(Newser)
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The Army's suicide epidemic just keeps getting worse. There were 38 suicides among active-duty troops and reservists last month, the highest single-month total since 9/11 and possibly ever, reports Time. Other services are also struggling with suicides, and the July deaths—twice the number of troops killed in Afghanistan the same month—are a blow to military officials fighting hard to bring the suicide rate down, reports the Washington Post.
At this rate, the Army could lose 200 active-duty troops to suicide this year; the suicide toll for 2011 was 167, reports the AP. The other branches of the military don't seem to have been spared, either: The Marine Corps had eight suicides in July, up from six in June, making July its highest monthly total of 2012. Its total for the first seven months of the year stands at 32, equal to the Marines' total for all of 2011. The Air Force said it had six in July, compared with two in June. The Navy had four in July but its June figure was not immediately available.
