideations and 75 attempts.
read more here

Here is the last time they said this about suicides being down so you'll know the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say.

Fort Hood Commanding General says suicides in decline? Since it appears that what they claim is not the whole story I went back to January of 2013

Ford Hood saw 19 possible suicides in 2012- 12 on base, two overseas and five cases still being looked at. That’s almost double the numbers from 2011.