The suicide rate for active-duty troops rose to 28.7 per 100,000 last year, up from 26.3 the previous year, according to the latest edition of an annual Defense Department report. This is the highest rate since the Pentagon began keeping detailed records in 2008.
The year-over-year change to the suicide count is not “a huge increase” but the increase to the rate over time is “cause for concern and there needs to be renewed focus to specific suicide-prevention intatives,” said Julie Cerel, who leads the Suicide Prevention and Exposure Lab at the University of Kentucky. “What they have been doing hasn’t been working and they need to do something different and more sustained.”
Active-Duty Suicide Rate Hit Record High in 2020 – Defense One