by Frank James
The Army is reporting today that in 2006 it had its highest suicide rate in 26 years, with at least 99 soldiers killing themselves last year.
That number has to be placed in context, given there are half a million soldiers, many of them young men who often have fairly easy access to weapons. It would be much too strong to say there’s an epidemic of suicide in the Army.
Still, the report is guaranteed to quickly become part of Iraq War debate, with critics likely to cite it as yet another reason for withdrawing U.S. troops.
As the Associated Press is reporting, the report found “a significant relationship between suicide attempts and the number of days deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan or nearby countries where troops were participating in the war effort.”
Statistics from the report began leaking yesterday with CNN reporting on the troubling numbers last night.
Once we gain access to the report itself, we’ll provide a link.
Here’s part of the AP story: