MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti) – New calculations show that the number of suicides in the US army during the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were higher than the Pentagon earlier claimed, USA Today reported Friday citing defense officials.
"It took us time and effort to sit down and really just kind of figure out a better way to do the math," Jacqueline Garrick, director of the Defense Suicide Prevention Office, was quoted as saying.
According to Garrick, military officials needed time to standardize the way suicides are counted across the army as the old system of calculation partly relied on estimated rather than precise figures. The new calculation showed that from 2006 onward the number of suicides among US officers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan was up to one percent or more higher than was previously reported.
"It's jaw-dropping that the Pentagon would use this kind of crass calculation to measure the impact of the suicide epidemic within their ranks. If that recalculation in any way indicates a need for additional funding or new services, the Pentagon and Congress must respond to address a problem which is clearly worse than we had been led to believe," said Senator Patty Murray, a senior member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, according to USA Today.
Suicide rates in the US military has been increasing since 2005, reaching a peak in 2012, when the numbers of suicides among full-time soldiers amounted to 29.7 deaths per 100,000. According to official data released by Pentagon, 164 soldiers took their lives that year. For the Army National Guard the figures were even higher, with 110 suicides indicating a rate of 30.8 deaths per 100,000.
