Getting it wrong on Military Suicides

Getting it wrong on Military Suicides
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 2, 2014

There was a press release for American Foundation for Suicide Prevention giving an award to Senator Joe Donnelly.

"Donnelly Vows to Continue “Important Mission” to End Military Suicide, Recognized for Leadership on Military Suicide Prevention by AFSP."

Donnelly is trying and it seems as if everyone else has good intentions. The problem is, the numbers kept going up.

In 2012, approximately 349 members of the United States Military, including active duty, Guard, and Reserve, committed suicide, exceeding the total number of servicemembers who died in combat operations (295).

But this is the truth the numbers from the press release are not even close.

On February 12, 2014, Air Force Times reported these numbers for 2012 and 2013

Pentagon data provided to Military Times show 296 suicides among active-duty troops and reserve or National Guard members on active duty in 2013, down 15.7 percent from the 2012 total of 351.

Coming off a record-setting year in 2012, the Navy had the biggest drop, nearly 22 percent, from 59 to 46 sailor deaths. The Army also saw a large decline, down nearly 19 percent from 185 suicides in 2012 to 150 last year.

They also reported the numbers for the other branches.

The Air Force and Marine Corps both had near-record years in 2012; in 2013 they also experienced declines, with 55 airmen dying by suicide in 2013, down from 59 in 2012, and 45 Marines committing suicide in 2013, down from 48 the year before.

If you just look at the numbers the way there were reported, it is easy to assume that lower numbers are a good thing.

These are the numbers showing discharges just for misconduct alone.

The number of enlisted soldiers forced out for drugs, alcohol, crimes and other misconduct shot up from about 5,600 in 2007, as the Iraq war peaked, to more than 11,000 last year.

For enlisted airmen, the number ranged from a high of nearly 4,500 in 2002 to a low of almost 2,900 in 2013

"The number of Marines who left after court-martial has dropped from more than 1,300 in 2007 to about 250 last year."

The Navy went through a similar process. When the decision was made to cut the size of the 370,000-strong naval force in 2004, the number of sailors who left due to misconduct and other behavior issues grew. In 2006, more than 8,400 sailors left due to conduct issues.

That is not factoring in how many left the military because of cutbacks.  There were simply less to count.