Pak Sahafat – In 2008, the number of suicides per 100,000 US military personnel was 16.9, which reached 28.7 in 2020 and experienced a 70% increase in these 13 years; a trend that is expected to continue due to America’s adventurism and militarism.
“Suicide” is one of the crises that the US military has been dealing with in recent decades; A crisis that has intensified in parallel with Washington’s interventionism and militarism in different parts of the world.
In this regard, recently, the non-profit organization “American War Partnership” (AWP) published the results of its extensive research that showed that an average of 24 US veterans commit suicide every day, which is 37% higher than the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) report.
According to this non-profit organization, every day another 20 former soldiers of the US Army are listed in the list of deaths caused by “self-harm” such as excessive use of drugs or alcohol (overdose). The US Department of Veterans Affairs typically classifies suicide deaths as accidental or undiagnosed deaths, but the non-profit organization Combat Partnerships has stated that such cases are listed as intentional and lethal acts and lead mainly to the death of the individual.
It should be noted that this research was done with the help of researchers from “Alabama” and “Duke” universities and after a detailed and thorough examination of the statistical data of 8 states between 2014 and 2018.
Read more:
A statistical look at the suicide rate in the US military
According to the results of the research published last year by “Brown” University on the suicide rate among American soldiers and veterans, it was found that the number of soldiers and veterans who died by suicide is 4 times more than the casualties of the American army since the beginning of ” Fight against terrorism” in September 2001.
Recently, “Dustin Gladwell”, who has joined the veterans for 12 years and was previously in Afghanistan as an infantry consultant and tactical instructor, emphasizes that “suicide among American soldiers is at its highest level and this trend must be reversed. »
He, who is proud to receive the “Bronze Star” and has a master’s degree in international relations and national security, wrote in a report: Just like war for the past 20 years, suicide is all too familiar to the US military. Suicide has affected both active military and veterans. It is very alarming that we lose more soldiers to suicide each year than we have lost in 20 years of combat operations combined.
Despite the efforts of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Pentagon, military suicides continue to increase.
The US Department of Defense published its annual report on suicide on September 30, 2021. According to this report, the suicide rate has increased from 26.3 cases per 100,000 active forces in 2019 to 28.7 suicides in 2020.
Meanwhile, in 2008, the number of suicides per 100,000 people was 16.9. The change in the number of suicides to 28.7 cases in 2020 is equal to a 70% increase in 13 years. This is an important and worrying trend that doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
The high record of suicides in active forces and veterans in 2020 was also noticed by the American base “Defense One”. According to the website, this is the highest rate since the Pentagon began keeping accurate records in 2008. Counting suicide deaths is not an exact science, and official statistics can change as new information becomes available. Statistically, the figure presented as the annual suicide rate represents the midpoint of the 95% confidence interval.
Why the highest suicide rate since World War II
According to the June 27, 2022 report, “United Service Organizations” (USO), as an American non-profit charitable company, the suicide rate among active-duty military members is now at its highest level since records began after 9/11, and has been steadily rising at an alarming rate for the past five years. In fact, some branches of the armed forces are experiencing the highest suicide rates since before World War II.
As an example, the research carried out in 2021 showed that 30 thousand 177 active duty and disabled personnel who served in the army after September 11 died by suicide, while 7057 soldiers during have been killed in the same war for 20 years. That is, the rate of military suicide is four times higher than the deaths that occurred during military operations.
According to the German website “Deutsche Welle”, according to official statistics, 35% of American soldiers who commit suicide are those who participated in military operations in critical areas such as Afghanistan and Iraq. 30% of these soldiers kill themselves during the mission.
This is despite the fact that most soldiers did not think about suicide before entering the army. The statistical website “Statista” looked at the percentage of veterans who thought about suicide before and after joining the military in the United States from 2014 to 2021.
The chart below, taken from this statistical website, shows that the rate of suicidal thoughts after joining the military has increased dramatically. For example, in 2021, 9 percent of respondents said they had considered suicide before joining the military, while that 44% have thought of suicide after joining the army.
From the point of view of the observers, several reasons lead American soldiers to commit suicide, the most important of which is psychological pressure and stressful factors. Service members deployed to other countries or to war zones often experience loneliness and isolation. They must spend months and sometimes years away from family and friends in unfamiliar places while dealing with the stress and dangers of their daily duties.
In this regard, Paul Rickhoff, the spokesman of the Union of Soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan for a long time, said in 2009: Out of four to five soldiers who return to America, one suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, many have depression, and some have become alcoholics, which causes family problems. The range of such problems is very wide. Although the army has expanded the scope of its assistance programs, we need more people who can help solve the mental problems of soldiers. The president and parliament must act immediately.
During the corona epidemic, this disease and the quarantine became the cause until we saw the peak of suicide in 2020. In that year, infected people while serving abroad or soldiers returning from service had to undergo mandatory 14-day quarantine before returning to service or before going home on leave. These quarantines imposed more challenges and tension for the military, which had a significant impact on the increase in suicides.
In general, the increase in suicide among American soldiers is closely related to the adventurism and militarism of this country in different parts of the world. Since the US is not expected to stop its interventionism and militarism, hence the concerns about the increase in the death rate due to suicide among the country’s military forces have increased.