The Army said 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January alone — six times as many as killed themselves in January 2008, according to statistics released Thursday.
The Army said it already has confirmed seven suicides, with 17 additional cases pending that it believes investigators will confirm as suicides for January.
If those prove true, more soldiers will have killed themselves than died in combat last month. According to Pentagon statistics, there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January.
“This is terrifying,” an Army official said. “We do not know what is going on.” via CNN
But the most asinine comment of them all:
Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, said that the long, cold months of winter could be a major contributor to the January spike.
“There is more hopelessness and helplessness because everything is so dreary and cold,” she said.
Right. Let’s send them somewhere warm then. That should set them straight.
It’s not like 3 tours in Iraq/Afghanistan have anything to do with this.
