Suicides Among U.S. Soldiers Surge 80% to Surpass Civilians
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U.S. Army suicides surpassed the rate for similar civilians in 2008 after an 80 percent surge during the five years following major troop deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
About 40 percent of the suicides in 2008 may be associated with deployments to those countries, according to the report published yesterday in the journal Injury Prevention. The U.S. began committing troops in 2003. In 2008, the estimate of the rate for active soldiers was higher than the rate for civilians of similar age and sex.