11-15-2024 6:29pm

Military Suicides Rose in 2023, A Disturbing Trend Continues

Chris Edwards Editor

This story contains discussion of suicide. Troops, veterans and family members experiencing suicidal thoughts can call the 24-hour Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 and dial 1, text 838255 or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net.

The military jobs performed by troops who were found to be most at risk of suicide include infantry, ordnance disposal and diving, combat engineering, medical care and those for technical specialists “not elsewhere classified,” according to a Department of Defense study finalized this summer.

The military leadership and Pentagon officials downplayed the significance of the 6% rise in suicides from 2022 to 2023 (the latest data available), calling the rise not statistically significant. But they acknowledged “an increasing long-term trend in suicide rates” for active-duty troops despite years of focus on prevention efforts.

Military researchers recorded 523 suicides in 2023, the highest total since 2020. The number of active-duty troops was 363, up from 331 a year earlier.

The Marine Corps had the highest rate of suicide, with about 35 cases per 100,000 people in 2023. The Army was just under 33 cases per 100,000.

The Air Force (about 21 per 100,000) and Navy (about 19 per 100,000) saw lower rates. But all four services have seen a steady increase since 2011, when the Department began formally tracking the issue.

The Space Force reported two deaths by suicide in 2023, a figure too small for statistical analysis of force trends.

Officials said the rates generally track with comparable civilian trends, when taking into account how the military skews younger and more male than the general population.

To view the details of the most recent report with in depth details released to congress this summer visit:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g_uCNCkM1iMVRE3T9wf4_bEjm82cssmz/view?usp=drivesdk