PressTV - US Army suicides reach record in July

Twenty-two active-duty soldiers and ten reservists took their own lives in July, the highest level for any month since the US army began releasing monthly suicide figures in 2009, Antiwar reported.

The US army had announced that tests are being done to confirm the exact causes of the deaths.

Reasoning behind the high suicide rates could be the fact that the military keeps redeploying many of its soldiers already diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder into combat stress situations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The high number of suicides is a major defeat for the US army, which has developed an extensive program to reduce the amount of suicides over the years.

The US suicide prevention program includes the hiring of hundreds of mental health and substance abuse counselors, and engaging the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct a five-year USD 50 million study of suicides in the Army.

Some 160 active-duty and reserve Army soldiers have committed suicide this year, with the Marine Corps having posted similar annual suicide rates.

An average of 18 veterans commits suicide every day and five of those are already getting treatment at the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, more than 1,100 soldiers have taken their own lives, with the numbers escalating each year for the last six years.