Army suicide rate is climbing; 5 this year from Fort Carson

As the Army released numbers on its growing suicide rate Thursday, Fort Carson officials were investigating the deaths of two soldiers over the past week who authorities say took their own lives.

The most recent death came Sunday in Green Mountain Falls, when a captain who had served in Iraq as a battalion doctor shot himself, town Marshall Randy Ford said. A week ago, another Fort Carson soldier died while on leave from Afghanistan. The sergeant, a bomb-disposal expert, was visiting family in Rice, Minn., when he killed himself, Rice police chief Gary "Bear" Groskreutz said.

The Army has instituted a string of programs to combat suicide, but has so far had little luck. Last year, the number of suicides reached record levels, and 2009 could be worse with 96 for the first seven months of the year compared with 79 suicides for the same period in 2008.

“It’s not that the Army lacks programs to confront the problem of suicide,” said a statement release by Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, who heads the Army’s suicde prevention effort. “The long-term challenge is determining which programs are most effective for our soldiers and ensuring Army leaders, from junior non-commissioned officers to the most senior leaders, know how to help their soldiers take advantage of these programs.”

At Fort Carson, soldiers have been drilled in suicide prevention teachings, learning how to care for suicidal GIs and take them to help.

Calculations of the post and the Army show an increase in suicides since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Army leaders say part of the problem is the pounding pace of deployments. More common, though, is hardship at home.

“The most common contributing factor in Army suicides is that the nearly three-fourths of soldiers that have committed suicide had a significant relationship problem or lacked a significant relationship,” Gen. Peter Chiarelli told the House Armed Services Committee last month.

The two Fort Carson soldiers who died in the past week had little in common other than overseas service. The Gazette doesn’t usually name those who commit suicide.

The sergeant joined the Army in 2004 and had spent a year in Iraq doing one of the Army’s most dangerous and most needed jobs: disposing of insurgent bombs. He had earned the Army Commendation Medal and a Combat Action Badge for facing enemy fire.

He had come to Fort Carson a year ago before his most recent deployment to Afghanistan. He was on leave from the war when he died  just a few days past his 26^th birthday.

The captain had been to Iraq twice, including his most recent deployment as a battalion surgeon where he treated the wounded from the bloody 2008 battle of Sadr City in Baghdad.

Authorities in Green Mountain Falls say the 44-year-old physician assistant suffered a personal blow earlier this year when his wife died.

“We think that may have had some influence,” Ford, the town marshall, said.

The post has had five confirmed suicides in 2009, and other deaths, including these two remain under investigation.

Post officials wouldn’t speak directly about how the two soldiers died, but did issue condolences.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these soldiers and we will do everything we can to assist them as they struggle through this difficult time,” said spokeswoman Dee McNutt.