Editorial about veteran suicides

Editorial in The Oregonian about rising rates of veteran suicide

(by Mike Francis)

The Army says it can't fathom the rising and 'terrifying' rate of soldiers who are committing suicide

It's a statistic that staggers the imagination: More American soldiers killed themselves in January than were killed by hostile action in Iraq and Afghanistan. This follows a record number of suicides for 2008.

Similarly, an examination of the suicides among Oregon service members and veterans over the past five years shows that more Oregon veterans died at their own hands than at the hands of their enemies in war zones. It's as if the "hot wars" on the battlefield are being shadowed by an almost-unnoticed silent war that is killing service members at an accelerating rate.

While the raw numbers may not seem particularly high -- the Army says it believes that 24 soldiers killed themselves in January, although some of the cases are officially under investigation -- they are rising quickly. The Pentagon has been forthright in admitting it faces a growing tragedy in its own ranks, and Congress has begun to examine the phenomenon.

There's no single explanation for what's happening because every person and every set of circumstances is different. But it is clear that fighting an extended war on two fronts has become a devastatingly heavy burden for a small segment of the population, even as most of the rest of America has stopped paying attention. And it seems to be getting worse the more we ask these soldiers and other service members to do.

"This is terrifying. We do not know what is going on." That's the frank admission of an unnamed Army official quoted by CNN and other sources in the wake of the January statistics.

There are some factors that occur frequently among suicidal veterans: They have been deployed more than once, they suffer financial hardships, they have sustained wounds or injuries or suffer chronic pain, they abuse alcohol or drugs, suffered sexual trauma, saw friends killed, are prone to mood swings and have endured stresses in their relationships, even among their closest family members.

U.S. military policy today relies on an all-volunteer force, which is the system that commanders say works best. But the pain that falls on that force is sharp indeed -- sharp enough to raise questions again about whether an involuntary draft wouldn't be more effective in acquainting Americans with the cost of war.

One way or another, that cost is going to be felt here at home. The Oregon National Guard, which has suffered its share of suicides in these wars, is preparing to send as many as 3,000 citizen-soldiers back to Iraq this summer. With skill and fortune, most of them will come home after a year, only to face a new round of difficulties in their civilian lives. This is a human cost that our state will bear for years to come.

The suicide rate is another factor to bear in mind when America considers sending troops into combat. Even as the war in Iraq winds down, the United States is preparing to ramp up its forces in Afghanistan, where the war is a long way from ending. Any flare-up in Pakistan, Korea, Iran, Lebanon, Somalia or elsewhere has the potential to stretch America's military capacity past the breaking point.

It's time for America to ask hard questions about what it means to support the troops. And the military's civilian leaders must not be allowed to wear out the most precious tools in their kit.