National Guard and Reserve troops who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan make up more than half of veterans who committed suicide after returning home from those wars, according to new government data obtained by The Associated Press.
Members of the National Guard and the Reserve are civilians who train part time and can be called up to active duty with the regular military.
A Department of Veterans Affairs analysis of ongoing research of deaths among veterans of both wars obtained exclusively by The AP found that Guard or Reserve members were 53 per cent of the veteran suicides from 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, through the end of 2005. The research, conducted by the agency’s Office of Environmental Epidemiology, provides the first demographic look at suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who left the military a situation that veterans and mental health advocates worry might worsen as the wars drag on.
Upon learning of the VA’s findings on Tuesday, the Veterans of Foreign Wars called for the Pentagon and the VA to combine their efforts to track suicides among those who have served in those countries in order to get a clearer picture of the problem.
“We’re very concerned for the overall well-being of our military men and women as well as our veterans and want to know, is there a growing problem that needs to be addressed by both the (Defence Department) and the VA?” said Joe Davis, the VFW’s public affairs director.
“To fix a problem, you have to define it first.”
Military leaders have leaned heavily on Guard and Reserve troops in the wars. At certain times in 2005, members of the Guard and Reserve made up nearly half the troops fighting in Iraq.
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