Lee was killed by her by her husband, Timothy Lee, during an argument Sunday morning, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday. Timothy Lee then turned the gun on himself and took his own life.
During December, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were 15 potential suicides (10 Army National Guard and five Army Reserve): 4 have been confirmed as suicides and 11 remain under investigation. For November, among that same group, the Army reported 15 potential suicides (12 Army National Guard and 3 Army Reserve): 10 have been confirmed as suicides and 5 remain under investigation.
For 2012, there have been 143 potential not on active-duty suicides (96 Army National Guard and 47 Army Reserve): 117 have been confirmed as suicides and 26 remain under investigation.
Not on active-duty suicide numbers for 2011: 118 (82 Army National Guard and 36 Army Reserve) confirmed as suicides and no cases under investigation.
Why National Guard and Reservist Suicide Numbers May Be Misleading
New York Times
By ANDREW W. LEHREN
May 16, 2013
More than 80 percent of the services members who committed suicide in recent years had never been in combat. This is one of the many statistics that the Pentagon and researchers are currently struggling to explain. My colleague James Dao and I explore the tragic rising military suicide numbers in an article today.
The numbers above are striking. Over the course of nearly 12 years and two wars, suicide among active-duty troops has risen steadily, hitting a record of 350 in 2012.
One aspect of suicide statistics that is often overlooked – in large part because it’s so hard to quantify – is the number of National Guard and Reserve members of the various branches of the armed service who commit suicide when they are not on active duty.
Army Guard members and reservists appear to have higher suicide rates than active-duty soldiers, according to research and published Pentagon reports. These numbers, which are already escalating well above comparable civilian levels, may also be undercounting the problem by not counting all the National Guard members and reservists who are not on active duty, some experts say. That is because those deaths are often handled by local coroners who may not document that they involve members of the military.
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Salim, a married father of four who emigrated from Somalia 15 years ago, said the incident was particularly painful because he is a naturalized U.S. citizen and an Army Reserve sergeant who served in Baghdad and the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He has worked in intelligence and as a linguist, he said.
Apr 30 2013
Taxi driver Mohamed Salim says he was attacked by a passenger who called him a terrorist. A recording of their contentious ride was captured on Salim’s cellphone.
The Fold/ The Washington Post
Suicide seen as major threat to National Guard Soldiers
2007
The threat is suicide, which ranked as the No. 3 cause of death for Army National Guard Soldiers through Aug. 13, according to the Army National Guard’s Suicide Prevention Program. There have been 42 cases of suicide in the Army National Guard this fiscal year, and it narrowly trails only combat (47) and accidents (45) in terms of Soldier deaths.
National Guard statistics reveal 60 percent of Soldiers, who committed suicide this year, have been on a previous deployment.
Other National Guard suicide statistics from this fiscal year show that gunshot wounds are the most common method of suicide (67 percent) and lower enlisted ranks make up the majority of suicides (32 of the 42 suicides were committed by the ranks of sergeant and below). Thirty-nine of the 42 suicides this year were committed by male Soldiers.Guard, Reserves Hit Hardest By Vet Suicide February 11, 2009
A Department of Veterans Affairs analysis of ongoing research of deaths among veterans of both wars - obtained by The Associated Press - found that Guard or Reserve members accounted for 53 percent of the veteran suicides from 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, through the end of 2005.
According to the VA's research, 144 veterans committed suicide from the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, through the end of 2005. Of those, 35 veterans, or 24 percent, served in the Reserves and 41, or 29 percent, had served in the National Guard. Sixty-eight - or 47 percent - had been in the regular military.
In October, the AP reported that preliminary VA research found that from the start of the war in Afghanistan in October 2001 and the end of 2005, a total of 283 troops who had served in the wars and later were discharged from the military had committed suicide.Army Reserve, National Guard Suicides Doubled in 2010
The VA later said the number was reduced to 144 because some of the veterans counted were actually in the active military and not discharged when they died.
There was some good news in the data: Suicides among active-duty soldiers dropped slightly, from 162 in 2009 to 156 last year. It was the first such decrease in six years.
But the overall suicide rate across the Army was still up more than 24 percent. The reason was the spike in National Guard and Reservists' suicides. At least 145 such soldiers killed themselves in 2010, nearly twice as many as the year before, when 80 guardsmen and reservists took their own lives. More than half of them were at home in America and never deployed to a war zone, CNN quoted a senior military official as saying.
The rise in National Guard suicides was most pronounced in the Midwest. Missouri and Texas each reported seven suicides among their Guard troops in 2010 and Wisconsin had six, USA Today reported. There were five suicides each in the National Guards of Minnesota, Ohio, Arizona, California and North Carolina.
In some of those states, suicides even outnumbered combat deaths. In Missouri and Wisconsin, more guardsmen committed suicide in 2010 than were killed in action during any year since 2001, Army Lt. Col. Jackie Guthrie of the Wisconsin National Guard told USA Today. For example, in Missouri the highest number of combat deaths since then was three, in 2006. But seven guardsmen took their own lives in 2010.
"All of us are stunned by it, and we wished we knew why," Guthrie said. "It is especially hard when it's suicide, when it's someone hurting in our ranks."
Overall, Army troops -- active or inactive status -- committed suicide at a rate of 25 a month in 2010, the Army figures show. That's 301 suicides altogether last year, compared with 242 in 2009.
In the past five years, 975 U.S. soldiers took their own lives.
Army Releases January Suicide Data
The Army released suicide data today for the month of January. Among active-duty soldiers, there were 12 potential suicides: one has been confirmed as suicide, and 11 remain under investigation. For December, the Army reported ten potential suicides among active-duty soldiers. Since the release of that report, three have been confirmed as suicides, and seven remain under investigation.
During January 2010, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were 15 potential suicides. For December, among that same group, there were seven total suicides. Of those, five were confirmed as suicides and two are pending determination of the manner of death.
“In the new year, we won’t just maintain our current focus on suicide prevention, we’re going to sharpen that focus,” said Col. Christopher Philbrick, director, Army Suicide Prevention Task Force. “We’ve made significant changes in our health promotion, risk reduction, and suicide prevention programs, policies, and initiatives. But over the last year, you could describe our Army effort as shining a flood light on the problem of suicide.
Now in 2010, we’re going to move from a flood light to a laser light identifying our most effective programs, so we can target and reinforce what’s working and fix what isn’t.”
The number of soldier suicides this year has outnumbered combat deaths.There were more but you get the point.
Combat-related deaths in Afghanistan were down to 212 this year, compared to over 400 in 2011, but the number of soldiers taking their own lives continues to rise. According to stats cited by CBS from the Department of the Army, 303 active-duty, Reserve and National Guard soldiers committed suicide.
Here's some more facts. First this report is missing Marines, Air Force and Navy. This was the latest from the Army suicides at 303. There was another report from the Army with this piece of news.
For 2012, there have been 126 potential not on active-duty suicides (84 Army National Guard and 42 Army Reserve): 97 have been confirmed as suicides and 29 remain under investigation.
Bad enough for you yet? Add this in. Of that total, the Army accounted for 168, surpassing its high last year of 165
53 sailors took their own lives, one more than last year.
The Air Force and Marine Corps are only a few deaths from record numbers. 56 airmen had committed suicide as of Nov. 11, short of the 60 in 2010.
There have been 46 suicides among Marines, whose worst year was 2009 with 52.
Military suicides by the numbers
168 Army
84 National Guards
42 Army Reserves
46 Marines
53 Sailors
56 Airmen
This was as of November 2012 and in January this number was released.
Military suicides hit record year
Pentagon figures obtained Monday by The Associated Press show that the 349 suicides among active-duty troops last year were up from 301 the year before and exceeded the Pentagon's own internal projection of 325. Statistics alone do not explain why troops take their own lives, and the Pentagon's military and civilian leaders have acknowledged that more needs to be done to understand the causes.Navy SEALs commander commits suicide in Afghanistan
Published: 24 December, 2012
During its time in Afghanistan, the unit received 17 Purple Hearts and seven Medals of Valor.
Oviedo soldier dies in Afghanistan
July 8, 2012
By Leslie Postal and David Breen
Orlando Sentinel
A U.S. Army captain from Oviedo died in Afghanistan on Friday about three months after his Army Reserve unit was mobilized.
Bruce A. MacFarlane, 46, died in Kandahar, according to the Department of Defense, which did not provide information on how he died.
He was assigned to the 1186th Transportation Company, 831st Transportation Battalion, which is based in Jacksonville.
"He was a great guy, good family guy," said Keith Marang, who lives next door and said he met MacFarlane when both families moved into their new homes in 2008. "I was just floored when I heard the news."
He said MacFarlane, befitting his military career, was clean-cut and fit and looked younger than his age. He and his wife have two children, a son and a daughter, Marang said, adding that he thought they were in their early teens. He said the family moved to Oviedo from DeLand.
A person who answered the door at the family's large, modern home Sunday afternoon said they were not available, and she was not authorized to release any information. She said she was a friend of the family, and they'd been devastated by the news.
MacFarlane, who spent 12 years on active duty, was very patriotic, with an American flag always flying from his home, his neighbor said. Several small flags and red, white and blue pinwheels decorated the flower pots at the front door Sunday, presumably from the Fourth of July holiday last week.
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