As US military fatalities in Afghanistan hit a new high in July, the US Army issued a report exposing record suicides, drug use and other signs of deep demoralization among its ranks after a decade of colonial-style wars.
Another six US troops were killed in a series of four separate attacks across southern Afghanistan on Thursday and Friday, bringing the total death toll for the month to at least 66. This follows the previous high set last month of 60. Both were at least double the average number of fatalities for the first five months of this year.
But even as the casualties in Afghanistan soar, the number of suicides and other violent non-combat deaths among US Army soldiers is rising even more steeply.
The Army's 350-page report issued Thursday, titled "Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention," placed the suicides in a broader context of dangerous behavior among soldiers, including rampant drug use, drunk driving and violent crime.
The report was commissioned after the rate of suicides among active duty Army personnel rose higher than that of the general population in 2008. While the civilian rate was 19.2 per 100,000 people that year, it was 20.2 per 100,000 for Army personnel. Traditionally, the suicide rate in the Army has been considerably lower than that in the general population, and the current rate is more than triple that which existed in the Army prior to 2001.
In the last fiscal year, the Army recorded 239 suicides among both active duty soldiers and reservists. Out of these, 160 were active duty soldiers. Meanwhile, another 146 active duty deaths were attributed to what the report calls "high risk behavior". More than half of these deaths--74--were caused by drug overdoses. The report notes that the number of accidental deaths among soldiers has also tripled since 2001.
Together, suicides and so-called "high risk behavior" killed more soldiers during the year than combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.
During the same period, according to the report, there were 1,713 suicide attempts by Army soldiers.
The report does not deal with the suicide rate among veterans, which is considerably worse than those still in the Army. A 2007 study estimated the suicide rate among male veterans aged 20 to 24 at four times the national average--more than 40 per 100,000 per year.
The report is remarkably frank about the horrendous impact of the Army's involvement for nearly nine years in the US colonial-style wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In assessing the rising suicide, drug abuse and crime figures, it refers to the "effects of working under an unprecedented operational tempo for almost a decade."
"We now must face the unintended consequences of leading an expeditionary Army that included involuntary enlistment extensions, accelerated promotions, extended deployment rotations, reduced dwell time and potentially diverted focus from leading and caring for soldiers" who, the reports states, "have been pushed to their breaking point."
The report states that ideally soldiers should receive 36 months of "dwell time" --stationed at their home base in the US--for every year of deployment to a combat zone. It acknowledges, however, that the escalating war in Afghanistan and the continued occupation of Iraq make such a rotation schedule impossible in the foreseeable future. Currently, soldiers receive less than two years at home for every year sent to war.
"The force is becoming increasingly dependent on drugs"
Among the more startling conclusions of the report is that the rising suicide and accidental death rates are closely bound up with a growing use of drugs, both prescribed and illegal. The drug epidemic has been fueled by active duty soldiers dealing with pain, depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other forms of mental anguish stemming, in many cases, from their exposure to killing and violence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to the report, fully one third of the troops are taking at least one prescription drug, while 14 percent of soldiers are using various types of powerful painkillers. The report refers to growing use of "anti-depressants, amphetamines and narcotics."
It states the following: "As we continue to wage war on several fronts, data would suggest we are becoming more dependent on pharmaceuticals to sustain the force. In fact, anecdotal information suggests that the force is becoming increasingly dependent on both legal and illegal drugs."
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