According to the Department of Defense’s Annual Report on Suicide in the military, which outlines suicide trends among service members and their families, 523 service members died by suicide in 2023. This harrowing statistic marks the highest number of deaths since 2020.
The report, released Nov. 14, recorded a striking 1,373 men and women actively serving in the armed forces who attempted suicide in 2023.
Since 2005, veteran suicide rates have risen by a startling 50%, and a baffling 150% for veterans of post-9/11 wars, a trend Robert Greenway, director of the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation and combat veteran of the Army Special Forces, deemed an “unprecedented crisis in the force” in congressional testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.
The Department of Veterans Affairs also recently released its most recent Suicide Prevention Annual Report, disclosing that the average number of veteran suicides per day had increased from 16.4 in 2001 to 17.5 in 2021. Although the Defense Department started tracking the data a little over a decade ago, these numbers support a steady and rising trend in military-related suicides over the past two decades.
Unfortunately, self-inflicted deaths are just one piece of a larger mental health crisis. The VA estimates that 41% of veterans require some level of mental health care, yet of the 18.1 million veterans in the U.S., only 11% of them obtained VA mental health services.
The mental health crisis has been intensified as service members who deployed during the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars transition out of the military, with many lacking adequate mental health resources to guide the transition to civilian life. An estimated 30,000 War on Terror veterans have tragically died by suicide, a staggering statistic totaling over four times the number of deaths by war violence in post-9/11 conflicts.
When asked about coping with civilian life after deploying twice in active combat roles, Shane Hudson, a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, explained, “The misnomer is that people think it is simple to just overcome or move on … I don’t fully believe that you ever overcome. You just learn to manage … Some days are very good; some days are not so good.”
Certain failures by the VA compound incongruity between those who need and receive mental health care. In a nonpartisan effort to address concerns, Rep. Marilyn Strickland, Rep. Mike Waltz, and 11 other members of Congress addressed VA Secretary Denis McDonough concerning deficiencies within the VA, specifically the significant cancellations of mental health appointments, as well as unreliable communication between providers and patients. “Delayed access to therapy and support exacerbates existing conditions, reduces the effectiveness of treatment, and contributes to suicide,” the Congress members asserted.
Beyond its human cost, the VA’s dismal record on mental health hinders struggling recruitment efforts. Family connections are a major avenue of military recruitment. Twenty-five percent of service members reported at least one of their parents having served before them. However, as the military fails to address certain institutional issues like the ongoing mental health crisis, recruitment efforts slip. Military families are now only 32% likely to recommend the forces to a son or daughter, a drop from 55% in 2016. According to a different survey, 57% of young Americans feared that serving would damage their mental well-being.
Current measures in place to mitigate military and veteran mental health concerns include the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee, designed to improve the mental health state across the military. Additionally, officials, over the next four years, plan to hire over 2,000 new providers specialized in suicide prevention.
The Hannon Act also plays a key role in the fight. Signed by Then-President Donald Trump in October 2020, the act calls for more effective mental health care and suicide prevention programs in the VA, improving access and creating more precision in care for veterans.
Though these measures are beneficial, the military should not discount the impact of non-medical efforts as well. In 2023, USS Gerald R. Ford deployed with a yellow labrador retriever in an effort to improve life at sea. This, along with an emphasis on intentional fellowship among service members to care for each other, can play an immense, and in some cases a more effective, role in overcoming the challenges facing mental wellness in the services.
The significance of this fight is great, not just in how it affects military retention and readiness, but more importantly in how it impacts the individual for a lifetime. There is hope in the established measures to address the mental hurt that service members are going through, yet the fight is far from over. The time is now for more reliable care, stronger leadership, and intentional fellowship inside and outside the services.
The 523 suicides are 523 too many to consider this fight resolved.
