Department of Defense Confirmed Deployment Tied to Suicides,,Before They Denied It

I was searching for an article on something else when I spotted this on an old post. It goes back to 2009. It is still important considering there seems to be a plethora of reports saying the deployment is not connected to the increase of military suicides. After all, why would they ever want to connect the two considering they would also have to mention the fact that for decades they have been addressing "preventing" them?

Notice how low the numbers were back in 2009?

DoD Confirms Role Combat Plays in Suicide Epidemic
U.S. Department of Defense
Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
Feb 02, 2009

January 29, 2009, Washington, DC - The Army is committed to finding out why more soldiers committed suicide in 2008 than ever recorded, Army officials told reporters during a media roundtable today at the Pentagon.

"[Suicide] is not just an Army problem," Army Secretary Pete Geren said. "It's a national problem - we're committed to doing everything we can to address [the issues] better [and] put programs in place."

In past years, the Army, which consists of 1.1 million active and reserve troops, has been just below or on par with the national suicide rate, Geren said.

But this year, with 128 confirmed and 15 pending, an estimated 20.2 suicides occurred per 100,000 soldiers, the highest since the Army began recording the figure in 1980. The figure is higher than the national suicide rate, which is less than 20 victims per 100,000 people.

Also, the number of Army suicides increased for the fourth consecutive year, according to the Army's 2008 Suicide Data report released today.

Army researchers admitted that at least 90 percent of pending suicide cases turns out to be actual suicides. But they explained that there's no one cause or consistent formula for suicide prevention.

Multiple factors make up the risks and no two reasons are the same, Geren said.

A high mission tempo clearly can place strain on a military, and with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 12 months or longer deployment rotations and 12 months or less downtime at home, the Army certainly has been busy, Army Vice Chief Of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli said.

"We all come to the table believing stress is a factor," Chiarelli told reporters. But he added that 2008 statistics show 30 percent of suicide victims this year were deployed, 35 percent had recently redeployed and 35 percent had no deployment experience at all.

"I think those statistics have to be looked at, and more questions have to be asked," he said. "But there's no doubt in my mind that stress is a factor in this trend we're seeing."

Chiarelli said it's important to take a step backward to evaluate what the Army and research facilities already know about suicide and prevention and review them.

Army researchers have come together with the National Institute of Mental Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs to increase the nation's awareness and understanding in suicide prevention, Dr. Philip S. Wang, director of the Division of Services and Intervention Research at the National Institute of Mental Health, said.

The five-year partnership is the largest research initiative on suicide ever conducted in the civilian and military sectors, Wang added.

"The National Institute of Mental Health is honored and committed to working with the Army to understand the urgency, to identify risks and prevention factors, to develop new and better intervention," he said. "The knowledge will not only extend to soldiers and their families, but to the civilian population as well."

Army leaders and researchers agree that reducing the number of suicide victims is a long-term goal, but in the near term, they've initiated an Armywide "stand-down" to take place on a day between Feb. 15 and March 15, Col. Thomas Languirand, Army deputy chief of staff for personnel, said.

The stand-down day will offer an opportunity for individual units and soldiers to address problems head on, and will include the latest training videos, materials and methods to identify symptoms and prevent suicide, Languirand explained.

The stand-down will be followed by another 120 days of a "chain-teaching" program, which is intended to be leader-led suicide prevention training, cascaded across the entire Army, he said. The stand-down period and chain-teaching program are mandated training in addition to quarterly and other suicide awareness and prevention training that may occur at the unit level already.

"The Army is concerned regarding where we are with our numbers," he said. "Any loss of life, especially by suicide, is a tragedy. That tragedy impacts the unit, it impacts morale on that unit - and it impacts the families. It's extremely important that we get out in front of this - nobody in the Army is satisfied as to where we are with our [past] programs."

The Army will conduct its next suicide update in April.

That isn't all. This article on CNN is still live and suggest you read it if you are among those passing on the wrong information.

'Stressed and tired force' linked to military suicides
CNN
March 18, 2009

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Army Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli: "We must find ways to relieve some of this stress"
Admiral says suicides are the third leading cause of death in the Navy
"Perceived stigma ... and dishonor of asking for help" is cited as part of problem
Also blamed: Long deployments and lengthy separations from family

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An increase in the number of suicides among military personnel can be traced, in part, to a "stressed and tired force" made vulnerable by multiple deployments, a military leader said Wednesday.

Long troop deployments in Iraq, above, and Afghanistan have been cited in the rise in military suicides.

"We must find ways to relieve some of this stress," said Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army, in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee.

"I think it is the cumulative effect of deployments from 12 to 15 months," he said, adding that the longer deployments are scheduled to continue until June.

He cited long deployments, lengthy separations from family and the perceived stigma associated with seeking help as factors contributing to the suicides.

Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, vice chief of naval operations, said suicides are the third leading cause of death in the Navy.

"We must eliminate the perceived stigma, shame and dishonor of asking for help," he said.

Gen. James F. Amos, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, said his branch of the service has incorporated education and training about suicide prevention "at all levels."

He said four of 55 mental health professionals deployed in the U.S. Central Command were recently embedded with Marines. He expressed optimism that that tactic would pay off, but he said he had no data to support his expectation.

And Gen. William M. Fraser, vice chief of staff of the Air Force, said his branch, too, was taking steps "to ensure airmen are as mentally prepared for deployment and redeployment as they are physically and professionally."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said the efforts have not sufficed. He noted that last year, for the first time, the suicide rate among military personnel has exceeded that of the civilian population. "What's going on?" he asked rhetorically.

The panel members made clear that, whatever is going on, it is complex. Chiarelli said the Army tallied 133 confirmed suicides last year and is still investigating another seven possible ones. At least 70 percent of the suicides had "some kind of relationship problem," he said. Often, the situation was worsened by something else, such as a financial or legal problem, he said.

And it wasn't just the trauma of war that appears to heighten the risk. The suicides were about evenly divided among those who had returned from deployment, those who were still deployed -- some on a third or fourth tour -- and those who had never been deployed, Chiarelli said.

All of the military leaders said they had too few mental health professionals in their ranks.
you can read the rest here

Seems they heard the same problems getting worse while they did absolutely nothing with lessons learned.