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Army suicides to top 2008, but progress reported

Associated Press - November 17, 2009 12:25 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army says soldier suicides this year are almost sure to top last year's, but that it has made progress in stemming the problem in recent months.

Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli told a Pentagon press conference Tuesday that as of Monday, 140 soldiers are believed to have died of self-inflicted wounds. That's the same as were confirmed for all of 2008.

But Chiarelli says that huge monthly numbers reported in January and February have tapered off and that the trend is mostly downward since March. Chiarelli says he believes the Army is beginning to make progress toward cutting suicides - after an unprecedented effort at working with soldiers through new programs.

Using some U.S. bases as examples of the trend downward, Chiarelli said there were 18 suicides reported this year at Fort Campbell, a sprawling Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee border - and 11 of those were in the first four months of the year.

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