Historically, the number of soldiers committing suicide is less when they are at war than when they are at peace. But that seems to be changing. In 2002 350 of our soldiers attempted suicide attempted suicide, in 2007 that number was 2100. Some, including Lt. Whiteside, have tried more than once to end their lives.
And the number who succeed in killing themselves is at the highest level since the Army began keeping track. In 2007 121 did, 20% more than in 2006.
The truly sad part is that the military really has not yet found an effective way to treat these victims of war.
2 comments:
One way, perhaps, would be not to perpetrate unnecessary wars.
I heard some army guy talking about this on NPR. He says the percentage of soldiers committing suicide is no higher than the average for the general population.
Usually the unstable are not recruited so that is not an unbiased observation to my mind.
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