As suicide rates continue to rise among all active U.S. Navy, Air Force and Army personnel, new research shows that one branch of our military is especially at risk: the Army.

The highest risk [of suicide] was among those who had never deployed.

Suicide among our active service members and veterans has been a growing concern — overall rates nearly doubled between 2001 and 2011. Understanding why is the goal of two new studies.

The latest report was a review of a U.S. military suicide data repository. The suicide rates were calculated for all active duty enlisted U.S. military personnel in each branch of the military, from the years 2005 to 2011. The authors also looked at methods of suicide to identify those at risk for firearm-specific suicide.

The data showed suicide rates were highest among Army personnel. And among suicides with a known cause of death — 62 percent were attributed to firearms.

The results also suggest that among Army personnel or Marines who committed suicide, those with infantry or special operations job classifications were more likely than those in non-infantry positions to use a firearm to commit suicide.

A separate report released last month in JAMA Psychiatry, however, detailed that it isn’t soldiers who have served in combat positions most at risk of suicide. That review shows the highest risk was among those who had never deployed.

Those who never deployed were at greatest risk for suicide during their second month of service. For soldiers on their first deployment, the risk of suicide attempt was highest in the sixth month of deployment. For previously deployed soldiers, the risk was highest five months after they returned.

Researchers from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), the University of California, San Diego, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Michigan all partnered on the study. They were specifically looking to better understand the timing and risk factors for suicide attempts among U.S. Army enlisted soldiers, so that they might put better prevention efforts in place.

The vast majority of suicides (87 percent) involved service members who had no more than a high school education.

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Of the more than 975,000 enlisted soldiers who took part in the study, 9,650 had attempted suicide. About 86 percent of those were younger than age 30; about 60 percent were non-Hispanic white; about 76 percent were high school educated; and about 55 percent were currently married.

Men accounted for nearly all of the deaths — at 95 percent. White men are most at risk and marital status doesn’t appear to have any influence on a soldier’s risk. The vast majority of suicides (87 percent) involved service members who had no more than a high school education, the research revealed, and across all military branches, the average age at suicide was 25.

Psychologist Alan Peterson contended that the suicide differences between the branches of the military “reflect the tremendous burden accepted and sacrifices made by the U.S. Army over the past 14 years.”

“More U.S. Army personnel have been deployed, injured and killed in action than all other U.S. military branches combined,” Peterson said in a statement. He is chair of psychiatry and chief of behavioral medicine at the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He is also associate director of research at the university’s Military Health Institute.

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