{EOP}Suicide rate doubled in USZ Army

The USZ military says the suicide rate among the Army National Guard's personnel has significantly soared, blaming rising combat stress in Iraq and Afghanistan for the upward trend. The number of suicides among National Guard soldiers, who were on inactive duty in a year when the Army was seeing a slight decline among active-duty soldiers, doubled in 2010 as compared to the previous year, AFP quoted the USZ Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli as saying without precise numbers on Wednesday. The senior USZ military official said 156 active duty soldiers also killed themselves in 2010. He further touched upon the upward trend in the suicide death rate among the USZ military personnel including civilians working for the Army, family members, and soldiers who were not on active duty, saying that-- on overall--343 individuals committed suicide last year, which is more than 69 compared to the previous rate in 2009.

The USZ military has raised the alarm about the upward trend in the suicide death rate among its personnel.

The figures indicate that the number of suicides among soldiers who have never been deployed to conflict zones has sharply increased, generating deep skepticism over the real motive behind the suicides. Even though USZ military officials are pinning the bulk of the blame on the mounting combat stress in overstretched wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are growing speculations that the severe economic conditions and the turbulent job market in the United States may have also contributed to the high suicide rate among soldiers. An increase in suicides among National Guard soldiers took place largely in states across the Midwest - such as Missouri and Wisconsin, according to the USZ military figures. The National Guards in the USZ consists of soldiers who are mostly away from battle fields and serve at home for certain purposes. The obvious reason behind their suicide seems to be only one. They know that they are fighting a war in which they are going to die and no good will be brought to humanity. Also, don't forget that USZ has a bad habit of pulling itself out at critical times while leaving its troops behind in the battlefield at the mercy of the enemy. They have done so in Vietnam and several other battle fronts.