U.S. Army suicides in 2007 show sizable increase from 2006

WASHINGTON: As many as 121 U.S. Army soldiers committed suicide in 2007, a jump of about 20 percent over the year before, officials said Thursday.

The rise came despite numerous efforts to improve the mental health of a force stressed by a longer-than-expected war in Iraq and the most deadly year yet in the six-year conflict in Afghanistan.

Internal briefing papers prepared by the army's psychiatry consultant this month showed there were 89 confirmed suicides last year and 32 deaths that were suspected suicides and are still under investigation.

Thirty-four happened during deployments in Iraq, an increase from 27 the previous year, according to the preliminary figures.

The report also shows an increase in the number of attempted suicides and self-injuries - about 2,100 in 2007 compared with less than 1,500 the previous year and less than 500 in 2002.

The total of 121 suicides last year, if all are confirmed, would be more than double the 52 reported in 2001, before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, prompted the Bush administration to launch its counter-terror war. The toll was 87 by 2005 and 102 in 2006.

Officials said the rate of suicides per 100,000 active duty soldiers has not yet been calculated for 2007. But in a half million-person active duty army, the 2006 toll of 102 translated to a rate of 17.5 per 100,000, the highest since the army started counting in 1980, officials said.

That toll and rate for 2006 is a revision from figures released in August because a number of pending cases have since been concluded. Officials had reported 99 soldiers killed themselves in 2006 and two cases were pending - as opposed to the 102 now confirmed. It is common for investigations to take some time and for officials to study results at length before releasing them publicly.

Colonel Elspeth Ritchie, the psychiatry consultant to the army surgeon general, has said that officials found failed personal relationships, legal and financial problems and the stress of their jobs have been main factors in soldiers' suicides. Officials also have found that the number of days troops are deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan or nearby countries contributes to that stress.

With the army stretched thin by years of fighting the two wars, the Pentagon last year extended normal tours of duty to 15 months from 12 and has sent some troops back to the wars several times. The army has been hoping to reduce tour lengths later this year. But the prospect could depend heavily on what General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, recommends when he gives his assessment of security in Iraq and troop needs to Congress in April.

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