From Ohio to Texas, newspapers around the United States are running local stories on a surge in suicides and trauma involving members of the U.S. military.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer is looking at the apparent suicide of Army Pvt. Keiffer Wilhelm. At Fort Hood, in Texas, multiple soldiers have committed suicide every year since the Iraq war began, the Austin American Statesman reports. The Indianapolis Star did a four-part series in September that detailed how Sgt. Jacob Blaylock took his own life.
These aren’t just anecdotal reports. In 2008 there were 256 suicides in the U.S. military — and more than half of those were in the Army, the BBC reports.
More than the highest number of military suicides since 1980, when the data was first tracked; it also marks the first time the military suicide rate is higher than that of the general population, according to the Defense Department.
Back on the home front, aggression gone AWOL can also turn outwards — as happened to Anthony Marquez of Colorado Springs, in an oft-cited story by the Colorado Springs Gazette.
Marquez was the first infantry soldier in his brigade to murder someone after returning from Iraq — but he wasn’t the last. Ten members of his 4th Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team have been arrested and accused of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter since 2006, the newspaper reports.
What’s gone wrong for those who have served in our 20th and 21st century wars?
David Rudd, Texas Tech University professor and an expert on military suicide, told both The Kansas City Pitch that the military mentality of never acknowledging weakness or the need for help can contribute to despair or aggressiveness, and lead in turn to suicide or violent acts.
A 2008 Rand Corporation study found more than 300,000 military service members — one out of every five who served in Iraq or Afghanistan — reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.
Yet only half said they had sought help — which is, by some reckonings, ever-more available.
The Veterans Administration launched a suicide hotline in 2007 that took in more than 100,000 calls in its first eight months, notes Partnership for a Secure America, while September 6 kicks off the Department of Defense’ Suicide Awareness Week, as well as the U.S. Army’s Suicide Prevention Month.
Meanwhile, the National Institute of Mental Health is preparing a $50 million, five-year study of military suicides involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers and new recruits.
Yet all these efforts came to naught for Iraq war veteran Kevin Rodrick.
A few days after he took his own life, the Wisconsin State Journal reports that his mother received a postcard in the mail saying he was due for a psychiatric evaluation.
–Ronnie Lovler/Newsdesk.org
Sources:
“Endless war: the suicide of the United States”
E News Park Forest, August 20, 2009
“Still at war, the army opens a new front against soldier suicide”
Kansas City Pitch, August 25, 2009
“Evidence-Based Prevention is Goal of Largest Ever Study of Suicide in the Military”
National Institute of Mental Health, July 16, 2009
“Suicides: a growing problem for military”
Madison.com, August 25, 2009
“U.S. Army seeks to stem suicides”
BBC, September 6, 2009
“Task-force to examine suicide prevention programs”
Office of the secretary of defense, public affairs, September 4, 2009
“Day 4: where’s the line between people’s rights and enforcing help”
Indianapolis Star, September 2, 2009
“As suicides rise, military intensifies prevention efforts”
Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 29, 2009
“Wisconsin National Guard takes part in suicide prevention week”
Examiner.com, September 1, 2009
“One In Five Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Suffer from PTSD or Major Depression”
Rand Corporation news release, April 17, 2008
“General focuses on well being of soldiers, families”
Austin-American Statesman, August 16 2009
“When Stress becomes fatal”
Partnership for a secure America, September 1, 2009
“Casualties of War, Part I: The hell of war comes home”
Colorado Springs Gazette, July 26, 2009