Suicide Toll Fuels Worry That Army Is Strained

[snopes]

Sixteen American soldiers killed themselves in October in the U.S. and on duty overseas, an unusually high monthly toll that is fueling concerns about the mental health of the nation's military personnel after more than eight years of continuous warfare.

The Army's top generals worry that surging tens of thousands more troops into Afghanistan could increase the strain felt by many military personnel after years of repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125720469173424023.html

[Malruhn]

I was just part of a work-group that looked at suicide in the military.

We randomly selected one base and looked at seven suicides for the last year that had happened at that base.

We found that only THREE happened at the fort or local area - the other four were from soldiers that were from units that were based at that fort but were deployed. We then got details from each case.

For the deployed folks:
1. Just got a Dear John letter with pictures to prove the infidelity.
2. Just got a Dear John letter and copies of bank statements showing removal of all previously "joint" funds were gone.
3. Just got a Dear John letter... and a letter from their sibling saying that they were in love with the soon-to-be-ex-spouse.
4. Was just notified that the family home had burned down and their child had died in the fire. Spouse was arrested on arson/1st degree murder charges for the fire - was "clearing the slate" to facilitate a new relationship who didn't want kids in the picture.

For the three suicides "on" post:
1. Just received notification from significant other that the relationship was over.
2. Recently passed over for promotion and notified that a discharge (honorable) was pending.
3. A heavy drinker (from the reports, VERY heavy), was notified that they were being sent to in-patient treatment for alcoholism, and upon completion would be discharged for patterns of alcohol abuse and inability/unwillingness to change the behavior. Had recently received their FOURTH DUI conviction and spouse had filed for divorce.

There were other teams that chose other services but we all came to the same conclusions... we determined that, although the numbers of suicides are increasing, the reasons are not primarily because of deployment. Infidelity/getting dumped was the primary cause over all services and all ranks.

This article is using logic that is akin to saying that a leading cause of military suicides is because they are forced to wear uniforms...

[woodness03]

Originally Posted by Malruhn

There were other teams that chose other services but we all came to the same conclusions... we determined that, although the numbers of suicides are increasing, the reasons are not primarily because of deployment. Infidelity/getting dumped was the primary cause over all services and all ranks.

This article is using logic that is akin to saying that a leading cause of military suicides is because they are forced to wear uniforms...

emphasis mine.

Could you say that Infidelity/getting dumped was caused by the deployment, so because the soldiers were deployed, cheating occurred? Maybe not in every case, but there could be some strong connection between the two.

[CannonFodder]

Originally Posted by woodness03

emphasis mine.

Could you say that Infidelity/getting dumped was caused by the deployment, so because the soldiers were deployed, cheating occurred? Maybe not in every case, but there could be some strong connection between the two.

Certainly in my company we had a LOT of divorces while deployed. A couple where the spouse cleared out the joint accounts before leaving. Of the guys who weren't married, but dating, only two came back to the same significant other they had before we left. One of those is now happily married, the other plans to get married next summer.