DOD task force confronts suicide

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DOD task force confronts suicide
By Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, November 24, 2009

SEOUL, South Korea — They’re often young, male, in the Army, and recently had their hearts broken.

Another thing they have in common: They fit the profile of many servicemembers who kill themselves.

The military has yet to understand thoroughly why more troops are committing suicide, or whether multiple deployments contribute to them, said Maj. Gen. Philip Volpe, co-chairman of the new Defense Department suicide prevention task force conducting a study on the problem.

The 14-member task force, which includes seven civilians and seven servicemembers, began meeting about a month ago and will present its findings to the secretary of Defense next summer.

Volpe, who spoke at a recent medical conference at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, said the latest statistics the group is studying have not been cleared for release. But he said his "gut feeling" is that the stress of deployments and operations tempo are factors in an increase in military suicides. And suicides are a much greater problem in the Army than in other services.


Rest oaf article at: http://www.stripes.com/m/article.asp?section=104&article=66263