Good Washington Post summary this  morning of a new Veterans Administration report that examines suicides among veterans and finds numbers holding somewhat steady year-to-year;  a substantial share of suicides are by vets 50 and older; and apparently little evidence of what some perceive as an “epidemic” in veterans taking their own lives. 

From the Post: 

“There is a perception that we have a veterans’ suicide epidemic on our hands. I don’t think that is true,” said Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist with the VA who did the study. “The rate is going up in the country, and veterans are a part of it.”

The number of suicides overall in the United States increased by nearly 11 percent between 2007 and 2010, the study says. As a result, the percentage of veterans who die by suicide has decreased slightly since 1999, even though the total number of veterans who kill themselves has gone up, the study says.

SOURCE: Suicide Report 2012, Department of Veterans Affairs