U.S. Army suicides highest since Gulf War

By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Failed relationships, including marriages stressed by combat deployments, helped push the number of suicides in the U.S. Army last year to its highest since the Gulf War, the Army said on Thursday.

The Army reported 99 confirmed suicides in 2006, up from 87 in 2005. The Army also listed two additional deaths last year as suspected suicides still pending confirmation.

Army suicides last year hit their highest mark since 1991, the time of the Gulf War, when the biggest branch of the U.S. military recorded 102 soldier suicides.

"The primary reasons for suicides, when we examine the completed suicide, is failed intimate relationships, failed marriages," said Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a psychiatrist and consultant to the Army Surgeon General.

"What we have found is not a direct relationship so far between deployment combat and suicide. However, we do know that frequent deployments put a real strain on relationships, especially on marriages," she said, noting failed relationships are a factor in as many as 80 percent of Army suicides.

"So we believe that part of the increase is related to the increased stress in relationships."

More than 1.5 million U.S. troops have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. The Army has been particularly stressed by multiple and extended deployments.

The suicide data follows a string of studies showing an increase in mental health problems among soldiers and other U.S. troops. According to those studies, including a Pentagon assessment, the military has not provided adequate mental health resources to its service members.

Last year, 30 of the 99 confirmed suicides occurred in war zones -- 27 in Iraq and 3 in Afghanistan. About 62 percent of the soldiers who killed themselves in 2006 had served at least once in Iraq or Afghanistan.

So far this year, 44 soldiers have committed suicide, including 17 in war zones, the Army said.

"This report is heartbreaking, and it's a warning that unless we attack the stigma around mental health care and boost our outreach, we're going to continue to lose even more service members on the battlefront and the home front," said U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state.

CIVILIAN RATE HIGHER

Viewed in the context of the total population of soldiers, the Army recorded 17.3 suicides per 100,000 soldiers in 2006, including the two deaths still pending confirmation. That is up from 12.8 suicides per 100,000 soldiers in 2005.

But it remains below comparable rates in the general U.S. population, according to Col. Dennis Dingle, head of the Army's human resources policy directorate.

The United States records about 10 to 11 suicides per 100,000 people annually. But when adjusted to match the Army's age and gender characteristics, the suicide rate in the general population rises to 19 to 21 per 100,000.

The Marine Corps, also strained by the wars, said its suicide rate was lower than the Army's -- 12.4 Marines per 100,000 in 2006. The Marines reported 24 suicides in 2006, down from 26 in 2005 and 34 in 2004.