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OUT OF THE DARKNESS: SUICIDE AND THE MILITARY
-- After
the suicide of Admiral Jeremy Boorda, the
military scrambled
to send a message: Suicide does not restore
honor.
Admiral Jeremy Boorda
Story here...
http://content.hamptonroads.
com/story.cfm?story=1279
92&ran=64744
Story below:
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Out of the Darkness: Suicide and the military
By JOANNE KIMBERLIN
The Virginian-Pilot
They're young - an average of just 19 - and far from home. They train
for a deadly task in a gut-it-out culture. And then, they go to war.
No wonder suicide has long plagued the military.
From 2001 to 2006, according to the Department of Defense, 1,110 active
duty and reserve servicemen and women took their own lives. The largest
number were Army (454), followed by Air Force (249), Navy (244) and
Marines (163). One hundred and twenty have committed suicide while
serving in the Iraq war.
As bad as that sounds, it 's a lot better than it used to be. A decade
ago, the military wide rate hovered around 17.3 per 100,000 people.
Today, it's down to 11.2 - not much higher than the civilian rate of
10.9.
The turning point came in 1996 when Adm. Jeremy Boorda, the nation's top
Navy officer, shot himself after questions arose over one of his Vietnam
combat medals.
"That really got everyone's attention," said Cmdr. Anthony Doran, who
heads the Navy's effort to curb suicide.
Every branch got serious about prevention programs - the kind that are
just now surfacing in the civilian world. Troops were ordered to attend
awareness sessions and repeat them at regular intervals. After a time,
the numbers began to fall.
Iraq, however, is raising concerns. All war takes a toll on a soldier's
psyche, but that's especially so of a shadowy conflict with falling
support back home and an enemy who's hard to identify.
The situation in Iraq is complicated by the heavy use of National Guard
and Reserve troops. Once they hit stateside, they tend to fan out to
small towns, where they a re alone with their nightmares and a long way
from help.
Even when they do reach out, they may come up empty- handed. Earlier
this year, an American Psychological Association task force studying the
military's mental health system said that the system is overwhelmed and
that troops are not receiving the help they need.
The task force cited a 40 percent shortage of active duty Army and Navy
psychologists.
Doran says conditions aren't that bad: "In terms of psychologists and
chaplains, we have more in theater right now than at any other time in
history. The services are aware that conflict is stressful. We are doing
everything we can."
But problems can surface long after a hitch ends. According to the
National Institute of Mental Health, male veterans are twice as likely
as civilian men to commit suicide.
Dr. Ira Katz, director of the Department of Veterans Affairs mental
health services, says such deaths can be hard to track. Take Vietnam.
Estimates have ranged wildly for that war, from a few thousand suicides
to 160,000. "How long after Vietnam is a suicide still war-related?"
Katz wondered.
He says the VA is still trying to gather data on Iraq vets, but research
into the first Gulf War did not find "an excess of risk for suicide
among people who went to the war versus those in the service who did
not."
Katz stressed that the military is a microcosm of society. The uniform,
however, can extract a special price - even off the battlefield.
The Coast Guard lost 31 of its members to suicide from 2001 to 2006. One
of them died May 23 in Portsmouth. According to police reports, a
37-year-old Coast Guardsman shot himself with a handgun while sitting in
his car.
"This is hard job," said Lt. Cmdr. Rich Condit. "Especially since 9/11."
Condit headed local Coast Guard operations until his transfer to
Washington last month. " We've got guys out on a boat, late at night,
far from command," he said. "The senior person might be in his mid-20s,
and they have to make the call. They have the authority to shoot or not
shoot and they're dealing with American citizens. 'Is that a bomber or a
fisherman?' It's a lot of responsibility."
Retrieving the bodies of missing boaters can leave a lasting impression.
"What the water can do after a few days," Condit said, "well, it's not
pretty."
Condit says debriefing sessions are held to try to ward off
post-traumatic stress. Other services say they're trying to do the same.
They're also changing their own reaction to suicide. In the old days, an
attempt led to a discharge and a suicide left a family with no benefits.
Now, an attempt is more likely to lead to treatment and a job change.
Suicides are usually handled the same as line-of-duty deaths.
Joanne Kimberlin, (757) 446-2338,
joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com
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Larry Scott --
