Written By Joshua Patton,

Historically, the suicide rate in the military, or at least the Army, was lower than the national average. About three years ago, this began to invert so that the Army rate of suicide was significantly higher than the national average, a phenomenon I covered for this site some months ago. The suicide rate for active-duty soldiers (both full-time troops and guard and reserve soldiers serving on active-duty) has seemingly leveled off, according to numbers printed in USA Today eight less soldiers have taken their own lives in the first ten months of 2010 than did in the first 10 months of 2009. The number of suicides amongst non-active-duty National Guard soldiers has doubled.

In 2009, a total of 48 non-active-duty National Guard soldiers committed suicide. However, in just the first ten months of 2010, that number is at 86. The holidays have historically been a time in which tragedies like this increase nationally, so there is potential for that number to rise even higher before the New Year. With the efforts the military and the VA have put forth recently to try to turn the tide on solider suicide, this is a disturbing result beyond the obvious reasons. What makes this most disturbing is the aura of bewilderment and confusion as to why this is happening.

At Grand Forks Air Base in North Dakota, Airman Cory McCord had been accused of rape and other charges. On August 6, McCord was seen around the airbase by Master Sergeant Lisa Washburn. He had been ordered not to carry a firearm and Washburn contacted Security Forces telling them to detain him if he showed up at the BDOC. Washburn was on her way to visit with another Airman who had suspiciously fell ill and, the Air Force Times reports, she suspected him of possibly having something to do with it. McCord arrived at the squadron building and was detained by his fellow airmen. It is here that the details of the story become murky. After asking to use the latrine, McCord somehow took possession of a firearm from a security officer at a law enforcement desk. Just as Washburn arrived back at the squadron building, McCord used the weapon to end his own life. Washburn was charged with dereliction of duty and was recently cleared, but this garnered national attention because this was the first time the military attempted to prosecute a senior officer for a suicide.

On Veterans’ Day this year, Lieutenant Colonel Don Mahoney, a squadron commander and former Army Ranger, shot and killed his wife and then turned the gun on himself. Their three children and other family members were in the home and called the police, but it was already too late. No motive was ever given or even speculated upon, but there seemed to be no other signs of struggle or assault according to initial police reports.

For National Guard soldiers, the access to military and VA help and treatment is often far more limited than what is available to active-duty soldiers that live on or near a large military post. In fact, when a part-time soldier redeploys, he or she is often left cut-off from the larger military community in which they have lived and operated during their deployments. It is also no secret that the unemployment rate for veterans is almost double that of the national average. The families of these deployed troops also experience struggles when their soldier, sailor, airmen, or marine is deployed – as detailed by Veteran Journal’s own Angela Caban – and are in need of support themselves. When taken together, this could serve to explain why this demographic has seen this increase.

In the next part of this story, I will examine the steps the military and specific National Guard battalions are taking to attempt to curb this disturbing trend.

(RANN) Staff
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