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The Department of Defense has just issued a new report on the sad subject of military suicides.

The statistics are not news. We all know of the steadily rising suicide rate, especially in the Army. The rates of suicide are very high in the military. One a day. What is not often recognized is about the details of the military suicides. The study finds that in 2011:

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WNU Editor: The report is here.

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – American soldier suicides continue to outnumber combat-related deaths in 2012, and the trajectory for soldier suicides continues to get worse.

Statistics released by the Department of the Army show that through November potentially 303 active-duty, Reserve and National Guard soldiers committed suicide. As of Dec. 7, Stars and Stripes reports that 212 soldiers have died in combat-related deaths in Afghanistan.

The Army set a grim new record of 177 potential active-duty cases with 2012 coming to a close on Tuesday – 64 of these cases remain under investigation, 113 have been confirmed.

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Update #1: More soldier suicides than combat deaths in 2012 -- Stars and Stripes
Update #2: Soldier suicides outnumber combat deaths -- Salon

My Comment: And this trend shows no signs of slowing down.

Update #3: It appears that Israel has the same problem.

Most soldiers who take their own lives today have no history of deployment. They’ve never seen combat, never been to war.

Nobody really knows why.

And although the military’s suicide problem flared during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so far it doesn’t seem to be ending with them.

About 53 percent of those who died by suicide in the military in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, had no history of deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan, according (pdf) to the Defense Department. And nearly 85 percent of military members who took their lives had no direct combat history, meaning they may have been deployed but not seen action.

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My Comment: This is a surprise .... the majority of suicides occur to soldiers who have never seen combat. US Secretary of Defense Panetta is right .... we’re dealing with broader societal issues. The full report is here.

TAMPA — The nation’s most elite fighting forces — celebrated this year in film and best-selling books — are under more emotional strain after a decade of war than commanders realized, according to the senior non-commissioned officer for special operations.

A tragic part of that is record suicides this year, said Command Sgt. Maj. Chris Faris.

According to Pentagon data, there were 17 confirmed or suspected suicides this year among commandos or support personnel through Dec. 2, compared with nine suicides each of the past two years.

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My Comment: This is a stressful job .... definitely not for the faint of heart. Unfortunately .... even the best can feel stress, and being out of contact with love ones will even make the elite of the elite feel that type emotional strain (and drain).