01-19-2012, 07:56 PM
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Marine Corps ends 2011 with record number of suicide attempts
Marine Corps ends 2011 with record number of suicide attempts
Quote:
The Marine Corps ended 2011 with 175 suicide attempts among its active-duty troops, the highest number ever recorded.
Thirty-three Marines committed suicide during the year, down from 37 reported in 2010, according to the latest report from service's Suicide Prevention Program.
The 175 attempted suicides were three more than the 172 recorded in 2010 and more than twice the 82 recorded in 2002, the first year the Marine Corps began keeping a detailed count of the grim statistic.
Suicide attempts jumped dramatically between 2007 and 2008, going from 103 to 146.
Officials have not been able to fully explain the increase other than to point to stress from multiple combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
At least 11 Marines who took their own lives last year were stationed at Camp Pendleton or assigned to a unit headquartered at the base, officials recently confirmed.
Marine Corps offices were closed Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and no one was available to speak about the year-end report.
A Vietnam War veteran who counsels troops in Oceanside, Bill Rider of the group American Combat Veterans of War, said he believes the isolation many combat troops feel when they come home after multiple deployments is a leading contributor to the emotional trauma many face.
"They feel they are alone and that creeps into questions of 'what can I do' or 'what should I do,' and that can lead to them considering suicide as an option, particularly if they have been drinking or taking drugs," Rider said.
His group, made up of war veterans, works with troops who don't want to seek help through programs established in recent years by the Marine Corps at all of its bases.
"Seek out a combat veteran who has insight into what war is really like or come and see us," Rider said, adding that he believes suicide and serious mental health issues will plague Iraq and Afghan war veterans for years to come.
"I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg," he said.
Sixteen of the 2011 suicide attempts were recorded in December ,compared with 17 in November and 10 in October.
The 33 Marines who killed themselves were all male. Twenty-six were white, three were African-American, two Asian, and one Latino and one American Indian.
Most ---- 26 ---- were between the ages of 17 and 26.
Nineteen of the suicides were committed with a firearm, six by hanging and three by suffocation, according to the Marine Corps.
Only one Marine took his life by an overdose of drugs, the report said.
Two suicides were recorded among Marine officers. The report does not provide the specific rank of those men.
Troops or their family members or loved ones seeking help can reach the American Combat Veterans of War at 760-696-0460, or the Marine Corps' toll-free counseling line called DSTRESS at 877-476-7734.
Call staff writer Mark Walker at 760-901-4080.
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