Iraq Troops Suicide Rate Spikes

[David]

The Army's suicide rate in Iraq has been about a third higher than past rates for troops during peacetime, the Pentagon's top doctor said Wednesday.

Also, the military still has about 2,500 troops waiting for medical care after returning from overseas, said Dr. William Winkenwerder, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.

The Pentagon is preparing for even more soldiers on "medical extension" after tens of thousands of troops are rotated home from Iraq this spring, Winkenwerder said.

The issue of suicides so worried the military that the Army sent an assessment team to Iraq late last year to see if anything more could be done to prevent troops from killing themselves. The Army also began offering more counseling to returning troops after several soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C., killed their wives and themselves after returning home from the war.

Winkenwerder said the military has documented 21 suicides during 2003 among troops involved in the Iraq war. Eighteen of those were Army soldiers, Winkenwerder said.

That's a suicide rate for soldiers in Iraq of about 13.5 per 100,000, Winkenwerder said. During recent peacetime years, that number for the Army has hovered around 10.5 to 11 per 100,000, Winkenwerder said.

"We don't see any trend there that tells us that there's more we might be doing," Winkenwerder told a breakfast meeting of Pentagon reporters.

The military has nine combat stress teams in Iraq to help treat troops' mental health problems, and each division has a psychiatrist, psychologist and social worker, Winkenwerder said. He said between 300 and 400 troops have been medically evacuated from Iraq for mental health problems.

The military prefers to treat mental health problems such as depression by keeping troops in their regular duties while they get counseling and possibly medication, Winkenwerder said. Less than one percent of the troops in Iraq are treated for mental issues during an average week, he said.

Winkenwerder said he had no specifics on the number of troops being treated for battlefield stress, although the military is focused on treating that problem.

"We believe they are being identified, they are being supported," Winkenwerder said.

The military also is working to solve the issue of soldiers awaiting medical care. Since November, about 1,900 of the 4,400 troops waiting for medical care have been treated, Winkenwerder said.

But the military expects more problems when tens of thousands of troops are rotated in and out of Iraq this spring, Winkenwerder said. Many of those troops may have to wait at various bases for medical treatment such as physical therapy for injuries, he said.

The Army is working to sign contracts with civilian medical providers and bringing in more staff from the Navy, Air Force and Department of Veterans Affairs to help, Winkenwerder said.

According to Pentagon statistics, from 1980 to 2002 4,969 U.S. servicemembers killed themselves.

As a cause of death for military personnel, suicide ranked behind accidents (20,609 from 1980 to 2002) and illness (6,436 from 1980 to 2002).

But there were more suicides than deaths from hostile action, terrorist attack, homicide or undetermined causes put together over the 22-year period.

From 1980 to 2003, the overall military suicide rate ranged from a high of 15 per 100,000 in 1995 to a low of 7.7 per 100,000 in 2002.

That compares to an overall U.S. suicide rate of 10.8 per 100,000 in 2001, according to the National Center for Vital Statistics.

[travisab1]

David;
Take a look at this suicide material I'm getting from Doc Stewart. Those rates are happening both here and abroad. I've also added some links.

From: ColonelDan
Subject: [VeteranIssues] Hidden Casualties Investigations

see other stories at:
http://www.upi.com/vaccine.cfm Hidden Casualties
and
http://www.upi.com/lariam.cfm Larium

From Don Omlstead UPI via Bob Walsh & Pam PMBA
To: ColonelDan

Two post-Iraq suicides not listed by Army
By Mark Benjamin
United Press International
Published 1/20/2004 2:25 PM

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A soldier who served in Iraq apparently hung himself with a bedsheet last week at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but the Pentagon did not count that death two days later when it announced "a very small increase" in the suicide rate from Operation Iraqi Freedom.

It also did not count an Operation Iraqi Freedom soldier who apparently committed suicide at the same military hospital last July. The Pentagon said it is not counting suicides among troops who killed themselves after they left Iraq.

A veterans' advocate questioned that decision.

"I want to know why stateside suicides are not counted in the total number of suicides reported by the Department of Defense," said Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center and a former Army Ranger.

Robinson said he fears an epidemic of mental problems among troops who have served in the war. "There appears to be a significant increase in both suicides and post-traumatic stress disorder," Robinson said.

Robinson is set to testify Wednesday before a House Armed Services Committee panel on that issue and other health problems facing U.S. troops. Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. James B. Peake is also scheduled to testify.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr. told reporters last week that the Pentagon was tracking at least 22 suicides from the war, including 19 Army soldiers. He said that for the Army, that number reflects a suicide rate "on the high end of what they've seen in the past." But, he said, "It looks like a very small increase."

That total does not include the Jan. 12 death at Walter Reed, a few miles north of the Pentagon, nor the apparent suicide of an Army master sergeant at the same hospital July 4.

Pentagon spokeswoman Martha Rudd said the military is counting only suicides that occurred in theater. "All of these deaths occurred in Iraq or Kuwait," Rudd said. She would not discuss suicides further or explain how the Department of Defense calculates what it said is the slightly elevated suicide rate among soldiers. "Arriving at the rate requires going about it a certain way," Rudd said.

She said a team of investigators who went to Iraq to study the suicides and mental health problems among troops would issue a report soon.

In interviews by United Press International at Fort Stewart, Fort Knox and Fort Benning, soldiers described mental problems among troops returning from war and little if any access to mental health help.

At Fort Benning, four soldiers from the same company in the Army's famed Third Infantry Division have been charged in connection with the fatal stabbing of a fifth soldier in July. Medical records reviewed by UPI show that at least one of the four charged in the death had attempted suicide in Kuwait before returning home, but was given less than an hour's counseling at Fort Benning before being released.

At least a half-dozen other soldiers from that company have spent time in the psychiatric ward at Fort Benning.

Pentagon data on the number of medical evacuations obtained by UPI this fall showed that more than 1 in 5 non-combat medical evacuations were for mental problems or brain problems. Army Surgeon General Spokeswoman Virginia Stephanakis said lumping brain problems and mental problems together was misleading, because the two were "like apples and oranges," but provided no elaboration on the data.

Concern over mental health issues is mounting as the Army brings home tens of thousands of troops from Iraq. The Army has said that between 200,000 and 250,000 soldiers, including 120,000 reservists, will be going to or returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom during the first four months of this year.

Winkenwerder said the 19 Army suicides compute to a rate of 13.5 suicides per 100,000 personnel per year. That is higher than an expected 10 to 11 per year. The figure could rise if a number of deaths still under investigation are ruled suicides.

He said the Pentagon does not see any significant trends among the data but has deployed nine combat stress teams for forces in Iraq and placed a psychologist, psychiatrist and social worker with each division.

Walter Reed spokesman Bill Swisher confirmed deaths on Jan. 12 and July 4 at the hospital, but said both were under investigation so he could not comment.


Copyright ? 2001-2004 United Press International

Regards,
Travis

[Margaret Diann]

There are some good posts on this topic on gulfwarvets.com

My input ...

.... I was wondering, though, if the blood has a story to tell?
I know it is often overlooked ...

Vets are said to be OK, & many other people, too,

yet the red blood cells are low functioning & the underlying harm they should all have...

Just a thought, that if this chemical they were exposed to... but NO ONE HAS paid attention to ... is causing the suicidal tendencies ... then these suicides will not stop with normal methods ... that's all ... ESPECIALLY if soldiers are exposed over and over again to the same chemical of harm

... some gulf war vets, for instance, would not be so bad off today, if that were not the case. At least it is a serious possibility, because you have to have a lot of the gulf war syndrome symptoms to be harmed by this chemical in the first place.

In Chad's case, at least, he is some harmed by this chemical in his gun cleaning compound, in close proximity to jet fuel, etc ... Chad's bone marrow is failing, best I can tell from his last post - on his own forum & to his friends. Chad is very interested in what I have to share - others are not - but at the very least, it is part of the picture!

Could a hematologist be interested in helping vets? Today's troops and the Gulf War Vets, too?

Anyway, just something for vets to keep in mind next time they look at their blood history. What has ... & what hasn't been checked in your blood? Could you have them do a 'retic ratio' and look at the red blood cells? are they small sized? Ragged & beat up? For the chemical I've looked into there needs to be regular checkup on the kidneys and liver & of course, what gets the most attention (but there's not much that can be done) is the Central Nervous System damage, of which suicidal tendencies are a part.

[MORTARDUDE]

If DOD, VA and etc. are true to form, the wounded, suicides, killed, and med-evac-ed totals are much higher than they are letting on. They have made a concerted effort since the invasion in Afghnaistan to hide the true numbers, for whatever reason.

Larry

[Margaret Diann]

I would expect so.

Did I share that Staff Sgt James Alford is not an isolated case?

I have spoken to Brian's brother who's in the same 'division' and, from what he shared with me, he has very advanced 'gulf war syndrome' type symptoms. (I shall always call them that.)

Even to the extreme of grande mal seisures and bones hurting.
(He could be borderline for need of a bone marrow transplant to keep from becoming paralyzed) I've shared this with him and his family. I hope they get an accurate diagnosis - for he is still fighting the war.

In his case he was a weapons' seargent - used lots of gun cleaning compounds; and was a paratrooper standing behind multiple C-130s getting sprayed with jet fuel ... for starters.