The Rate of Veteran Suicide Has Increased 35 Percent since 2001

One week after the culture shock over two celebrity suicides – designer Kate Spade and bon vivant Anthony Bourdain’s — let’s remind ourselves that both tragedies were single instances out of the average 123 Americans who commit suicide every day. And when we take into account our entire population, the suicide rate for veterans is 22 percent higher than that of their non-veteran peers, according to a report last year from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Credit: U.S. Army Master Sgt. A.J. Coyne

In April, Thomas E. Ricks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who specializes in the military, wrote about a torturous afternoon he spent being reminded of veteran suicide risk. He had just received a note from a Vietnam vet who was contemplating taking his own life. Hours later he learned that an Army captain he once interviewed “had gone out in the middle of the night and sat on railroad tracks near Fort Carson, Colorado, and apparently let a train run over him.”

The victim may have been thinking about leaving the military, wrote Ricks in the Washington Post op-ed, adding that “people getting out are at the highest risk in the year after they leave — about 1½ to 2 times as likely to kill themselves as those still on active duty.”

The note and news Ricks received that afternoon reminded him how, a month earlier, the commander of the Marine 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, deployed several times to Iraq and Afghanistan, was found dead at home. And then his mind jumped to an article he had recently read about a retired major (having served in Iraq) who killed his wife and himself.

What are the causes?

As Ricks thoughts ran from anecdote to anecdote that afternoon, he came up with four possible causes for the high frequency of veteran suicides. He cited the frustration that there may be too little to show for U.S. efforts as the Mid-East war winds down, the toll of repeated deployments, irrevocable brain injury caused by one too many roadside bomb blasts, and fear of impending conflict in North Korea.

Other reasons for veteran suicides, however, don’t always relate directly to the battlefield. Some veterans have trouble reentering home life. Others find their families have distanced themselves emotionally because of so much time spent away. Still others come back from war and can’t find a good paying job.

What can we do?

Credit: Guillaume Paumier

Chances are Ricks followed advice prevalent in the news after Spade and Bourdain’s deaths to help the vet he received the foreboding note from. Any of us in touch with a veteran contemplating suicide should talk directly about the act with the person and, above all, show our concern by listening to what they have to say without judgment. If possible we should stay with the person. Even if the vet is not with us, we should call the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255, option 1, for confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Online chat is available on Crisis Line website, and you or the veteran may also text 8382.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline –1-800-273-8255 — can also be of help.

Mission 22

To address the problem on a wider scale, three soldiers who have suffered their personal battles with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury have started Mission 22, an organization meant to raise awareness, enlist support, and end veteran suicide in America. Mission 22 has a number of programs that reach out to veterans, their families, and their communities.

For more information about helping to prevent veteran suicide, read our interview with suicide-prevention expert John Bateson, author of “The Last and Greatest Battle: Finding the Will, Commitment and Strategy to End Military Suicides.”