Suicide rates with active service decline after summer, but reserves rise

Last fall, army leaders went to the Associated Press to announce that they have seen a worrying increase in suicides since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic; the data show a 30 percent increase in that service alone between the months of July and September.

The Department of Defense has not offered any official explanations for the rise, but it appears it has been isolated until the summer, according to new data.

While active-service suicides generally jumped about 8 percent last year – to 377 total, compared with a 7 percent jump the previous year, or 348 total – the last months of last year saw a decline in the worrying summer peak shown, with 99 total suicides from October to December compared to 100 during the same period in 2019.

The reserve component, on the other hand, held steady in the first nine months of the year before exploding with deaths in the fall and winter – a 128 percent increase, from 25 deaths in late 2019 to 57 in late 2020. Most of the increase was concentrated in the National Guard, which rose from 14 suicides to 39 during the same period; 23 of the deaths were specifically in the Army National Guard.

“At the moment, it is too early to determine whether the suicide rate for the calendar year 2020 will show an increase or decrease,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday as the numbers of suicides may be subject. to inquests.

Although DoD publishes quarterly real-time suicide reports, it only comments on the findings until the fall, when it releases a report on the previous year’s suicide statistics, giving time for investigations to complete and the numbers to vary.

The guard, who had an overall decrease in suicide deaths in 2019, made him for a rise in 2020.

“We do not even know what the consequences of this tension will be,” Air National Guard deputy director general Dawne Deskins told the Military Times in September.

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At the time, questions arose as to whether the notable increase in suicide deaths from active duty had anything to do with the pandemic – either from general anxiety, or from the order to halt travel and permanent change of station to halt service members, possibly troops for weeks or months apart from their families.

“The DoD recognizes the potential impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of our service members and families,” according to the 2nd quarter of 2020. “We are closely monitoring potential consequences and proactive steps to reduce the potential effects of COVID-19 . “

For reservists, and especially the National Guard, there was a whole other dimension. Millions of Americans lost their jobs in the early months of the pandemic, and by early 2021, many are still unemployed. This includes reserve troops with civilian jobs.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Guard troops mobilized in the early days of the pandemic, and many of them are still on active orders – they went from responding to the distribution of supplies and the crew of test facilities to protest marches across the country, crews of mass vaccination sites and the security of the American Capitol.

More than 2,000 guards are still being deployed to the Capitol complex, from more than 20,000 in the days leading up to President Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.

Spokesman Wayne Hall told the Military Times on Monday until the DoD suicide event report appears later this year.