Local Editor
In its latest Quarterly Suicide Report (QSR) released on Wednesday, the Pentagon said that a total of 118 service members killed themselves from April 1 to June 30 of this year.
“There were 71 suicides among service members in the active component, 20 suicides among service members in the reserve component and 27 suicides among service members in the National Guard,” the report said.
The report noted that within the active components of the US military, Army members committed the most number of suicides with 28 cases, and were followed by the Air Force and Navy with 17 and 14 suicides respectively. Not far behind was the Marine Corps that stood at the bottom of the list with 12 suicides.
With a total of 16 cases, the Army also had the highest rate of suicide within the reserve components. The numbers mark a significant increase compared to the first quarter, when a total of 57 US troops killed themselves. During the second quarter of last year, a total of 104 suicides were recorded among US troops, according to the Pentagon.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) believes that as much as 22 former soldiers, sailors, airmen or Marines kill themselves every day. However, the real figure is estimated to be much higher since the number is based on data collected from only 21 of the total 50 US states.
The remaining 29 states, including California and Texas, the two states with the largest veteran populations, are unaccounted for in the VA reports.
Source: Press Tv
