Failed relationships, including marriages stressed by combat deployments helped push the number of suicides in the U.S. Army last year to its highest since the Gulf War, the Army said.
The Army reported 99 confirmed suicides in 2006 up from 87 in 2005.
The Army also listed two additional deaths last year as suspected suicides still pending confirmation.
Army suicides last year hit their highest mark since 1991, the time of the Gulf War, when the biggest branch of the U.S. military recorded 102 soldier suicides.
"The primary reasons for suicides, when we examine the completed suicide, is failed intimate relationships, failed marriages," said Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a psychiatrist and consultant to the Army Surgeon General.
"What we have found is not a direct relationship so far between deployment combat and suicide. However, we do know that frequent deployments put a real strain on relationships, especially on marriages," she said, noting failed relationships are a factor in as many as 80 percent of Army suicides.
"So we believe that part of the increase is related to the increased stress in relationships."
More than 1.5 million U.S. troops have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.
The Army has been particularly stressed by multiple and extended deployments.
The suicide data follows a string of studies showing an increase in mental health problems among soldiers and other U.S. troops.
According to those studies, including a Pentagon assessment, the military has not provided adequate mental health resources to its service members.
Last year, 30 of the 99 confirmed suicides occurred in war zones, 27 in Iraq and 3 in Afghanistan.
About 62 percent of the soldiers who killed themselves in 2006 had served at least once in Iraq or Afghanistan. - DDNEWS
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
