HomeA Surprising Revelation About Soldiers Who Commit Suicide - Study

A Surprising Revelation About Soldiers Who Commit Suicide – Study

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The suicide rate among active-duty military members has decreased, according to the Annual Report on Suicide in the Military for 2021.

Although the drop is encouraging, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a written statement that “we recognize we have more work to do.”

In 2021, 519 military personnel died by suicide, compared to 582 in 2020. Between 2020 and 2021, the suicide rate among active-duty soldiers dropped from 28.7 per 100,000 to 24.3 per 100,000. According to Elizabeth Foster, executive director of the DOD’s Office of Force Resiliency, this is a 15% drop.

Although the figures are encouraging, the main question remains: Why do soldiers commit suicide?

A study carried out by the University of Manchester found that soldiers who have never been in combat are more likely to commit suicide than those who have.

The study from the University of Manchester linked records from the NHS and the military for more than 458 000 veterans from 1996 to 2018.

It found that 899 of the 328,875 troops who were not involved in combat during that time period killed themselves. According to the data, 187 soldiers committed suicide out of a total of 129,173 who were deployed over the same time frame.

“While public perception and some previous studies suggest combat-related experiences are associated with suicide,” says lead author Cathryn Rodway, but their “findings paint a slightly different picture.

In the study they “found suicide was no more common than it is in the general population, although risk did appear to be higher in the youngest age groups and those with short lengths of service. Deployment to a conflict actually appeared to reduce suicide risk.”

During this time period, 1,086 (0.2%) veterans committed suicide, which is comparable to the general population average.

The study also discovered that although younger veterans had a higher risk of suicide than the general population, veterans over 35 had a reduced risk.

A full-court effort has already been launched by the secretary to tackle the problem of preventing suicides in the armed forces. Austin has given the go-ahead for the Department of Defense (DOD) to hire more people to work on suicide prevention and other tough issues. 

“That’s been a major effort standing up that workforce, but we are hiring over 2,000 prevention personnel that will be stationed around the world,” Foster said in a statement issued by DOD. “That’s a major investment that’s going to be a continuing effort.”

The Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee is one aspect of the effort to fight suicide. It examines various installations, both domestically and abroad, and offers practical suicide prevention advice. According to sources, this committee will release its first report in February.

“We have the most technologically advanced military in the world, but our service members are our most important resource as a fighting force,” Austin remarked. “Mental health wellness and suicide prevention remain critical aspects to our success and the department’s enduring commitment to take care of our people.”

Image Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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