This is a very sad report to read and hear about on the news. What is happening with our soldiers? Suicides among United States soldiers rose last year to the highest level in decades. The Army announced this on Thursday. At least 128 soldiers killed themselves in 2008. They feel the final count is likely to be considerably higher because 15 more suspicious deaths are still being investigated and could also turn out to be self-inflicted.
A new training and prevention effort will start this week. Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a psychiatric consultant to the Army surgeon general, made a plea for more United States mental health professionals to sign on to work for the military. That sounds like a good idea. Something has to be done before more men kill themselves.
There were 115 suicides in 2007 and 102 in 2006, so this new suicide figure is the highest since record keeping began in l980. Officials calculate the deaths at a rate of roughly 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers. This is higher than the adjusted civilian rate for the first time since the Vietnam War. This was reported by officials to a Pentagon news conference.
No comments:
Post a Comment