Navy times story pertaining to the difficult issue of active duty navy and navy reserve military suicides

Normally, I strive to avoid posting tragic stories as little as possible. However, the reason why I feel guided to publicly post this is due to my feeling that there is still little public attention on the mental health issue for all military people both during the time they serve and for after. I admit that I am fortunate to have started to get the help I needed while still in the navy and I’m also lucky that my supervisors did not create a mental stigma around the issue of mental health. However, I understand that this may not be the case at every place of employment. Fortunately, I’m much more headstrong about seeking out help whenever needed regardless of how others may judge me for doing so. However, other sailors may not yet be understandably ready to seek out help for themselves if they know that those around them are going to harshly judge them. For that situation, I wish that I could provide a positive and workable solution.

http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/03/31/suicides-military-2014/70735040/

Active-duty suicides up; reserve suicides down in 2014

By Patricia Kime, Staff writer5:18 p.m. EDT March 31, 2015

(Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

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The number of suicides among active-duty military personnel increased slightly in 2014 while those among members of the reserves and National Guard dropped by nearly 25 percent, according to a Pentagon report released Tuesday.

Confirmed suicides among the active component ticked upward to 268 last year, from 254 in 2013, an increase of 6 percent.

While the overall number remained high for the fifth straight year, it still was a marked decrease from the active component's worst year for suicide deaths, in 2012, when 320 troops died by their own hand.

According to the report, known as the 2014 Defense Department 4th Quarter Suicide Information Report, the Army had 122 active-duty suicides, the Navy, 53, the Air Force, 59, and the Marine Corps, 34.

The Air Force's 59 deaths marked the most in a single year for that service since the military started tracking suicides closely in the early 2000s.

The Navy also saw a sharp increase from its 41 suicides in 2013.

The report contains good news for the reserve component, which has struggled with high numbers of suicides since the problem spiked sharply in 2007 at the height of surge combat operations. The reserves, including the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps reserves as well as the Air National Guard and Army National Guard saw their total suicide number drop from 220 in 2013 to 166 in 2014.

While each number represents a tragic death, the raw data say little about whether the problem is growing in scope or subsiding as the military services have placed more emphasis on suicide awareness and mental health counseling.

The suicide rate — a per capita measure — is needed to determine that and compare populations from year to year, and the latest report does not provide the rates for 2014 for the individual services or the Guard and reserve component and offers no comparison for the declining number of personnel serving in the active duty.

An analysis of the services' active-duty suicides in 2013 released earlier this year indicated that the rate had fallen in the military population to roughly the same rate as equivalent civilian population.

Military personnel, reserves and veterans who need help, or family and friends of those in crisis, can call the toll-free Military & Veterans Crisis Line, 800-273-8255.