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Data: More reservist suicides than other vets

National Guard and Reserve troops who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan comprise more than half the veterans who committed suicide after returning home from those combat zones, according to new government data obtained by The Associated Press.

A Department of Veterans Affairs analysis of continuing research of deaths among veterans of both wars found that Guard or Reserve members were 53 percent of the veteran suicides from 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, through the end of 2005.

The research, conducted by the agency’s Office of Environmental Epidemiology, provides the first demographic look at suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who left the military — a situation that veterans and mental health advocates worry might worsen as the wars drag on.

Military leaders have leaned heavily on Guard and Reserve troops in the wars. At certain times in 2005, members of the Guard and Reserve made up nearly half of the troops fighting in Iraq.

Overall, they made up almost 28 percent of all U.S. military forces deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan or in support of the operations, according to data from the Defense Department through the end of 2007.

Many Guard and Reserve members have done multiple tours that kept them away from home for 18 months. When they returned home, some who live far from military installations or VA facilities have met with difficulty getting access to mental health counseling or treatment, activists have said.

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said the study’s findings reinforce the argument that Guard and Reserve troops need more help as they transition back into the civilian world. The military’s effort to re-screen reservists for mental and physical problems three months after they return home is a positive step, Rieckhoff said, but a more long-term comprehensive approach is needed to help the troops — particularly in their first six months at home.

“National Guardsmen and reservists are literally in Baghdad in one week and in Brooklyn the next, and that transition is incredibly tough,” Rieckhoff said.

VA has said there does not appear to be an epidemic of suicide among returning veterans, and suicide among the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is comparable to the same demographic group in the general population. However, an escalating suicide rate in the Army, as well as high-profile suicides such as the death of Joshua Omvig, an Iowa reservist who shot himself in front of his mother in December 2005 after an 11-month tour in Iraq, have alarmed some members of Congress and mental health advocates.

In November, President Bush signed the Joshua Omvig suicide prevention bill, which directed VA to improve its mental health training for staff and do a better job of screening and treating veterans.

According to VA’s research, 144 veterans committed suicide from Oct. 7, 2001 — the start of the war in Afghanistan — through the end of 2005. Of those, 35 veterans, or 24 percent, served in the reserves and 41, or 29 percent, had served in the National Guard. Sixty-eight — 47 percent — had been active-duty troops.

Statistics from 2006 and 2007 were not yet available, VA said, because the study was based in part on data from the National Death Index, which is still being compiled.

Among the total population of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have been discharged from the military, nearly half are formerly active duty and a little more than half were in the Guard and reserves, according to VA.

Among those studied, more than half of the veterans who committed suicide were ages 20 to 29. Nearly three-quarters used firearms to take their lives. Nearly 82 percent were white.

About one in five was seen at least once at a VA facility.

Last year, the VA started a suicide hot line. VA and the military have also made other improvements in suicide prevention care, such as hiring more counselors and increasing mental health screening.

“The challenge is getting people to come to us before they commit suicide, knowing they can come and get help and knowing they have access to those resources,” said Alison Aikele, a VA spokeswoman.

The VA study does not include those who committed suicide in the war zones or those who remained in the military after returning home from war.

Last year, the Army said its suicide rate in 2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops, the highest level in 26 years of record-keeping. The Army said recently that as many as 121 soldiers committed suicide last year. If all are confirmed, the number would be more than double the total reported in 2001.

Some mental health advocates have complained that there is no comprehensive tracking in one place of suicide among those who served in the wars, whether they were still in the military or discharged.

In October, AP reported that preliminary research from VA had found that from the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, until the end of 2005, 283 troops who served in the wars who had been discharged from the military had committed suicide.

VA later said the number was reduced to 144 because some of the veterans counted were active duty and not discharged when they committed suicide.