Associated Press, October 31, 2007

147 US Troops Have Killed Themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan

There were at least 283 suicides among veterans who left the military between the start of the Afghan war and the end of 2005.

WASHINGTON - The Veterans Affairs Department is ramping up its suicide prevention programs.

US soldiers in Iraq are killing themselves at an unusually high rate... suicide has become such a pressing issue that the Army sent an assessment team to Iraq late last year to see if anything more could be done to prevent troops from killing themselves.

Associated Press, January 14, 2004

The VA has determined there were at least 283 suicides among veterans who left the military between the start of the Afghan war and the end of 2005.

Those figures are not dramatically different from society as a whole, but they do provide the first quantitative look at the toll on today's combat veterans.

The number of suicides after returning home is about double that of troop suicides in the war zones. A total of 147 troops have killed themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan since the wars began.

According to the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, research suggests that combat trauma increases the risk of suicide. The Pentagon says failed relationships, financial and legal troubles and substance abuse also are risk factors.

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