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Army probes soldier suicides - "Alarmed by the number of suicides in Iraq"
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
USA Today - October 13, 2003
Alarmed by the number of suicides among soldiers in Iraq the Army has
asked a team of doctors to determine whether the stress of combat and
long deployments is contributing to the deaths.
"The number of suicides has caused the Army to be concerned," said Lt.
Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a psychiatrist at the Army’s Uniformed
Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. Ritchie is
helping to investigate the suicides in Iraq. "Is there something
different going on in Iraq that we really need to pay attention to?"
In the past seven months, at least 11 soldiers and three Marines have
committed suicide in Iraq, military officials say. That is an annual
rate of 17 per 100,000. The Navy also is investigating one possible
suicide. And about a dozen other Army deaths are under investigation
and could include suicides.
The numbers suggest the rate in Iraq is above normal. Last year, the
military services reported 8 to 9 suicides per 100,000 people. The
Army rate is usually higher, 10 to 13 per 100,000. That mirrors the
rate for the same age group in the general population.
Army officials caution against drawing general conclusions based on
small changes. But they sent a mental-health team to Iraq last month
to study various issues, including suicides and treatment available
for soldiers suffering from depression. Dispatched by the Army surgeon
general’s office, the team consists of psychologists, psychiatrists,
social workers and the manager of the Army’s suicide-prevention
program. The team has surveyed 700 soldiers and held discussions in
which GIs were encouraged to talk freely.
"They are ... looking at the stresses on the troops, how well the
troops are coping and how well the basic principles of battlefield
psychiatry are working," Ritchie said.
Most of the suicides have occurred since May 1, after major combat
operations were declared ended. Experts say harsh and dangerous living
conditions combined with a long deployment can worsen existing
depression. And the accessibility of weapons in a war zone can quickly
turn a passing thought into action. "It just takes a second to pull it
out and put it to your head and pull the trigger," Ritchie said.
The Army has sent 478 soldiers home from Iraq for mental-health
issues. Officials say that in previous wars, many of those cases would
have been treated in the war zone. The Army doesn’t have enough
mental-health resources in Iraq to treat many of the cases.
The Army responded to a 26% increase in active-duty suicides from 1997
to 1999 by implementing the suicide- prevention program in 2001.