Suicide in the Armed Forces

Suicide among members of the armed forces has increased significantly over the last several years. From 2005 to 2009, more than 1,100 members of the Armed Forces took their own lives, an average of 1 suicide every 36 hours. In that same period, the suicide rates among Marines and Soldiers more than doubled. In 2008, 143 soldiers, 41 sailors, 41 Marines and 31 airmen took their own lives, and for the first time, the Army suicide rate exceeded that for civilians. In 2009 there were 244 confirmed or suspected cases of suicide in the military.

The major cause of suicide in the armed forces is stress. On August 23, 2010, The DoD Task Force on the Prevention of Suicide by Members of the Armed Forces submitted a comprehensive report to the Secretary of Defense as the culmination of a year-long study into the rising incidence of suicide among members of the military. According to the DoD Task Force report, the rise in suicides is due mainly to a significant increase in military operations since 2002. Heightened operational tempo, repeated deployments and insufficient quantity and quality of dwell time have had a cumulative fatiguing effect on military personnel. This is not a challenge that Army leaders control. “It's a challenge that the president and Congress controls," said David Rudd, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The DoD Task Force also found that Military commanders are not provided the tools they need to: detect, measure, and track unit-level suicide risk factors; identify individuals who are high risk; and inform local prevention activities; and occasionally leadership environments (usually at the junior supervisory and sometimes at the mid-grade level) resulted in discriminatory and humiliating treatment of Service Members who responsibly sought professional services for emotional, psychological, moral, ethical, or spiritual matters, which not only deters help seeking but also reinforces the stigma.

The devastating effect of suicides on unit morale should compel military authorities to quickly implement the DoD Task Force recommendations: Stress on the force must be reduced; skills-based training is imperative to preventing suicide; when individuals exhibit signs of distress, peers, military leaders, and family members must be able to recognize the danger and respond with appropriate support, including referral to intervention services. Although changing a culture that views psychological illness as a weakness may take years, it helps to start now.