Once again, the number of suicides among soldiers outnumbered combat-related deaths for the year.
Through November this year, potentially 303 active-duty, Reserve and National Guard soldiers took their own lives. In Afghanistan 212 soldiers were killed as of Dec. 7. The trajectory for soldier suicides keeps getting worse.
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The numbers have increased despite a range of training and awareness programs instituted by the service in the last few years.More measures may be on the way:
- A bipartisan group of 36 lawmakers is pushing for new rules allowing military commanders and mental health specialists to ask unstable troops whether they own any personal firearms; lawmakers from both the House and the Senate are working on a final compromise version of the legislation.
- Gun rights advocates have opposed the idea, saying it could lead to commanders intimidating some individuals into giving up personal weapons.
"Gun rights advocates," (NRA) see a problem with "unstable" soldiers surrendering their weapons? I'd really like to see a poll conducted among the soldiers themselves to see how they feel about such a measure being enacted in the hopes of reducing suicide in their ranks.
