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Soldier Suicides at Record
Level
Dana Priest
Washington
Post
Thursday January 31, 2008
Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, a psychiatric outpatient at Walter
Reed Army Medical Center who was waiting for the Army to decide
whether to court-martial her for endangering another soldier and
turning a gun on herself last year in Iraq, attempted to kill
herself Monday evening. In so doing, the 25-year-old Army reservist
joined a record number of soldiers who have committed or tried
to commit suicide after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"I'm very disappointed with the Army," Whiteside wrote
in a note before swallowing dozens of antidepressants and other
pills. "Hopefully this will help other soldiers." She
was taken to the emergency room early Tuesday. Whiteside, who
is now in stable physical condition, learned yesterday that the
charges against her had been dismissed.
Whiteside's personal tragedy is part of an alarming phenomenon
in the Army's ranks: Suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007
reached their highest level since the Army began keeping such
records in 1980, according to a draft internal study obtained
by The Washington Post. Last year, 121 soldiers took their own
lives, nearly 20 percent more than in 2006.
(Article continues below)
At the same time, the number of attempted suicides or self-inflicted
injuries in the Army has jumped sixfold since the Iraq war began.
Last year, about 2,100 soldiers injured themselves or attempted
suicide, compared with about 350 in 2002, according to the U.S.
Army Medical Command Suicide Prevention Action Plan.
The Army was unprepared for the high number of suicides and cases
of post-traumatic stress disorder among its troops, as the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan have continued far longer than anticipated.
Many Army posts still do not offer enough individual counseling
and some soldiers suffering psychological problems complain that
they are stigmatized by commanders. Over the past year, four high-level
commissions have recommended reforms and Congress has given the
military hundreds of millions of dollars to improve its mental
health care, but critics charge that significant progress has
not been made.
The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed severe stress
on the Army, caused in part by repeated and lengthened deployments.
Historically, suicide rates tend to decrease when soldiers are
in conflicts overseas, but that trend has reversed in recent years.
From a suicide rate of 9.8 per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in
2001 -- the lowest rate on record -- the Army reached an all-time
high of 17.5 suicides per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2006.
Last year, twice as many soldier suicides occurred in the United
States than in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Full
article here.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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