Families of Iraq-deployed soldiers are becoming concerned about rising suicide rates and the lack of support or information from the Pentagon:
According to William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, who discussed the suicides in a briefing last month, that represents a rate of more than 13.5 per 100,000 troops, about 20 percent higher than the recent Army average of 10.5 to 11. The Pentagon plans to release the findings of a team sent to Iraq last fall to investigate the mental health of the troops, including suicides.
The number Winkenwerder cited does not include cases under investigation, so the actual number may be higher. It also excludes the suicides by soldiers who have returned to the United States. For instance, two soldiers undergoing mental health treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington reportedly committed suicide there, in July 2003 and last month. In its weekly report on the treatment of returning battlefield soldiers, the hospital never mentioned the deaths. An official at Walter Reed said the deaths are “suspected” suicides and are being investigated by the Army’s criminal division.
Stephen L. Robinson, who visits the hospital regularly and is executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, a nonprofit advocacy group for veterans and soldiers, said there was no public record of the deaths. “They just covered it up,” he said.
The military’s emphasis on honor, valor and courage makes suicide perhaps one of its last taboos. The Pentagon does not publicly identify a soldier’s death as a suicide but may classify it as a “non-hostile gunshot wound,” or death from “non-hostile injuries,” which can also include accidents such as negligent discharge of a weapon. In comparison, the Pentagon will release a description of the cause of death — enemy fire, a land mine, a car crash — for a soldier killed in action or as a result of an accident.
I’m so tired of the rhetoric of the right telling us to support our troops, that if we don’t support the war we’re against our soldiers; when at the same time they vote to cut their benefits and such… and don’t support their families or offer concern for their well-being.
