WASHINGTON—The physical and psychological demands on our service members, fighting two wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan has taken its toll. Military personnel have had a steep increase in suicide rates. President Obama’s announcement on Aug. 31 of the end of the combat mission in Iraq may alleviate the situation.
From 2005 to 2009, more than 1,100 members of the armed forces took their own lives. The Army has been especially hard hit with the suicide rate more than doubling—facts cited in a Department of Defense (DoD) task force report on new strategies for suicide prevention in the armed forces.
The rising incidence of suicide among members of the military led to the establishment of a Department of Defense (DoD) Task Force on the Prevention of Suicide by Members of the Armed Forces one year ago. Their report was released Aug. 24 at the National Press Club.
“We do believe there needs to be reduced stress on the force. There is [currently] a very high operational tempo. … It really comes down to the amount of time we have to reset the person and to apply the time that is needed for better skill-based training, teaching life skills, taking care of the whole person. That time commitment has been very narrowed down because of the operational commitments that we have,” said Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Philip Volpe, United States Army, who is co-chairman the DoD Task Force.
‘Resetting’ the Service member
“The task force … found that multiple deployments and long deployments have taken a toll on the force and its families, eroding the well-being (fitness) and resilience of the force.”
The report said the average length of an Army unit’s deployment in theater is 12 or more months; for the Marines, Navy, and Air Force, the average time is somewhat less with 12 months being generally the longest tour.
“Multiple deployments place considerable stress on the service member and are disruptive to the family as the service member regularly deploys and then re-integrates,” said the report.
The task force relied on the latest Mental Health Advisory Team (MHAT) VI, which was established by the Office of the U.S. Army surgeon general to assess the mental health of soldiers in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Volpe referred to the recommendation of MHAT that service members receive 20 to 24 months dwell time, the time service members spend between deployments. Volpe said the dwell time should be used to reset the individual, bringing back a sense of normalcy.
Marine Corps Col. (Dr.) John Bradley told The Epoch Times, “Right now, our average dwell time is 11 months for every year deployed.
“There are some soldiers who come back from combat in one unit, demobilize, and get transferred to another unit, which is ready to go [back to combat]. There are some very short windows for some people.”
Something needs to change to get the force back into balance, Bradley said. “The operational tempo needs to decrease or the size of force needs to increase.”
Volpe said, “The strategic leaders in our nation need to look at the supply and demand of the force and balance that out. But clearly, there is a mismatch in the way the current force is operating and that is creating the stress on the force.”
According to a DoD news report, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last July that the reduction of combat troops in Iraq to 50,000 will provide service members some relief. Mullen sees this as movement towards the goal of a rotation schedule of two years at home and one year deployed.
