Air Force captain's suicide raises awareness

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/air-force-suicide-rate-climbs-to-highest-level-in-three-decades

Feb 8, 2020

by Madison Dibble

Air Force suicide rate climbs to highest level in three decades

The United States Air Force saw an increasing trend in active-duty suicides in 2019.

According to unpublished preliminary data obtained by the Associated Press, the Air Force witnessed an uptick in suicide rates as other branches of the military stabilized or reduced the rate of deaths by suicide. The Air Force lost 84 active-duty members to suicide in 2019, which was up from 60 deaths in 2018. The spike in suicides followed years of relative stability with deaths via suicide ranging from 60 to 64 for several years.

From 1990 to 2004, the Air Force lost an average of 42 members per year and never exceeded 62 deaths by suicide. Air Force officials claimed they hadn’t seen a rate this high in recent memory.

“Suicide is a difficult national problem without easily identifiable solutions that has the full attention of leadership,” said Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services.

Other branches of the U.S. military saw their suicide rates remain stable. The Navy had four more deaths by suicide in 2019, raising the total to 72. The Army declined to release preliminary data but reported that the suicide rate had mirrored data from 2018, where it saw 139 deaths. The Army’s total is higher than the Air Force, in part, because it is the largest branch in the U.S. military with 480,000 soldiers compared to just 332,000 members of the Air Force.

The Marine Corps saw a decline in suicides from 2018 to 2019, with 47 deaths compared to 57 in the year prior.

Maj. Craig W. Thomas, a Marine Corps spokesman, said he hopes to continue the downward trend in suicides, saying, “When leaders and mental health programs and resources acknowledge that ‘everybody struggles with life, trauma, shame, guilt and uncertainty,’ it helps make asking for assistance more acceptable.”Kelly said that the Air Force is looking at immediate and long-term strategies to curb the trend. As he noted, an elevated suicide rate is also a problem among civilians. The U.S. has the highest suicide rate among 10 of the wealthiest nations on earth.

The finalized data on suicides from Air Force officials will not be released until later this year.