US soldiers are more likely to commit suicide than be killed in combat: Report
 

The US military suicide rate has stayed roughly the same even as most US troops have withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan and combat deaths have fallen, new government data suggests.

According to a report published last week by the US Department of Defense, 475 active service members took their own lives just last year, while 127 soldiers lost their lives during combat

The number of American soldiers committing suicide is now almost four times higher than those killed in combat, the new data shows, which was first reported by icasualties.org, a website that has been documenting war deaths since the Iraq War in 2003.

The same Department of Defense report said that 120 soldiers committed suicide in the first quarter of 2014, a rate of nearly one soldier every day. That compares with 43 soldiers who lost their lives in combat between January 1 and September 11, 2014.

The report says US policymakers and lawmakers have been slow to address the problem. Legislation focused on the subject has stalled in the Senate, and a Defense Department initiative to reduce military casualties has achieved little success.

The suicide crisis has been an issue in the military since the US deployed troops to Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago. The high rate of unemployment, post traumatic stress disorder and combat injuries among veterans have sharply raised the rate of suicide among them.

A study earlier this year found that almost half of the US soldiers who have recently returned from deployment in Afghanistan or Iraq have chronic pain, and 15 percent use opioid painkillers.

PressTV-475 US troops committed suicide in 2013

Cops too.

I havent commited suicide a single time.

Sadly, many of these soldiers seek some kind of help, but end up not getting what they need because our government is happy to send them off to fight, but once they come home and are all fucked up they are on their own.

"A study earlier this year found that almost half of the US soldiers who have recently returned from deployment in Afghanistan or Iraq have chronic pain, and 15 percent use opioid painkillers."

As I have been in army (not US), I know that service can be physically very demanding, but almost half having chronic pains and 15% using opioid painkillers seems like a lot. From where and why they get such pains? Physical activities? Or is it purely mental?

It may have something to do with the fact that they got sent to a country where opium is cheap and popular... they liked it / got addicted to it... came home, and the only good way to get more is to pretend they have chronic pain...

Also, pretending you have chronic pain after military duty, is a pretty easy way to not work for the rest of their lives and/or to squeeze some easy $$ from the government...

:2 cents:

When Soviet Army was in the same place we have no drug-related problems. I mean course there some incidents, but it was not a kind of epidemic like in the US army. Personally I have never heard of any.

My brother in law was a Soviet Airborne in Afghanistan. He told a lot about that war, but he never mentioned any case of a drug use there. Vodka was another case... ;) Sometimes they really did party with booze. But it was considered as a very serious violation of the Charter and the punishment was severe.

As about suicides during the Soviet-Afghan war, they were rare and always caused by one of two reasons:

1. Soldiers shot themselves then they knew that their girlfriends didn't wait for them and got married with another guy. Actually this was the most frequent case of suicide even in peacetime.
2. Soldiers shot themselves or use a grenade to be blown up together with Mujahedin when they were surrounded to avoid capture.

I don't understand the 1st group (killing yourself because of cheating chick is stupid). But the second group of suicides is a normal behavior. Especially if you can take a few enemy lives with you. I would do the same in a similar situation. Some individual episodes of heroism of Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan.

PressTV is not a Iranian website? I think it says it all...

its funny that bringing """""""""""democracy"""""""""""" and """""""""""freedoms"""""""""" to other countries would prompt such a wave of suicides :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

I mean they were just there to """"""""""""defend"""""""""""" the USA right? :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh


maybe they miss """"""""""""""liberating"""""""""""""" other people so much that they feel an urge to kill themselves? :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

the US army is always good for a laugh :thumbsup

The Russian soldier that returned from Afghanistan had this problem. I was living with a Russian immigrant girlfriend in the early 90s -- this is where I got this info she claimed this had a very large effect on the old Soviet Union's demise -- the USSR rotted from within. It is very possible that the returning US GI has similar issues ... Opiate addiction or abuse ...

:1orglaugh:thumbsup

I have never been a soldier. But I think some may need an extreme sport to keep their adrenaline going. Going from a battlefield to mowing a lawn must be crazy.