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Showing posts with label Military Suicides. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Military Suicides. Show all posts

Monday, July 4, 2016

Experts worry high military suicide rates are 'new normal'

by Gregg Zoroya
USA Today
Originally published June 12, 2016

Seven years after the rate of suicides by soldiers more than doubled, the Army has failed to reduce the tragic pace of self-destruction, and experts worry the problem is a "new normal."

"It's very clear that nothing that the Army has done has resulted in the suicide rates coming down," said Carl Castro, a psychologist who retired from the Army in 2013, when he was a colonel overseeing behavioral health research programs.

The sharp rise in the Army's suicide rate from 2004 through 2009 coincided with unusually heavy demands on the nation's all-volunteer military, as hundreds of thousands of troops, most of them in the Army, deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The vast majority have since come home, but suicide rates remain stubbornly high.

The Army's suicide rate for active-duty soldiers averaged nearly 11-per-100-000 from Sept. 11, 2001, until shortly after the Iraq invasion in 2004. It more than doubled over the next five years, and, with the exception of a spike in 2012, has remained largely constant at 24-to-25-per-100,000, roughly 20% to 25% higher than a civilian population of the same age and gender makeup as the military.

The article is here.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

U.S. Special Ops Are Soldiers Committing Suicide in Record Numbers

By Charlie Campbell
Time
Originally published April 18, 2014

U.S. special operations forces personnel are committing suicide in record numbers, according to a top military official, due to the traumatic effects of years of war.

The entire article is here.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Military And Veteran Suicides Rise Despite Aggressive Prevention Efforts

By David Wood
The Huffington Post
Originally posted August 30, 2013

Here is an excerpt:

The bad news: the number of military and veteran suicides is rising, and experts fear it will continue to rise despite aggressive suicide prevention campaigns by the government and private organizations.

The Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), already struggling to meet an increasing demand from troops and veterans for mental health services, are watching the suicide rates, and the growing number of those considered "at risk" of suicide, with apprehension.

"It really is extremely concerning," said Caitlin Thompson, a VA psychologist and clinical care coordinator at the national crisis line for the military and veterans.

The entire story is here.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Risk Factors Associated With Suicide in Current and Former US Military Personnel

Cynthia A. LeardMann, MPH, et al.
JAMA. 2013;310(5):496-506. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.65164.

Importance

Beginning in 2005, the incidence of suicide deaths in the US military began to sharply increase. Unique stressors, such as combat deployments, have been assumed to underlie the increasing incidence. Previous military suicide studies, however, have relied on case series and cross-sectional investigations and have not linked data during service with post service periods.

Objective  

To prospectively identify and quantify risk factors associated with suicide in current and former US military personnel including demographic, military, mental health, behavioral, and deployment characteristics.

Design, Setting, and Participants

Prospective longitudinal study with accrual and assessment of participants in 2001, 2004, and 2007. Questionnaire data were linked with the National Death Index and the Department of Defense Medical Mortality Registry through December 31, 2008. Participants were current and former US military personnel from all service branches, including active and Reserve/National Guard, who were included in the Millennium Cohort Study (N = 151 560).

One of the Conclusions

Despite universal access to health care services, mandatory suicide prevention training, and other preventive efforts, suicide has become one of the leading causes of death in the US military in recent years. Suicide rates across the population of active-duty US military personnel began to increase sharply in 2005 from a baseline rate of 10.3 to 11.3 per 100 000 persons to a rate of 16.3 per 100 000 persons in 2008, with the highest rates among Marine Corps and Army personnel (19.9 and 19.3 per 100 000 persons). Since 2009, suicide rates among those on active-duty status have stabilized at approximately 18 per 100 000.

The entire article is here.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

"I Am Sorry That It Has Come to This": A Soldier's Last Words

The Suicide Note of Daniel Somers

Here is an excerpt:

I am sorry that it has come to this.

The fact is, for as long as I can remember my motivation for getting up every day has been so that you would not have to bury me. As things have continued to get worse, it has become clear that this alone is not a sufficient reason to carry on. The fact is, I am not getting better, I am not going to get better, and I will most certainly deteriorate further as time goes on. From a logical standpoint, it is better to simply end things quickly and let any repercussions from that play out in the short term than to drag things out into the long term.

You will perhaps be sad for a time, but over time you will forget and begin to carry on. Far better that than to inflict my growing misery upon you for years and decades to come, dragging you down with me. It is because I love you that I can not do this to you. You will come to see that it is a far better thing as one day after another passes during which you do not have to worry about me or even give me a second thought. You will find that your world is better without me in it.

I really have been trying to hang on, for more than a decade now. Each day has been a testament to the extent to which I cared, suffering unspeakable horror as quietly as possible so that you could feel as though I was still here for you. In truth, I was nothing more than a prop, filling space so that my absence would not be noted. In truth, I have already been absent for a long, long time.

My body has become nothing but a cage, a source of pain and constant problems. The illness I have has caused me pain that not even the strongest medicines could dull, and there is no cure. All day, every day a screaming agony in every nerve ending in my body. It is nothing short of torture. My mind is a wasteland, filled with visions of incredible horror, unceasing depression, and crippling anxiety, even with all of the medications the doctors dare give. Simple things that everyone else takes for granted are nearly impossible for me. I can not laugh or cry. I can barely leave the house. I derive no pleasure from any activity. Everything simply comes down to passing time until I can sleep again. Now, to sleep forever seems to be the most merciful thing.

You must not blame yourself. The simple truth is this: During my first deployment, I was made to participate in things, the enormity of which is hard to describe. War crimes, crimes against humanity. Though I did not participate willingly, and made what I thought was my best effort to stop these events, there are some things that a person simply can not come back from. I take some pride in that, actually, as to move on in life after being part of such a thing would be the mark of a sociopath in my mind. These things go far beyond what most are even aware of.

Defining The Deep Pain PTSD Doesn't Capture

By Martha Bebinger
WBUR
June 24, 2013

An estimated 22 veterans kill themselves in the U.S. each day. And suicide among men and women on active duty hit a record high last year — 349. As veterans and researchers try to figure out why, there’s growing interest in a condition known as “moral injury,” or wounds to a veteran’s spirit or soul from events that “transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.”

The concept has helped former Marine Corps Capt. Tyler Boudreau understand years of pain that medication and therapy for PTSD didn’t address. He tells his story, somewhat reluctantly, from the living room of his blue clapboard home in Northampton, Mass.

‘This Is What Occupation Looks Like’

Boudreau arrived in Iraq in the March of 2004 at the age of 33 shortly before four American contractors were killed in Fallujah. His unit moved into position for a planned assault on the city.

“We were always getting shelled, constant rocket and mortar attacks,” Boudreau explained. “An IED, the roadside bomb, blew up right next to my vehicle and I was involved in some firefight that was pretty, you know, pretty intense.”

The constant shelling wore on Boudreau. But the daily duties of war, what he did to Iraqis, also took a toll on him.

The entire story is here.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Wars on Drugs

By Richard Friedman
The New York Times - Opinion
Originally published April 6, 2013

LAST year, more active-duty soldiers committed suicide than died in battle. This fact has been reported so often that it has almost lost its jolting force. Almost.

Worse, according to data not reported on until now, the military evidently responded to stress that afflicts soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan primarily by drugging soldiers on the front lines. Data that I have obtained directly from Tricare Management Activity, the division of the Department of Defense that manages health care services for the military, shows that there has been a giant, 682 percent increase in the number of psychoactive drugs — antipsychotics, sedatives, stimulants and mood stabilizers — prescribed to our troops between 2005 and 2011. That’s right. A nearly 700 percent increase — despite a steady reduction in combat troop levels since 2008.

The prescribing trends suggest that the military often uses medications in ways that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and do not comport with the usual psychiatric standards of practice.

The military tests prospective enlistees with an eye toward screening out those with serious psychiatric disorders. So you would expect that the use of these drugs in the military would be minimal — and certainly less than in the civilian population. But the opposite is true: prescriptions written for antipsychotic drugs for active-duty troops increased 1,083 percent from 2005 to 2011; the number of antipsychotic drug prescriptions in the civilian population increased just 22 percent from 2005 to 2011, according to IMS Health, an independent medical data company.

The entire article is here.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Military suicides hit record in 2012, outpace combat deaths

Reuters
Originally published January 14, 2013

The number of U.S. troops committing suicide set a record in 2012, exceeding the number of combat deaths, the Pentagon said on Monday.

The Pentagon said 349 active-duty troops killed themselves in 2012, up more than 15 percent from 2011 despite renewed efforts by the military to stem the suicide rate.

"This is an epidemic that cannot be ignored," said Senator Patty Murray, who championed legislation last year to improve suicide prevention efforts and mental health care for troops and veterans.

"As our newest generation of servicemembers and veterans face unprecedented challenges, today's news shows we must be doing more to ensure they are not slipping through the cracks."

The Army, as the largest service, counted the biggest number of suicides, with 182 soldiers killing themselves in 2012, according to preliminary figures. The Navy had 60 suicides, the Air Force had 59 and the Marines had 48.

The figures were first reported by the Associated Press.

The Pentagon pointed to steps to bolster suicide prevention efforts, including expanding a suicide prevention hotline. Still, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta last year acknowledged that the suicides were the most frustrating issue he had faced since taking over the Pentagon in 2011.

"Despite the increased efforts, the increased attention, the trends continue to move in a troubling and tragic direction," Panetta told at a joint Pentagon-Department of Veterans Affairs suicide prevention conference in June.

The entire story is here.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

The year of the suicide

Suicide rates among Americans are steadily rising and have been for years. Why are we killing ourselves?

BY KERA BOLONIK
Salon.com
Originally published Decemeber 31, 2012


Let’s call 2012 the year of the suicide: On Friday, the Department of the Army released a report revealing that suicides continue to outnumber combat-related deaths among American soldiers —an average of one suicide a day— a number that’s increasing despite the fact that the armed forces have installed new training and awareness programs over the past few years. Stateside, suicide has become the leading cause of death by injury, and is the 10th leading cause of death overall. According to a CDC report released over the summer, suicide attempts by high-school students has risen to from 6.3 percent in 2009 to 7.8 percent in 2011, and accounts for 13 percent of all deaths among people between the ages of 10 and 24 — the third leading cause of death in that age group.

These are sobering statistics. And with the statistics comes more data to explain them: The Washington Post reported that “the stress on the force after more than a decade of lengthy and multiple deployments for many troops in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” while Defense Secretary Leon Panetta attributed the high rate to “substance abuse, financial distress and relationship problems … that will endure beyond war.” Among civilians, the number of suicides have been attributed to the recession — historically, there is a spike with every economic downturn. And 20 percent of high-school teenagers say they are being bullied — 16 percent say they’ve been cyber-bullied through texting, IM-ing, email, and Facebook or other social media.

The entire story is here.

Friday, January 4, 2013

War Tragedies Strike Families Twice


By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS
The Wall Street Journal
Originally published on December 20, 2012

One night in March 2008, William and Christine Koch opened their front door to see two soldiers in green dress uniforms bearing news that their son, Army Cpl. Steven Koch, had been killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.

Two years later, Mr. and Mrs. Koch opened the door to see two police officers in blue. This time, they learned their daughter, Lynne, brokenhearted over her brother's death, had killed herself with an overdose of prescription drugs.

She is a casualty of this war, and I don't care what anybody says," Mrs. Koch said. "If my son was not killed, my daughter would be here."

The military tracks suicides among the troops. The Department of Veterans Affairs studies self-inflicted deaths among people who have left the service. Nobody collects data on suicides among the parents, siblings and spouses of the more than 6,500 Americans killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But anecdotal evidence from military families, support groups and suicide survivors suggests that over the past 11 years of war, the U.S. has experienced a little-recognized suicide outbreak among the bereaved. This second round of tragedy often takes place years after a loved one's death, when the finality of the loss becomes inescapable.

"We've all had the idea of suicide at one time or another," said Nadia McCaffrey of Tracy, Calif., whose son Patrick died in an ambush in Iraq in 2004. She said she personally knows a half dozen military parents who have killed themselves.

To learn more about war grief, researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, a federal institution in Bethesda, Md., are recruiting 3,000 people to participate in a first-ever U.S. study of bereavement among families of those killed on active duty.

"We don't know whether or in what ways military-service deaths—combat-related, accidents or suicides—differ from similarly sudden or violent civilian deaths in their impact on bereaved family members," said Stephen Cozza, a psychiatrist involved in the research.

The violent and faraway nature of combat death—often following months of dread—may make it harder to accept for those left behind, said Bonnie Carroll. She founded the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS, after her husband, an Army general, died in a 1992 plane crash.

"To have someone come to the house and deliver this devastating information that you'd never see them again is impossible to absorb," Mrs. Carroll said. In her grief after her husband's death, she found herself taking high-speed, late-night drives along the Alaska coast, as if daring herself to join him.

The entire story is here.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Military says it's focusing on suicide prevention

By Mike Urban
The Reading Eagle
Originally published November 12, 2012


Fewer of America's troops are heading into combat with the war in Iraq over and the war in Afghanistan nearing a close.

But the demand for mental health care among active duty personnel is increasing, in part because combat has left many in need of help, and because the military is doing more to treat its mentally ill troops, Department of Defense officials said.

Suicide prevention has become one of the military's most urgent concerns, and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder within the military has come a long way in recent years, said Defense Department spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith.

"We are committed to taking care of our people, and that includes doing everything possible to prevent suicides in the military," she said.

To reduce the long-standing military stigma surrounding mental health problems, the defense department urges commanders to support those in need of care, she said.

The entire story is here.

Army, Navy suicides at record high


By Gregg Zoroya
USA Today
Originally published on November 19, 2012


With six weeks left in the year, the Army and Navy are already reporting record numbers of suicides, with the Air Force and Marine Corps close to doing the same, making 2012 the worst year for military suicides since careful tracking began in 2001.

The deaths are now occurring at a rate faster than one per day. On Nov. 11, confirmed or suspected suicides among active-duty forces across the military reached 323, surpassing the Pentagon's previous high of 310 suicides set in 2009.

Of that total, the Army accounted for 168, surpassing its high last year of 165; 53 sailors took their own lives, one more than last year.

The Air Force and Marine Corps are only a few deaths from record numbers. Fifty-six airmen had committed suicide as of Nov. 11, short of the 60 in 2010. There have been 46 suicides among Marines, whose worst year was 2009 with 52.

The entire story is here.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Army Releases September Suicide Data

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 838-12

October 19, 2012

The Army released suicide data today for the month of September. During September, among active-duty soldiers, there were 15 potential suicides: one has been confirmed as suicide and 14 remain under investigation. For August, the Army reported 16 potential suicides among active-duty soldiers. Since the release of that report, one case was removed for a total of 15 cases: five have been confirmed as suicides and 10 remain under investigation. For 2012, there have been 146 potential active-duty suicides: 91 have been confirmed as suicides and 55 remain under investigation. Active-duty suicide number for 2011: 165 confirmed as suicides and no cases under investigation.

During September, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were 16 potential suicides (13 Army National Guard and three Army Reserve): one has been confirmed as suicide and 15 remain under investigation. For August, among that same group, the Army reported nine potential suicides. Since the release of that report two cases were added for a total of 11 cases (seven Army National Guard and four Army Reserve): five have been confirmed as suicides and six remain under investigation.

For 2012, there have been 101 potential not on active-duty suicides (67 Army National Guard and 34 Army Reserve): 67 have been confirmed as suicides and 34 remain under investigation. Not on active-duty suicide numbers for 2011: 118 (82 Army National Guard and 36 Army Reserve) confirmed as suicides and no cases under investigation.

"Every suicide in our ranks is a tragic loss for the Army family, adversely affecting the readiness of our Army," said Lt. Gen. Howard B. Bromberg, deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel. "I am asking soldiers, family members, department of the Army civilians, neighbors, and friends to look out for each other and reach out and embrace those who may be struggling. Recognize the warning signs such as substance abuse, relationship problems, and withdrawal from friends and activities and use available resources to help yourself or others. Our actions can save lives."

Soldiers and families in need of crisis assistance can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Trained consultants are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and can be contacted by dialing 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or by visiting their website at http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

Thursday, September 13, 2012

President Obama orders VA to expand suicide prevention services

By Rebecca Ruiz
MSNBC.com
Originally published September 1, 2012

President Obama issued an executive order Friday tasking the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand its suicide prevention and mental health services.

Under the order, VA is expected to increase its veteran crisis line by 50 percent by the end of the year; ensure that a veteran in distress is given access to a trained mental health worker in 24 hours or less; and launch a national 12-month suicide prevention campaign to educate veterans about available mental health services.

The order reinforces some initiatives that VA has already undertaken.


In April, VA announced that it would hire 1,600 mental health clinicians to meet surging demand, and the order instructs the agency to use loan repayment programs and scholarships, among other strategies, to recruit those professionals by June 2013.

The entire story is here.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Preventing Suicides in US Service Members and Veterans: Concerns After a Decade of War

By Charles W. Hoge, MD, & Carl A. Castro, PhD
JAMA. 2012;308(7):671-672. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.9955

Before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the incidence of suicide in active duty US service members was consistently 25% lower than that in civilians, attributable to "healthy-worker" effects from career selection factors and universal access to health care.

Between 2005 and 2009, the incidence of suicide in Army and Marine personnel nearly doubled.
From 2009 through the first half of 2012, the incidence of suicide among Army soldiers remained elevated (22 per 100 000 per year), with the number dying of suicide each year exceeding the number killed in action.

High rates of suicide have also been reported for US veterans, although incidence studies in veteran populations have drawn conflicting conclusions.

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"Examining communication strategies is also critical. Stigmatizing attitudes may be unwittingly reflected in cliches, such as 'zero tolerance' or 'one suicide is one too many,' expressed by well-intentioned VA or military leaders.  These slogans convey an implicit message: suicides are different from any other medical condition, the result of a bad 'choice' by the individual or negligence by peers or leaders.  These types of communications would not be used to describe attitudes toward depression, PTSD, or cancer."

The entire article is here.

Thanks to Ken Pope for this information.

U.S. Army suicides reached record monthly high in July

By Collen Jenkins
Reuters
Originally published August 17, 2012

Twenty-six active-duty soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in July, more than double the number reported for June and the most suicides ever recorded in a month since the U.S. Army began tracking detailed statistics on such deaths.

During the first seven months of this year, there were 116 suspected suicides among active-duty soldiers, compared to 165 suicides for all of last year, the Army said. The military branch reported 12 likely suicides during June.

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"Suicide is the toughest enemy I have faced in my 37 years in the Army," General Lloyd J. Austin III, vice chief of staff of the Army, said in the report released on Thursday.

"To combat it effectively will require sophisticated solutions aimed at helping individuals to build resiliency and strengthen their life coping skills," he said.

The entire story is here.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

War Wounds

By Nicholas D. Kristof
The New York Times - Sunday Review
Originally published on August 10, 2012

IT would be so much easier, Maj. Ben Richards says, if he had just lost a leg in Iraq.

Instead, he finds himself losing his mind, or at least a part of it. And if you want to understand how America is failing its soldiers and veterans, honoring them with lip service and ceremonies but breaking faith with them on all that matters most, listen to the story of Major Richards.

For starters, he’s brilliant. (Or at least he was.) He speaks Chinese and taught at West Point, and his medical evaluations suggest that until his recent problems he had an I.Q. of about 148. After he graduated from West Point, in 2000, he received glowing reviews.

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Military suicides are the starkest gauge of our nation’s failure to care adequately for those who served in uniform. With America’s wars winding down, the United States is now losing more soldiers to suicide than to the enemy. Include veterans, and the tragedy is even more sweeping. For every soldier killed in war this year, about 25 veterans now take their own lives.

President Obama said recently that it was an “outrage” that some service members and veterans sought help but couldn’t get it: “We’ve got to do better. This has to be all hands on deck.” Admirable words, but so far they’ve neither made much impact nor offered consolation to those who call the suicide prevention hot line and end up on hold.

The military’s problems with mental health services go far beyond suicide or the occasional murders committed by soldiers and veterans. Far more common are people like Richards, who does not contemplate violence of any kind but is still profoundly disabled.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Parity for Patriots: The mental health needs or military personnel, veterans and their families

The National Alliance on Mental Illness released a report entitled Parity for Patriots: The Mental Health Needs of Military Personnel, Veterans and their Families.  Here is a section of the report that is particularly important.

"The U.S. Department of Defense must move more forcibly to end discrimination associated with invisible wounds of war. Reducing the stigma of mental illness will enhance opportunities to deliver prompt, effective treatment to military service members and families who live with PTSD, depression and other mental health conditions. Examples of immediate steps that can be taken to eliminate stigma and barriers to seeking help include:

  • Military leader accountability for stigma and suicide: Military leaders throughout the chain of command should be required to focus on preventable psychological injuries and deaths, which should be part of their efficiency reporting process. Suicides are preventable just as are the heat and cold injuries of service members for which leaders are routinely relieved of command.
  • Purple Heart for psychological wounds: Posttraumatic stress and other mental health injuries, that are the result of hostile action, including terrorism, should be eligible for award of the Purple Heart with the same level of appreciation and recognition as those awarded to warriors with visible wounds.

The Veterans Health Administration must increase service capacity by expanding provider networks to include community mental health agencies and private practitioners. The VHA should monitor the degree to which contract providers accept veterans and families as clients and should adjust networks to make care available when and where it is needed. Ongoing training in military-informed mental health treatment should be a basic requirement for contract providers. Improved distance delivery through technology should be implemented to remove the travel burden from veterans and improve the use of professional care giver time."


Please remember our military service personnel on this holiday.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Suicides Outpacing War Deaths for Troops

by Timothy Williams
The New York Times
Originally published on June 8, 2012

The suicide rate among the nation’s active-duty military personnel has spiked this year, eclipsing the number of troops dying in battle and on pace to set a record annual high since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago, the Pentagon said Friday.

Suicides have increased even as the United States military has withdrawn from Iraq and stepped up efforts to provide mental health, drug and alcohol, and financial counseling services.
      
The military said Friday that there had been 154 suicides among active-duty troops through Thursday, a rate of nearly one each day this year. The figures were first reported this week by The Associated Press.

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Mr. Rieckhoff attributed the rise in military suicides to too few qualified mental health professionals, aggravated by the stigma of receiving counseling and further compounded by family stresses and financial problems. The unemployment rate among military families is a particular problem, he said.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Suicides Highlight Failures of Veterans' Support System

By Aaron Glanz
The New York Times
Originally published March 24, 2012

Francis Guilfoyle, a 55-year-old homeless veteran, drove his 1985 Toyota Camry to the Department of Veterans Affairs campus in Menlo Park early in the morning of Dec. 3, took a stepladder and a rope out of the car, threw the rope over a tree limb and hanged himself.

It was an hour before his body was cut down, according to the county coroner's report.

"When I saw him, my heart just sank," said Dennis Robinson, 51, a formerly homeless Army veteran who discovered Mr. Guilfoyle's body.

"This is supposed to be a safe place where a vet can get help. Something failed him."

Mr. Guilfoyle's death is one of a series of recent suicides by veterans who live in the jurisdiction of the Department of Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

The Palo Alto V.A. is one of the agency's elite campuses, home to the Congressionally chartered National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The poor record of the Department of Veterans Affairs in decreasing the high suicide rate of veterans has already emerged as a major issue for policy makers and the judiciary.

On Wednesday, the V.A. Inspector General in Washington released the results of a nine-month investigation into the May 2010 death of another veteran, William Hamilton.

The report said social workers at the department in Palo Alto made "no attempt" to ensure that Hamilton, a mentally ill 26-year-old who served in Iraq, was hospitalized at a department facility in the days before he killed himself by stepping in front of a train in Modesto.

The story is here.