HUFFINGTON
09.01-08.13
INVISIBLE CASUALTIES
Among active-duty troops, the war years
have seen a persistent rise in suicides.
35k
30k
All-Active Duty
25k
20k
Army
15k
Marines
10k
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
Active-duty troop suicides per 100,000
15
10
5
0
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
handle this, there isn’t anything
really wrong with me. I didn’t want
to show weakness,” he said. He’d
get together with his Guard buddies
and the subject of mental stress
never came up — even though, he
found out later, they were all having
the same issues. They just wouldn’t
admit them to each other.
Mike’s trouble started slowly at
first. Memory lapses. Fits of pointless anger. Anxiety attacks that
left him gasping on the floor. Occasional screaming nightmares. He
couldn’t shake the memory of his
convoy getting ambushed outside
Baghdad; a fuel truck had caught
fire and Iraqi bystanders burned to
death. He was in charge, responsible for getting his guys out of a
trap. In his tortured dreams he
could see other Iraqis screaming,
faces contorted, shaking their fists
at him, as he pushed the convoy
forward past the wreckage.
All this got bad one night close
to Christmas 2005, when he’d
been home a year. Something
threw him into a black fury. He
punched holes in the wall, tipped
over the Christmas tree and
ripped up furniture while his wife,
Jackie, and their boys scampered
an alarming rise
NOTE: DOES NOT INCLUDE NON-ACTIVE NATIONAL GUARD AND
RESERVE PERSONNEL. COMPARABLE U.S. CIVILIAN POPULATION
SUICIDES, ADJUSTED FOR AGE, SEX AND RACE, AVERAGE 2001-2006:
19.1 PER 100,000.
SOURCE: 2011 DEPARMENT OF DEFENSE SUICIDE EVENT REPORT