Veterans Twice As Likely to Take Their Own Lives

Blumenthal, Murphy meet with VA, mental health officials in West Haven on vet suicides
New Haven Register
By Mark Zaretsky
POSTED: 09/26/14
WEST HAVEN

And veterans “are twice as likely to take their lives” compared to “non-vets of the same age,” Blumenthal said. “Quite frankly, this nation needs to do better.”

Major J. Alvarado, director of the Connecticut Army National Guard Medical Detachment’s Behavioral Health Team (back to camera), talks about veterans’ suicides to, from left, VA Connecticut Healthcare System Director Gerald Culliton, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Mark Zaretsky — New Haven Register

Connecticut has one of the lowest rates of veterans committing suicide in the nation, “but any number above zero is unacceptable,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., joined by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and a host of VA officials Friday at a roundtable on the subject.

But for reasons we don’t yet know, “there is a problem with suicide in our military” that goes beyond just veterans, said Blumenthal, a member of both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Veterans Affairs.

How big a problem?

The suicide rate among present and former members of the military “is twice as high” as the rate among people who have never served in the military, he said.
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