Army Suicides Hit New High

Sexual assault on the rise as well
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 20, 2012 12:48 PM CST
Army Suicides Hit New High
Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli briefs the press on the details of the Army's 'Generating Health & Discipline in the Force' report, a followup to its 2010 suicide report, Jan. 19, 2012.   (Getty Images)

Last year saw a record number of active-duty soldiers kill themselves, as well as a sharp jump in sexual violence, the Army revealed yesterday while presenting a new report on its overall health. Despite the Pentagon's newly bolstered suicide prevention efforts, 164 active-duty soldiers took their lives in 2011, up from 159 in 2010 and 162 in 2009, said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's departing vice chief of staff, according to the New York Times.

But Chiarelli said he wasn't frustrated by the Army's apparent inability to reduce suicides. "The question you have to ask yourself, and this is the number that no one can prove, what would it have been if we had not focused the efforts that we focused on it?" he said. Sexual assaults were another matter; they shot up nearly 30%. "This is unacceptable," Chiarelli said. "We have zero tolerance for this." He cited alcohol use and new, more private barracks as potential causes. (More Gen. Peter Chiarelli stories.)

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