Suicide

Both CNN and USA came out with a story about suicide in the US Army. Both paint a pretty dismal picture for the troops, but at least CNN does a comparison against the private sector (They have to thrown in the comparison isn't valid)

It is difficult to compare the military suicide rate to that of the private sector because of demographic differences and overall human stress factors, officials say.

In 2006, the overall suicide rate for the United States was 13.4 per 100,000 people. It was 21.1 per 100,000 people for all men aged 17 to 45, compared to a rate of 17.8 for men in the Army.
And it was 5.46 per 100,000 for all women, compared to an Army rate of 11.3 women soldiers per 100,000

So what does this comparison point at? Even with the stress of being in a battlefield (30% of the suicides actually happened while deployed), the men in the Army are less likely to commit suicide while women are more likely.

I went looking but wasn't able to find a stat for the ratio of men to women in the Army but from personal experience I would put it in the range of 10:1 Army wide. That would mean women tend to be much more isolated in the Army (less of a support structure) and more prone to depression then men.

There are many resources to help with suicide thoughts and if anyone is felling them I hope and pray that you would reach out to someone before acting on such thoughts.

One online page I picked at random has this to say.

“Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain.”

Many times a person just doesn't see any other way out of the pain. It is our responsibility to be resource for coping and not a source of the pain.

One thing that I received in my time in the military was additional resources in dealing with the ever present pain of life.