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Tags: pentagon | u.s. military | suicide rates | lloyd austin | increase

Pentagon Report: Suicide Rates in US Military Jump in 2023

By    |   Tuesday, 19 November 2024 07:42 PM EST

Suicide rates among U.S. military active duty and reserve personnel jumped in 2023 after seeing a drop the previous two years, Stars and Stripes reported, citing a Pentagon annual report released Nov. 14.

The Pentagon's "Annual Report on Suicide in the Military for Calendar Year 2023" showed that among active-duty troops, there were 28 suicide deaths for every 100,000 service members last year, a 12% increase from 2022.

Overall, there were 523 reported suicides in 2023 compared with 493 in 2022. The number of active-duty troops who died by suicide increased to 363 from 331. The rate is calculated based on an active-duty force of about 1.28 million troops, 330,000 of which are in the Reserves and nearly 430,000 in the National Guard.

"This increase is not statistically significant," Liz Clark, director of the Pentagon's Defense Suicide Prevention Office, told Stars and Stripes. The report stated "not statistically significant" means there is low confidence the results are a true difference.

The Air Force, Army, and Navy saw increases in suicide rates, the report showed, and the Marine Corps stayed about the same. The suicide rate among Reserve troops increased 8% and the National Guard rate decreased by about 5%.

"Similar to previous years, service members who died by suicide were largely young males under the age of 30," Clark said. "This group accounted for 61% of suicide deaths in the active component."

The Defense Department began collecting and reporting quarterly surveillance data on service member suicides in 2018 to help guide prevention efforts, Stars and Stripes reported. In 2022, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the creation of the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee, which made 127 recommendations of near- and long-term solutions to address military suicides.

The independent panel recommended, among other things, the Pentagon implement gun safety measures to reduce suicides, including waiting periods for the purchase of firearms and ammunition by service members on military property.

Austin said in a statement issued Nov. 14 the Pentagon will "make an unprecedented investment in suicide prevention." Timothy Hoyt, deputy director of the Pentagon's Force Resiliency Office, told Stars and Stripes the budget for the 2025 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, is projected to be about $250 million for such initiatives.

"We are dedicated to fighting for our service members by fostering supportive team cultures and tackling the stigma of asking for help and other barriers to care. There's still much more work to do and we won't let up," Austin said.

Michael Katz

Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.

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Suicide rates among U.S. military active duty and reserve personnel jumped in 2023 after seeing a drop the previous two years, Stars and Stripes reported, citing a Pentagon annual report released Nov. 14.
pentagon, u.s. military, suicide rates, lloyd austin, increase
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Tuesday, 19 November 2024 07:42 PM
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