WASHINGTON DC − U.S. soldiers were almost nine times more likely to die by suicide than by enemy fire, according to a Pentagon study for the five-year period ending in 2019.
The study, published in May by the Defense Health Agency, found that suicide was the leading cause of death among active-duty soldiers from 2014 to 2019.
There were 883 suicide deaths during that time period. Accidents were the No. 2 cause with 814 deaths. There were 96 combat deaths.
The suicide figures from 2019 predate some Army and Pentagon initiatives to combat suicide, including a workforce that addresses harmful behaviors like alcohol abuse that can contribute to deaths by suicide.
In addition, combat deaths declined from 31 in 2014 to 16 in 2019 as deployments to war zones in the Middle East and Afghanistan decreased.
Suicide, meanwhile, has increased among active-duty soldiers, according to figures obtained by USA TODAY. So far in the first few months of 2024, 55 soldiers have died by suicide.
Army officials, in an interview with USA TODAY, pointed to increasing rates of suicide in U.S. society as whole that are reflected in their ranks. They also talked about new tactics they’re using to reduce suicide.
The spending didn’t stem the problem. There were eight suicide deaths among soldiers posted to Alaska in 2019, seven in 2020 and a horrific 17 in 2021.
The 2021 wave of suicides that swept over Alaskan military bases has receded after commanders required troops to get counseling, the Pentagon added therapists and living conditions improved in America’s “Last Frontier.”
Following a USA TODAY investigation, the Army, prodded by Congress, surged dozens of mental health professionals to the state and suicides dropped to six in 2022.
The Pentagon plans to hire as many as 2,000 people over the next four years to focus on preventing problem behaviors, like excessive drinking, that can lead to suicide and sexual assault.
The first members of the Integrated Primary Prevention Workforce were deployed to bases at highest risk last year. Gunshot wounds accounted for 65% of the Army’s suicide deaths, according to the study.
The Army’s approach to suicide prevention has evolved over the past four years, said Col. Kevin Goke, an official in the Army’s directorate of Prevention, Resilience & Readiness.
The focus has shifted from suicide as solely a mental-health problem to addressing a variety of stresses on soldiers, including financial woes and broken relationships that can contribute to another humanitarian crisis.
USA Today / ABC Flash Point Blog News 2025.
So more soldiers die at home than in combat, because killing and blowing up innocent women and children abroad makes people sick in the mind.