Source:
ABC NewsABC News' Luis Martinez reports: The Army has had another bad month for suicides within its ranks with 18 suspected suicides during the month of February. That is a decrease from January's record-high of 24 suspected suicides, but one Army official said Wednesday the number still remains high and "very disturbing."
The Army's in the midst of a month-long training stand-down to help soldiers identify suicidal behavior among their colleagues. That stand-down was prompted by last year's record number of 143 suspected suicides in the ranks, 138 of those have been confirmed as suicides and five remain under investigation as possible suicides. Still, last year's 143 possible suicides were substantially higher than the 115 suicides that occurred in 2007, and the fourth straight year that suicides had increased Army-wide.
Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli and top Army mental health officers released the February numbers during a bloggers conference call this morning. Last month's high numbers prompted the Army to begin releasing monthly suicide statistics.
Chiarelli said trying to reduce the suicide numbers within the ranks, "is one of the hardest problems" he's seen in his 36 year military career and such a complex challenge, "that there is no single solution...suicide is a multi-dimensional problem that requires a multi-disciplinary approach to tackle it."
Read more:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2009/03/army-suicides-r.html