UPDATED: At 6th Anniversary of War -- U.S. Soldier Suicides Skyrocket

By: Greg Mitchell As the sixth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Mark Benjamin, who has written some of the most important stories in this period on the treatment of our troops and veterans, opens a new Salon.com piece with: "The Senate Armed Services Committee hearings Wednesday on the rising suicide rate among U.S. ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan revealed some frightening new data, but did little to investigate the underlying causes of what is emerging as one of the darkest, most disturbing legacies of the wars.

"Last year the Army had its highest suicide rate on record -- 140 soldiers. But new data from the Army on Wednesday showed the number jumping even higher. Forty-eight soldiers have already killed themselves so far this year. If that rate keeps up, nearly 225 Army soldiers will be dead by their own hand by the end of 2009."

It continues: "A recent series in Salon revealed that soldiers returning from long tours in Iraq or Afghanistan suffering from combat stress were sometimes met with scorn from their superiors and something bordering on neglect from some medical officials. As their largely untreated problems deteriorated, their marriages unraveled under the strain. They turned to alcohol and drugs and in some cases saw no other way out than suicide.

"Meanwhile, healthcare officials at various installations who are struggling to help say they're overwhelmed by huge numbers of troops returning from two, three or even four deployments with acute mental problems from combat.

"Top brass in the military continue to be evasive about the problem, however."

His full piece is at:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/03/19/army_suicides/

More than most in the media, I have followed the disturbing rate of suicides among our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and here at home for nearly six years. Often I have hailed Benjamin.

Thank goodness that someone is following this closely. I feel like I should do a sequel to my book of last year on Iraq and the media titled "So Wrong for So Long" and call it "So GONE for So Long."

Last week here, I noted that the military had just reported that in the Army alone, 18 troops committed suicide in February -- down six from January's shocking high but still above what they expected. They say they are continuing to push forward with more and better counseling but, of course, multiple deployments to war zones continue.

In an email to me this morning, Mark struck an even more alarmed note.
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Greg Mitchell's latest book is "Why Obama Won." He is editor of Editor & Publisher.