Troops stationed at remote and overseas bases attempted suicide at slightly higher rates but were less often successful compared to the general active-duty military population, according to findings in a new Government Accountability Office report.<\/p>\n
Nearly 19% of all suicide attempts occured at those bases, but only 10% of suicide deaths, the federal watchdog found. The remote facilities may have higher suicide risk factors, such as social isolation and less access to mental health services, but troops at overseas bases also often lack the same access to personal firearms, which are used in the majority of military suicides.<\/p>\n
However, the Pentagon has not fully assessed those suicide risks, and that process could help reduce such deaths, the GAO said in the report mandated by Congress. The report listed more than 50 installations that are overseas or considered remote, including Fort Wainwright, Alaska; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Naval Air Facility Misawa, Japan.<\/p>\n
The findings come amid a spike in troops taking their own lives at isolated bases in Alaska, as well as a string of suicides among the crew of the dry-docked aircraft carrier USS George Washington.<\/p>\n
In March, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered an independent commission to look at suicides at three Alaska bases; Camp Humphreys, South Korea, the largest overseas U.S. military base; and other key bases inside the U.S., such as Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and Fort Campbell, Kentucky.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers ordered the GAO to look into suicides at remote and overseas bases in 2020 following a 33.5% increase in the deaths over the previous four years.<\/p>\n
Between 2016 and 2020, 1,806 active-duty troops took their own lives across all duty stations, while an additional 7,178 attempted suicide, according to the GAO.<\/p>\n
Navy and Marine Corps suicide prevention officials told investigators that some of the risk factors included social isolation. In the case of some duty stations in Japan, officials said it can be difficult for service members to engage with the local culture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And wait for it…You know it’s coming…The Second Amendment is to blame.<\/p>\n
Easy access to guns accounts for the majority of suicides in the force. Overwhelmingly, weapons used in suicides are not issued by the military — roughly 95% are personally owned.<\/p>\n
Gun safety and proper storage have been given increased attention in recent years, both from the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs, in an effort to give those with suicidal thoughts time to cool down.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Now returning to the\u00a0real\u00a0<\/em>issues faced by those in remote assignments.<\/p>\nIsolation and a lack of mental health resources have been blamed for the recent surge in suicides in Alaska.<\/p>\n
Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, head of U.S. Army Alaska, told Military.com in March that he is struggling to hire mental health professionals, given the difficulties in convincing them to relocate to Alaska. Troops interviewed by Military.com said a first appointment with a mental health counselor can take at least two weeks — and a month or longer, in some cases.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More work from the desk of Captain Obvious. Jeff LPH 3 sends in this Military Times … Study finds troops sent to exile try suicide more often<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[220,237,126,397],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-floggings-will-continue-until-morale-improves","category-big-pentagon","category-disposable-warriors","category-second-amendment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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