Monday, November 9, 2009

Army Suicides in October

The Wall Street Journal reports on the October statistics for U.S. Army suicides. It's not good news. (via Il Principe)

Sixteen American soldiers killed themselves in October in the U.S. and on duty overseas, an unusually high monthly toll that is fueling concerns about the mental health of the nation's military personnel after more than eight years of continuous warfare.

The Army's top generals worry that surging tens of thousands more troops into Afghanistan could increase the strain felt by many military personnel after years of repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The October suicide figures mean that at least 134 active-duty soldiers have taken their own lives so far this year, putting the Army on pace to break last year's record of 140 active-duty suicides. The number of Army suicides has risen 37% since 2006, and last year, the suicide rate surpassed that of the U.S. population for the first time.


We discussed this last May when the 2008 numbers came out. Things are getting worse. What's your opinion? Is the reason for the increasing problem of suicide among young soldiers all due to the continuing strain of two wars? How do you think the fact that we have an all-volunteer army affects this? Would it be worse if some of them were drafted?

What do you think about the disarming of military personnel on stateside bases? In our recent discussions about that, it seems the pro-gun crowd is critical of the practice. Do you think they've thought of the implications on suicide rates? Some of them have and proffer that the availability of guns has no impact on suicide.

I say the availability of guns is the single most important factor in suicide rates for the simple reason that using a gun is so much more effective than any of the other means.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

14 comments:

  1. I say the availability of guns is the single most important factor in suicide rates for the simple reason that using a gun is so much more effective than any of the other means.

    Then you should have no problem showing us the statistics demonstrating much higher suicide rates in countries with easier access to guns...

    Also, I look forward to the link that proves your assertion that a gun is "much more effective" at suicide than other means.

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  2. I learned of the WSJ article from the blog, Tomdispatch. A great blog for readers who want to get an accurate spin free account of what is happening in the world. Many prominent and respected authors like Andrew Bacevich, Chalmers JOhnson, and Nick Turse contribute articles to the blog. Hope you and your readers get a chance to view the blog.
    http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175136/jamail_and_lazare_who_will_be_sent_to_afghanistan_

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  3. "I say the availability of guns is the single most important factor in suicide rates for the simple reason that using a gun is so much more effective than any of the other means."

    So you're proposing not letting soldiers have guns?????

    That'll work really well!

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  4. TomB said, "Then you should have no problem showing us the statistics demonstrating much higher suicide rates in countries with easier access to guns..."

    Country to country comparisons are no good because of all the other factors, cultural differences for example. Everyone always talks about Japan without mentioning that "hari kari" business in which suicide is an honorable way out, or used to be. We've never had anything like that so comparing the States to Japan is like comparing apples to oranges.

    A good comparison might be gun suicide attempts to other methods. I'll make an exception to my rule of never researching anything and never presenting any statistics and see if I can't come up with something for ya.

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  5. Weer'd, Of course I'm not proposing that soldiers don't have guns. I am expressing support for the idea of keeping them disarmed on military bases in the States, except for the MPs of course. All the rest of the weapons and ammo should be kept in the armory and the results are that we have practically no incidents, due to the controlled nature of the base.

    The biased and blind pro-gun idea among some of you is to let them all be armed all the time. The gun violence would be frequent, that's my theory. And even some pro-gun guys agree, if you haven't noticed.

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  6. I'll make an exception to my rule of never researching anything and never presenting any statistics

    If you are making assertions as you are, shouldn't you have the facts before you make those statements?

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  7. Keep talking Mike! I love when you guys do damage to your cause!

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  8. MikeB - What you propose is already policy on military bases, yet a nutjob was still able to shoot a bunch of trained military personnel in a "gun free zone."

    Everyone but MP's were disarmed, ammo and guns locked in the armory & separated, and yet one nut violated the rules, walked right into that gun free utopia and started shooting unarmed soldiers.

    Not only that, but the attack wasn't stopped until someone with a gun came to the rescue and pumped that coward full of lead.

    As usual the utopia that is a "gun-free zone" was an abysmal failure.

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  9. If you are making assertions as you are, shouldn't you have the facts before you make those statements?

    Oh come on, we can't really expect MikeB to have FACTS to backup his claims!

    And don't forget, calling him out for lack failure to backup what he says is mean, abusive and a form of "personal attacks" that will not be tolerated.

    Wouldn't want him to admit he's promulgating crap that's demonstratably false now would we?

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  10. "Gun violence is extremely rare in Japan because guns are extremely rare, at least by American standards."

    -mikeb on 11-07-09

    "We've never had anything like that so comparing the States to Japan is like comparing apples to oranges."

    -mikeb on 11-09-09

    Keep posting, you're doing fine.

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  11. Of course you could just address the issue of availability on my blog where I've posted on it 5 days ago.

    “The authors describe suicide rates in Toronto and Ontario and methods used for suicide in Toronto for 5 years before and after enactment of Canadian gun control legislation in 1978. They also present data from San Diego, Calif., where state laws attempt to limit access to guns by certain psychiatric patients. Both sets of data indicate that gun control legislation may have led to decreased use of guns by suicidal men, but the difference was apparently offset by an increase in suicide by leaping. In the case of men using guns for suicide, these data support a hypothesis of substitution of suicide method.”
    Source: “Guns and suicide: possible effects of some specific legislation,” Rich, Young, Fowler, Wagner, and Black, The American Journal of Psychiatry March, 1990


    Scientific study disproving the case that availability would reduce suicides.....no wonder MikeB302000 won't address it.

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  12. Also its not like these suicides are with their duty weapons. These suicides are sadly with firearms they personally own.

    So logically *hah!* you must be proposing stripping soldiers of their 2nd Amendment rights "For their own good".

    Ie a class of people who are REQUIRED to become proficient and carry firearms when ordered to, can't own firearms of their own...huh???

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  13. This isn't the first time I've posted about the Suicide study only to have MikeB ignore it.

    Amazing that he asks for proof and then completely ignores it.

    It's almost as if anything that could damage his world view doesn't get considered.

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  14. Amazing that he asks for proof and then completely ignores it.

    It's almost as if anything that could damage his world view doesn't get considered.


    Well Laci, Skyewriter, Catherine Macivor, and pretty much every other anti does it, so why wouldn't MikeB.

    He is Sad but Predictable.

    http://anothergunblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/sad-but-predictable.html

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