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View Full Version : Army - Fort Campbell on Stand Down due to continued soldier suicides


kaiser soze
05-28-2009, 09:05 AM
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/05/ap_campbell_suicides_052709/

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Regular duties are suspended for three days at Fort Campbell, which leads the Army in suicides this year, so commanders can identify and help soldiers who are struggling with the stress of war and most at risk for killing themselves.

From January to March, the installation averaged one suicide per week, Townsend said. After an Army-wide suicide prevention campaign in started in March, there were no suicides for six weeks, he said.

“But last week we had two. Two in a week,” Townsend said.

The Army has said that soldier suicides reached the highest rate on record in 2008. Officials said the deaths in 2008 would amount to a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers, which is higher than the civilian rate, when adjusted to reflect the Army’s younger and male-heavy demographics.

Frequent deployments by the division since 2001 have contributed to the stress suffered by Campbell’s soldiers, said Col. Ken Brown, the head of chaplains on the installation.

bush's war continues to take it's toll. Something is haunting these soldiers, Iraq is not the pretty picture some would like to paint it.

You'd think U.S. citizens could vote to end this war considering it is our sons and daughters who are dying while our tax dollars go up in flames.

whose war is this again?

Dorothy Wood
05-28-2009, 11:19 PM
oh my, that's awful. the thing about suicide is that it's easier to do when people you know have done it. it becomes an option, where before you probably wouldn't have considered it as one.

I really can't even imagine what it would be like to be a soldier in this war. I mean, most of them are just kids when the start out. my first boyfriend joined the marines 10 years ago when he was 19. He's still in the military and doing well (I guess, from what I see on facebook), but man, he was just a dumb kid with no plans who decided to join up for the money.

and my childhood best friend joined the army a year after because she wanted to get money for college. We lost touch about 8 years ago, I hope she's okay, I wish there was a way to find out somehow.

sad. I can't believe how many people have lost their lives in this mess. so pointless. :(

yeahwho
05-29-2009, 05:58 PM
All in the name of pretend WMD. Ironically from information a tortured detainee later recanted. I watched a very good documentary last night on PBS called Fighting for Life (http://www.fightingforlifethemovie.com/screenings.html), very memorable if you happen to get a chance, take a glance.