Military Family Numbers

 From Military.com:

“In a First, Pentagon Releases Data on Military Spouse and Child Suicides”

In what was hailed as the Pentagon's first-ever report on military family suicides, the Defense Department said Thursday that 123 spouses and 63 children took their own lives in 2017. According to the inaugural Department of Defense 2018 Annual Suicide Report, the 186 deaths included 122 among of active-duty personnel families, 29 among Reserve families and 35 within National Guard families. Seventeen spouses were service members themselves. The report said the calculated suicide rate for family members, which allows for comparison with other populations, was significantly lower than the rate for the general U.S. population in 2017, 6.8 per 100,000 military family members, compared with 14.5 per 100,000 persons. But the report also noted that the lower rate was not unexpected, given that military families trend younger than the general population. The suicide rate for spouses was 11.5 deaths per 100,000, broken down into 9.1 per 100,000 for female spouses and 29.4 per 100,000 for males. Pentagon analysts said those rates were comparable to age- and gender-adjusted rates of the U.S. population in 2017. According to the report, the overall suicide rate for dependent children under age 23 was 3.8 per 100,000. Within that, the suicide rate for males was 5.2 per 100,000, lower than the rate for young men in the general population of 9.3 per 100,000. The long-awaited report is the first to release data on military families, but without information from other years, "we do not have trends," said Elizabeth Van Winkle, the executive director for Force Resiliency in the Under Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel and Readiness. But, she added, "our military families are one of our greatest assets and our efforts need to consider the unique challenges of military life." The report is likely to disappoint those who have sought data on military family suicides for more than a decade. In 2010, Kristina Kaufmann, a former Army wife who now serves as CEO of the military and veterans advocacy group Code of Support Foundation, was among the first voices to call for the information, penning an editorial in The Washington Post expressing concern about military family suicides. Kaufmann said at the time she had lost at least three friends to suicide and pushed Congress to ask the Pentagon for the data so programs could address the problem. In 2014, Congress passed the fiscal 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, which required the Pentagon to standardize and collect data on suicides among military dependents. The policy and data collection was to be implemented in mid-2015, according to the law. Last year, Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Patty Murray of Washington sent a letter to the Defense Department last year asking for the data. They asked DoD to release any information it had on dependent suicide. "We know these suicides occur, but there is presently a lack of information necessary to understand, prevent, and respond to these tragedies," they wrote. Pentagon officials said Thursday that the report contained data from 2017 because that is the most recent year data is available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the general population. "Our civilian data follows the CDC's same time frame in terms of releasing data ... the effort is to provide the most current data," Van Winkle said. Also according to the report, the means of suicide in more than half the deaths of both spouses and dependents was a firearm -- 54% of spouse suicides and 51% of dependent suicides. The use of a weapon by female military spouses in suicides is a departure from behavior in the general population, where the leading method of suicide in 2017 for women was poison or a drug overdose (31.4%), followed closely by firearm (31.2%), and then asphyxiation or hanging (27.9%). Winkle said the Pentagon is working on initiatives to increase awareness among military personnel and family members of the risk factors for suicide so they can recognize when they, or others, need help. "We're also developing initiatives on safe storage of lethal means, that is, safely storing medications and firearms to ensure family safety and well as how to intervene in a crisis," she said. The Military and Veterans Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for veterans, service members and their families who need help. Call 800-273-8255 and press 1, text 838255, or visit www.veteranscrisisline.net.

^ I am a military brat and know what it’s like to have to move every few years to a new house, a new school and a new country. It’s not easy especially when your Dad or Mom are stationed overseas and there is little to nothing for kids and teenagers to do on base. Then there is the constant strain of having your Parent (or spouse) deployed for long periods of time with little to no outside help on how to deal with all of that along with the everyday things. There is also the constant “game” that goes on between other military spouses and other military brats. For the military spouses the “game” is watching other military spouses and reporting what they do to other spouses as well as to their husband or wife in the military so that it will harm the military career of the other family in their promotions, etc. In the Military it is believed that if you can’t keep your own family (your own “house”) in order than you can’t keep the men and women under your command in order. There are many military spouses that succumb to this 24/7 “game” where your every movement on base, at the commissary, at the PX/BX, at a social event, at a military ceremony and in your house is watched and scrutinized. The same kind of “game” is played on military brats by other military brats (mostly at the direction of their parents.) The military brat’s every movement in school (grades, sports, etc.) as well as what they do after-school hours (where they go, who they hang out with, who they date, etc.)  is watched and scrutinized and that can effect the military career of their parent (again because of the military belief about keeping your family in order shows you can command in the field.) Sadly, it is not surprising that the military spouses and military brats commit suicide. They are put under constant and severe strain from all sides and given little to no help. ^

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/09/27/first-pentagon-releases-data-military-spouse-and-child-suicides.html