Army suicides rise

[sabra]

Source: MSNBC

From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube
Despite the fact that the Pentagon just announced last Friday that 133 active duty soldiers have committed suicide so far in 2009, today the Army admitted that there have actually been 211 possible soldier suicides so far this year.

Why the discrepancy? Last week's announcement did not factor in soldiers who were not on active duty at the time of their death -- that is, National Guard and Reserve soldiers.

As of November 16, 140 active duty U.S. soldiers are either confirmed or suspected to have committed suicide so far this year ... AND another 71 Army National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers who were NOT deployed at the time of death are also possible or confirmed suicide victims.

Of course, with so many Guard and Reserve soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, a soldier could be back from the war zone for only a matter of weeks before being inactivated -- but last week's announcement did not factor them in.

The Army had 143 total suicides among active duty soldiers in 2008. Army Vice Chief of Staff General Pete Chiarelli conceded today that the Army is "almost certainly going to end the year higher" for total suicides, adding that "every single loss is devastating."

Read more: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/11/17/2129711.aspx

[Soylent Brice]

1. K&R

[winyanstaz]

2. K & R.....my heart goes out to our troops....

PLEASE dear soldier, if any of you are reading this. PLEASE do not kill yourself.
America does need you and we need you here safe and we need you here now.
We are trying to bring you home and to give you a future.
We need you to come home and help defend us against what is coming down here.
Hold fast to your oath to defend the Constitution against ALL enemies..forgion or domestic ....as that is what we need as never before and because the Constitution is under attack like never before.
We also just love you. You are our family, our neighbor, our friend and our fellow citizen.
Yes the government has let you down.
Yes Congress is not listening now but we are still working on it.
DO NOT let these war mongers win! DO NOT GIVE UP!!!
It is not your fault that you were forced to go attack people that meant us no harm.
It is not your fault that everything has gone to hell at home.
There is a future for all of us......we just have to go through this dark time right now.....but please..always remember..
It is always the darkest just before the dawn.
And we love you.

[Arctic Dave]

3. Suicide is never the answer. Homicide on the other hand, maybe.