Suicide rate for soldiers went down in April - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Suicide rate for soldiers went down in April

Seven soldiers are believed to have killed themselves in April, bringing the number of reported soldier suicides this year to 64, Army officials announced Thursday.

One of the April deaths is a confirmed suicide; the other six are pending a determination. About 90 percent of deaths involved in such investigations typically are ruled to be suicides.

Twelve suicides were reported in April 2008.

After a record high 23 reported suicides in January, the number of soldier suicides has declined each month after that.

The Army reported 20 confirmed or suspected suicides in February and 13 in March.

So far this year, the Army has reported 64 possible active-duty suicides; 35 of those deaths are confirmed as suicides and 29 are pending a determination.

In addition, 12 reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty have killed themselves this year. The deaths of 15 others are under investigation. For the same period in 2008, 21 reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty killed themselves.

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