The suicide rate for U.S. Marines rose a dramatic 29 percent in the past year, most likely because military operations are coming at too fast a pace, says the Corps' top dog.
Gen. Michael W. Hagee, the Marine Corps commandant, told The Washington Post that 31 Marines, all enlisted men, killed themselves in 2004, the highest percentage of suicides in 10 years.
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He attributed the deaths to "not only Iraq" but also "the [operational tempo] in general, that's what I think."
Of those who committed suicide, most were under 25 and took their lives by shooting themselves. Eighty-three other Marines attempted suicide, said the Post.
In 2003 there were only 24 suicides, but, said the paper, no more than 29 in any given year dating back to 1994.
Hagee's comments to the Post reflected similar thoughts he had laid out in a memo in December, urging all commands to pay more attention to suicide prevention.
"This problem is pervasive and is impacting Marines throughout the Corps, not just those who have been deployed in support of the global war on terrorism. The increased operational tempo that our Corps is experiencing may be affecting the ability of our Marines to deal with perceived overwhelming stresses associated with relationship, financial, and disciplinary problems," the memo said.
The Post said 70 percent of Marine suicides in the past four years have been blamed on personal problems – problems that were only made worse by a multitude of overseas deployments. "That is the biggest single stressor," Navy behavioral specialist Cmdr. Thomas Gaskin told the paper.
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