Security Brief: Army suicides soared in June

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you can feel proud that you are better informed than the Department of Defense is when it comes to PTSD and suicides. You know what they keep claiming has turned out to be a lot less than promised and that the numbers, no matter how much money they toss at it, does little good. When we have so many calling the suicide prevention hotline, that screams of a need not being met. They wouldn't reach that point of hopelessness if they were getting the help they needed in the first place.

The DOD won't listen to people like me trying to find real answers and using common sense instead of big fat budgets to be fed. They keep asking the same people, getting the same answers and making the same mistakes over and over again. The results are proven in the suicide data.

How many times have you read about an expert on this blog knowing what needs to be done? How many times have you heard of that expert being asked by the DOD for any help? It doesn't happen. How many times have you heard about the House or Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees asking for solutions instead of asking to hear the same stories from the same people after they lost someone due to suicide instead of talking to people who managed somehow to save lives so their stories can be repeated instead of repeating the heartache of losing someone to suicide?

None of what we're seeing has to happen but it will keep happening as long as they stay in a bad cycle like repeats of Groundhog Day. There are great things on PTSD happening all over the country but everyone in charge has their heads in a box refusing to step out and take a look at what has worked. I read about the lives lost and wonder how many could have been saved if they would have listened when the research began over 30 years ago.

Security Brief: Army suicides soared in June
More U.S. soldiers killed themselves last month than in recent Army history, according to Army statistics released Thursday, confounding officials trying to reverse the grim trend.

The statistics show that 32 soldiers killed themselves in June, the highest number in a single month since the Vietnam era.

Twenty-one of them were on active duty while 11 were in the National Guard or Army Reserve in an inactive status. Seven of those soldiers killed themselves while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Army numbers.

The spike comes after the monthly suicide numbers had dropped following a January high of 28, and Army officials admit they still haven't answered the question of why troops are committing suicide at a record rate. "There were no trends to any one unit, camp, post or station," said Col. Chris Philbrick, head of the Army's suicide prevention task force. "... I have no silver bullet to answer the question why." He said he could offer only what he has said before: "Continued stress on the force and the opportunities we have been facing in terms of the challenges in the Army continue to cause these events to take place."

Including the June numbers, a total of 145 soldiers have killed themselves this year, more than half of the total number for all of 2009, according to Army statistics. In 2009, a record-breaking year for suicides in the service, 245 soldiers killed themselves.
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Security Brief: Army suicides soared in June

Army investigating 14 possible Sept. suicides

Army investigating 14 possible Sept. suicides

By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Oct 8, 2009 20:16:56 EDT

As many as 14 soldiers are believed to have killed themselves in September, three fewer than the month before, the Defense Department announced Thursday.

Of the 14 deaths, seven were active-duty soldiers. So far, one has been confirmed to be a suicide, and the other six remain under investigation.

The other seven deaths were among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty at the time of their deaths. All the cases are still pending a determination.

Army officials have said that 90 percent of pending cases typically are ruled to be suicides.

In August, as many as 17 soldiers –— 11 of them active duty — were reported to have committed suicide. Since those numbers were first announced, four of the 11 active-duty deaths have been confirmed to be suicides.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/10/army_suicides_100809w/

Suicide numbers still on pace to top last year

With this, the usual press release will follow about how hard they are trying to get ahead of suicides, about what wondrous new program they will begin and plenty of statements about how they are doing everything possible. This has happened every time there has been a suicide report with negative news. The truth is, until they really understand what is behind all of this and stop finding excuses, they will keep going up and more, more will keep trying to commit suicide.

Reminder 18 veterans a day commit suicide and over 10,000 attempt it. Those are only the ones we know about but there are more the system just never seems to catch up with.

Suicide numbers still on pace to top last year

By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Sep 10, 2009 14:00:14 EDT

As many as 17 soldiers killed themselves in August, one fewer than in July, the Army announced Thursday.

Of the 17 deaths, 11 were active duty soldiers and six were Army National Guard or Army Reserve soldiers who were not on active duty at the time of their deaths.

All 17 cases remained under investigation and none have been confirmed as suicides. However, Army officials have said that about 90 percent of these cases typically are confirmed to be suicides.

In July, the Army reported eight possible suicides among active duty soldiers and six among those who were not on active duty. Since then, four additional active duty deaths have been reported as suspected suicides, bringing the total for July to 18.

Two of the 12 active duty deaths in July have been confirmed to be suicides. The other 10 are still being investigated.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/army_suicides_091009w/

Army on track to surpass 2008 suicide numbers

How big does this headline need to be?

Army on track to surpass 2008 suicide numbers

Army on track to surpass 2008 suicide numbers

Army on track to surpass 2008 suicide numbers

Army on track to surpass 2008 suicide numbers

Army on track to surpass 2008 suicide numbers

You may be getting the idea, but the Army, for all their claims of taking charge of this, doing this program and that program, the fact remains I still have to hold soldiers and Marines in my arms while they fall apart at the VA clinic and wonder how many do the same without having anyone there to lean on, help them understand what the Army and the Marines and the National Guard or any other branch have yet to even acknowledge?

How many more emails flying in the middle of the night? How many other families have to decide where to bury someone they thought came home save from combat? Any ideas? I'm fresh out of them because no matter what all these years the "experts" were supposed to have learned by now, they are so far behind the curve, they are doing more harm than good.

Did they really think replacing Battle Mind with Warrior Mind would work to help them understand what makes them human? Both programs operate on the same premise. They can train their brains to prevent the emotional toll, so if they end up with PTSD, then it's their own fault. This is what message is delivered no matter how good it's dressed up with buckets filled with funding behind it, the programs do more harm than good and the numbers coming out prove that.

Army on track to surpass 2008 suicide numbers

By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Aug 13, 2009 18:47:01 EDT

As many as 12 soldiers killed themselves in July, the Army announced today, and the service remains on course to setting a record for suicides in a single year.

Of the 12 deaths, eight were active-duty soldiers and four were National Guard or Army Reserve soldiers who were not on active duty at the time of their deaths.

All 12 deaths are possible suicides and remain under investigation.

Typically, about 90 percent of these investigations are ruled suicides, Army officials have said.

In June, there were 13 confirmed or possible suicides; nine were active-duty soldiers and four were soldiers who were not on active duty. As of Aug. 13, four of those 13 deaths had been confirmed as suicides.

Between Jan. 1 and July 31, there have been 96 reported active-duty suicides. Of those, 62 have been confirmed as suicides and 34 are still under investigation.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/08/army_suicides_081309w/

Mental trouble is no less real

Mental trouble is no less real
By Mark M. Rasenick
August 2, 2009
Men and women serving in our armed forces are returning home with not only broken bodies, but broken brains. According to a recent Pentagon health survey, 31 percent of Marines, 38 percent of Army soldiers and 49 percent of National Guard members suffered from anger, depression or alcohol abuse after they came home from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Army recently announced that it will fund the largest study ever undertaken about suicide and the mental health of military personnel.

Researchers will try to identify the risks and the factors that may protect soldiers from mental health problems.

The problems in the military cut across the entire U.S. population. According to the National Institute for Mental Health, suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 25- to 44-year-olds in the U.S. Depression impairs 15 million Americans each year. That's more people than are affected by cancer, AIDS or coronary heart disease. Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from depression.
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Mental trouble is no less real

$50 million dollar waste for what the Army should already know

Consider this. The Army already knows about repeat deployments and the increased risk of PTSD plus PTSD increases the risk of suicide. They did it anyway. Then add in that PTSD has been studied to death since the 70's. Do you really think for a second they will find something new? Do you really think this money will end up being more wasted money finding the same answers? I do. Most of these well funded studies usually find what has already been discovered 30 years ago. Since humans don't change, they would be a lot better off if they just looked at all the data already there to find out why we are where we are. The rate they're going, you can't get there from here!

Army to fund universities’ suicide study

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 16, 2009 16:25:04 EDT

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan and three other universities are launching a $50 million Army-funded study to find out why soldiers kill themselves or become mentally ill.

Columbia University, Harvard University and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., also are part of the consortium conducting the five-year study.

The University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research says in announcing the study Thursday that it’s the largest to date of suicide and mental health in the military.

Study co-leader Steven Heeringa at Michigan says the goal is to find out risk and protection factors for suicide and mental illness. He says the school will survey 90,000 active Army personnel.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_army_suicide_study_071609/

Army suicide numbers? Real people at Fort Carson

Army releases suicide statistics
Story By: Jeannette Hynes
Source: KOAA

Published Tue Jun 16, 2009, 07:33 PM MDT
Updated Wed Jun 17, 2009, 03:57 AM MDT

The U.S. Army releases the latest suicide data for 2009. So far this year, there are 45 confirmed suicides with 37 reported suicides under investigation. Of those confirmed, two suicides were from Fort Carson.

Private First Class Roy Mason committed suicide in May 2009. He served two tours of duty in Iraq. When he returned, he was assigned to the warrior transition unit to recover from injuries. He was 28 years old.

Specialist Larry Applegate also served two tours in Iraq. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Army Commendation Medal. He committed suicide in January 2009, after using an assault rifle to shoot up his home in Widefield.
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Army releases suicide statistics KOAA - Pueblo,CO,USA