{"id":73203,"date":"2023-10-26T18:31:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T18:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/10\/26\/military-suicide-rates-mostly-steady-over-past-decade\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:27:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:27:47","slug":"military-suicide-rates-mostly-steady-over-past-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2023\/10\/26\/military-suicide-rates-mostly-steady-over-past-decade\/","title":{"rendered":"Military suicide rates mostly steady over past decade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: This report contains discussion of suicide. Troops, veterans and family members experiencing suicidal thoughts can call the 24-hour Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, text 838255 or visit <\/i>VeteransCrisisLine.net<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a small uptick<\/a> in active duty troop suicides in 2022, the latest Defense Department data shows, with small drops in suicides among Reserve and National Guard members. The overall trend of military suicide, meanwhile, has remained roughly the same over the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the department began tracking numbers in 2011, both the active and reserve component suicide rates have hovered around 20 per 100,000, according to the latest annual Pentagon suicide report<\/a> released Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rates have held steady in the reserve component and increased slightly in the active rank-and-file despite a complete revamping of suicide prevention and mental health infrastructure in the military since 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe challenge is that, you know, a lot of cultural change and a lot of the recommendations and the practices that we\u2019ve been implementing, they do just take some time to take root,\u201d Beth Foster, the Pentagon\u2019s executive director for force resiliency, told Military Times during a briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The active duty suicide rate crept up 3% in 2022, but dropped 12% in the Reserve and 18% in the Guard. The rate among military spouses and children also dropped 16%. By the numbers, the overall number of deaths dropped to 492 from 524.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile we are cautiously encouraged by some of these numbers, we need to see sustained, long-term changes in the trend to know if we\u2019re truly making progress,\u201d Liz Clark, the director of the Defense Suicide Prevention Office, told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, an independent committee published its review of DoD\u2019s suicide prevention programs, coming back with some substantial recommendations on firearms, which account for nearly 70% of suicides across services and components.<\/p>\n\n\n\t