Suicide

No, I'm not contemplating committing it, but apparently it's on the rise in the military. Yesterday I heard a statistic that stated there are over 6,000 military suicides annually. I thought, "No way." I thought right.

According to military statistics there were over 2,000 suicide attempts last year, nearly 100 of which resulted in death. Though not nearly 6,000 suicides, it still sounds like a lot to me. Apparently not. This number represents about 18 suicide attempts for every 100,000 troops. The national civilian average is 20 per 100,000. Looks like those in the military are less likely to commit suicide than your average person. This, however, doesn't tell the entire story.

The conflict in Iraq has caused a significant increase in the attempted suicide rate. Before the invasion, in 2002, the attempted suicide rate was 12 per 100,000. After five years in Iraq that rate has increased by nearly 50 percent. I guess that's to be expected: war sucks. Yet another reason we should never have gone to Iraq.

Speaking of Iraq, more and more people believe going to Iraq was a mistake. Now 63% say so. Hard for me to believe John McCain can win a presidential campaign when we continues to be one of the biggest cheerleaders of our continued occupation.