U.S. military’s suicide rate for active-duty troops up over the past five years, Pentagon says
By Dan Lamothe
September 26 at 6:18 PM
The U.S. military’s suicide rate among active-duty service members has climbed over the past five years, according to a Pentagon report released Thursday, as defense officials acknowledged a troubling rise that they said was similar to national trends.
Some 541 service members died by suicide in 2018, including 325 active-duty troops, the report said. The active-duty suicide rate was about 24.8 per 100,000 service members, up from 21.9 in 2017 and 18.7 in 2013.
“Although the suicide rate among most of our military populations is comparable to civilian rates, this is hardly comforting, and our numbers are not moving in the right direction,†Elizabeth Van Winkle, the Pentagon’s executive director of force resiliency, told reporters on Thursday.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2019/09/26/us-militarys-suicide-rate-active-duty-troops-rises-fifth-consecutive-year-pentagon-says/
