Military suicides fell about 8% in 2013, final numbers release by the Pentagon today show. Decreases were across the service branches among active duty components, but were up in most reserve components (see tables below).
Suicides among Army reservists increased the most — 5% — and the suicide rate among those reservists was up nearly 20%.
The decrease in 2013 followed a sharp spike in 2012, despite troop drawdowns and a drop in casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The final 2013 data was released in what the Pentagon said would now be a new quarterly report.
The first quarterly report for 2014 has yet to be released. A U.S. Army Freedom of Information Act officer, in response to a Medill FOIA request for the 2014 and December 2013 Army suicide data filed in the Spring, said in an e-mail earlier today that the report is “currently in the last stages of approval.”
However, the AP reported today based on top-level data it obtained from the Pentagon that total suicides across military branches are up slightly in the first half of 2014 compared to 2013. “Pentagon documents show there were 161 confirmed or suspected suicides as of July 14, compared to 154 during the same time frame in 2013,” the AP reported. “Officials say that more service members are seeking help through hotlines and other aid programs,” the AP also said.
Data that Medill records based on monthly releases by the Marines and Navy show active duty Navy suicides up by 40 percent in the first six months of this year (35 vs. 25) and a larger percentage increase for reservists (6 total vs. 2 in 2013).
Data from the Marines through June shows a slight increase (28 vs. 23) in confirmed or probable suicides, and a decrease in attempted suicides (103 vs. 135).
The U.S. Army used to release suicide statistics monthly, but stopped that practice after releasing November 2013 data, and has released nothing since. The Army said it was discontinuing monthly reports so it could be in sync with the new Pentagon quarterly reports. The Navy and Marines still release monthly data; Air Force have not been readily available on anything but an annual basis.
