USA Today: Army probes soldier suicides

[Newsjock]

From Monday's USA Today. Will add link as soon as full story is online.

Army probes soldier suicides

By GREGG ZOROYA
USA TODAY

Alarmed by the number of suicides among soldiers in Iraq, the Army has asked a team of doctors to determine if the stress of combat and long deployments is contributing to the deaths.

``The number of suicides has caused the Army to be concerned,'' said Lt. Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a psychiatrist at the Army's Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md., who is helping to investigate the suicides in Iraq. ``Is there something different going on in Iraq that we really need to pay attention to?''

In the past seven months, at least 11 soldiers and three Marines have committed suicide in Iraq, military officials say. That is an annual rate of 17 per 100,000. The Navy also is investigating one possible suicide. And about a dozen Army deaths are under investigation and could include suicides.

The numbers suggest the rate in Iraq is above normal. Last year, the military services reported between 8 and 9 suicides per 100,000 people. The Army rate is usually higher, between 10 and 13 per 100,000, which mirrors the public rate for the same age group.

more

[Don_G]

1. I Don't Hold Any Hope For The Investigation

A year or two ago, the body of a soldier was found in a remote area of Ft. Knox with 23 stab wounds. The death certificate read "suicide" as determined by Army Investigators.

[Josh]

10. 23 stab wounds? That's the same number that Caesar had...

nt.

[lcordero]

2. "suicide"=military trying to get out of paying soldier's family

the $250,000 insurance that is owed to them.

[Dover]

3. ..

.

[Mari333]

4. "everything is going well Bremer" should be hung

so should the rest of the cabal.Soldiers begging not to go back, going AWOL...
my god, what have we allowed to happen.

[pansypoo53219]

5. what did the SCOTUS

start the motion on?
be careful what you wish for

[TacticalPeek]

6. Stop counting the dead. Continuing to count could cause irremediable harm.

:shrug:

[leesa]

7. There will be a hell of a lot more later when they realize they were

murdering people who had done nothing to the US or anyone else. It is not their fault, but they will pay the psychic price anyway.

[TacticalPeek]

8. Unwelcome familiarity.

:grr:

[Newsjock]

9. Link to story HERE

The update time on the original posting expired.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-10-13-army-suicides-usat_x.htm

[Paschall]

11. Was anything ever discovered about the Gitmo soldier who vanished...

...leaving his uniform, I believe, and personal affairs on the beach?

[Nottingham]

12. The Number 13 and 11 suicides are to many! Suicide

depends on whose investigating 23 stab wounds is hard to do in a Suicide perhaps the Death Toll in Iraq is Higher than thought!

Is this away to hide the death toll figures from the public????

If Bush and Rumsfeld has done this there will be hell to be paid!

:bounce: Body Bag counts were the downfall of Vietnam

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. I don't like the quick jump to the conclusion that they're suicides.

This military doesn't need anymore secrets. I hope the soldiers that know the truth about how the deaths came about will go to the family members and tell them what really happened.

On the other hand, it's also possible that those who enlisted in the military because they had no other options due to our bad economy, felt a level of despair that gave them no other escape.

[prolesunited]

14. These are some alarming figures

In the past seven months, at least 11 soldiers and three Marines have committed suicide in Iraq, military officials say. That is an annual rate of 17 per 100,000. The Navy also is investigating one possible suicide. And about a dozen other Army deaths are under investigation and could include suicides.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the suicide rate in the general population is 10.6 per 100,000.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/research/suifact.cfm

If the cases under investigation prove to be suicide, they will have rates in Iraq that are more than double. I don't see why it would be that difficult to understand and if you think how many National Guard units are out there. I don't think this is what they had in mind when they signed up.

The more frightening aspect of this it the hundreds who will come home with their minds permanently scrambled. The first gulf war gave us Timothy McVeigh as was the sniper John Allen Muhammad.

[Logansquare]

15. kicking this

.

[rocktivity]

16. Got guilt?

Oh, wow--they're actually ADMITTING that there are solider suicides? That's a breakthrough within itself. As to answering the musical question "Is there something different going on in Iraq that we really need to pay attention to?", let me count the ways!

• reduced combat pay and veterans' benefits
  
  
• extended deployments/postponed leaves
  
  
• providing own airfare during un-postponed leaves
  
  
• breathing depleted uranium
  
  
• being undersupplied by civilian contractors
  
  
• being "urged" to sign happy-happy-joy-joy letters to run in hometown newspapers
  
  
• bulldozing desparately needed crops
  
  
• not getting enough to eat or drink
  
  
• NOT BEING ABLE TO TALK ABOUT ANY OF THESE THINGS

On the other hand, I wouldn't put it past them to be doing this in order to make the number combat-related casualties look smaller.


rocknation

[Karenina]

17. HALLO!!!

You ROCK ON and "Tell 'em Like It I-IS!!!!

[ConcernedCanuk]

18. __ the Army has asked a team of doctors "

. . Feckadee !

Don't need to be an expert to figure this one out

When the guys realize how many innocents have been killed and maimed for the sake of GeeDubya's wrath, not much wonder they are distressed

And I fear the numbers will climb, not that we will ever know them all , , ,

Unlike Junior and his Gang of Thugs, Most Americans DO have a conscience

The only thing that the Amerikkkan Administration seems to care about is the almighty




Just My Humble Canadian Opinion