While President Obama mulls a surge that could send 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan - where more U.S. war fighters already have died this year than in all of 2008 - casualties mount on another battlefront.
New Army figures indicate that seven active-duty soldiers are believed to have taken their lives in September. That brings to 117 the number of reported Army suicides, from January to September, of troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. That's up from 103 over the same period in 2008, and blazes a pace to break the record of 133 suicides set that same year.
The Army finally is rallying with a surge of suicide-prevention programs. Nevertheless, the escalating numbers, despite Army efforts, underscore this grim fact: Suicide among troops - active duty, Guardsmen and reservists - isn't a problem soon to retreat. It's a national burden that Army officials must address more vigorously.
Multiple deployments and 12- to 15-month combat tours are believed to have played a role in the steadily climbing suicide totals since 2004. Relationships frayed through long separations also are a key factor. And most soldiers who killed themselves had no known red flags in their mental histories.
The Veterans Affairs Department has rolled out a suicide-prevention hotline, while the Army has responded with training programs to help soldiers spot colleagues at risk of suicide, a suicide prevention task force and other educational initiatives.
Getting soldiers to seek help is a big pothole on the road to reducing military suicides, despite programs such as the Defense Centers of Excellence's "Real Warriors" effort.
A dearth of military-based mental-health professionals hurts. Programs such as Give an Hour, through which mental-health professionals donate an hour each week to treating U.S. troops, can fill the gap. The Army is launching the largest-ever comprehensive study of suicide and mental health among military personnel. The five-year National Institute of Mental Health study could someday yield clues that can save soldiers who survive a war zone only to come home to die retreating from their own private hell.
However, the Army cannot forget the ranks of war-torn soldiers just a hair from contemplating their own demise. They can't wait for someday to receive the help they desperately need.
BOTTOM LINE: Continue efforts as a priority.