WASHINGTON - In a tragic new marker of the rising cost of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army's suicide rate has jumped significantly, according to a report released yesterday at the Pentagon.
As soldiers and families coped with repeated combat tours and long separations, the Army said that 115 soldiers took their own lives in 2007, a rate of about 17 per 100,000 soldiers. The Army said the suicide rate among a comparable civilian population is 19.5 suicides per 100,000.
But broader Defense Department studies show that suicides among all military personnel in Iraq, including Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel, occur at a rate of about 24 per 100,000, significantly above the civilian rate.
The new figures released by the Army show a 13 percent increase in suicides over 2006, when 102 soldiers took their own lives.
"War is hard on soldiers, and it can be even harder on families," said Army Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, assistant Army surgeon general. "The Army is committed to taking care of every soldier, regardless of medical illness, injury or psychological diagnosis," she told reporters.
Despite extensive steps taken by the Army in suicide prevention training and other mental health care, she acknowledged that "we believe there is more to be done."
Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker, the Army surgeon general, acknowledged earlier this week that the military's mental health facilities are inadequate.
University of Maryland sociologist Jesse Harris, former dean of the school of social work and a retired Army officer, who pioneered work with military families, said experts are "rather puzzled at the alarming rate [of suicide increases], and we are trying to get a grip on it."
According to data gathered by the Army and other services over the past few years, the rising incidences of suicides and severe stress are directly related to the rigors of what Bush administration officials call "the Long War" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Defense Department has sought to increase training to prepare soldiers for the stress of combat, but most troops say the training is inadequate, according to an Army survey of over 3,000 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan last fall.
In a statement, Sen. Barack Obama, the leading Democratic presidential candidate, called the new suicide data a "tragic reminder of the staggering and ongoing costs of the Iraq war."
