A new study by national nonprofit America's Warrior Partnership (AWP) in cooperation with the Department of Defense and the University of Alabama has indicated that US states may be underestimating the number of veteran deaths due to suicide at a 25% error rate.

In May, as a result of rising suicide rates in the US Army, the Pentagon took the initiative to enforce a law that requires the provision of mental health services for troops seeking help, called The Brandon Act.

Passed into law as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the act was signed by Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert Cisneros, and also allows service members and active-duty troops to ask for help confidentially outside the chain of command.

Read more: US suicide deaths reached a record high in 2022: Preliminary data

AWP had data indicating that the daily rate of suicide among former military members in the states studied—Alabama, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, and Oregon—was 1.37 times higher than previously recorded by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

44 ex-service member suicides per day

According to the study, if the eight states reflected the national average, the veteran suicide rate would be 2.4 times higher than previously recorded by the VA. Between 2014 and 2018, 44 ex-service members committed suicide on average per day.

David Rudd, a veteran and professor of psychology at the University of Memphis, told Newsweek that suicide "is the single most significant health concern among veterans today."  

"If you go back to the Vietnam War, the most significant health concern at the time was Agent Orange. Now it's suicide."

In addition, VA cancer data shows that veterans have higher rates of blood cancer than the general population. In the Fort Ord region, veterans have a 35% higher rate of multiple myeloma diagnosis than the general US population.

Over 30,000 veterans committed suicide between September 2001 and 2019, according to government data—four times the number of those killed in battle in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hopelessness

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According to the 2022 VA report on veterans' suicide rates in the United States, there were 6,146 veteran suicides in 2020, at an average of 16.8 per day. Despite the high statistic, 343 fewer veterans committed suicide than the previous year.

Jim Lorraine, a veteran and president of America's Warrior Partnership, explained to Newsweek that a sense of hopelessness meant a higher suicide rate as well as financial instability.

"What we're seeing is that it's not just food insecurity or homelessness, what it comes down to is financial instability. It's big," he explained. "If a veteran fails to pay a credit card bill, their interest rates go up to 25 percent, and then their monthly bill the next month might be higher than they can afford."

Post-traumatic stress as well as lasting injuries can also excacerbate veteran's feelings of helplessness.

Rudd explains that moving from veteran life to normal civilian life is a challenging transition for many.

Retired Navy SEAL Dave Berkenfield, who lost a brother and multiple friends to suicide, also explained to Newsweek that trauma from combat also adds to the misery of some veterans.

"Being disconnected from our family, health challenges, traumatic events—things that are sort of defined as the significant transitional issues seem to trigger some of the suicide ideation that we see in veterans."

Not enough support

According to Rudd, not enough support is being made available, especially in rural areas. He notes that while some healthcare practitioners are using intervention methods, not enough are engaging in them.

AWP reports that 40% of veterans reside in rural areas. 

According to Lorraine, "There's 17 and a half million veterans right now living in the US, and I don't see a reason why they shouldn't have access to services that help them improve their quality of life."

Rudd believes that part of the challenge lies in the fact that not many people understand "what are the demands of serving in the military and then what are the stressors when you transition out of the military back into civilian life."

Rudd believes that more has to be done to help veterans transition from active duty to civilian life, as well as improve access to care and eliminate stigma around mental health.

Lorraine notes it is not the lack of support, but rather the bureaucracy around the numerous support programs offered is "really hard to navigate."

Last May, the US Department of Defense sent an emergency "surge" of doctors, psychiatrists, religious chaplains, and other mental health experts to military bases in Alaska to tackle the rapid rise in suicides there.

In 2021, at least 11 soldiers committed suicide in Alaska, with another six deaths still being investigated. According to the military.com website, seven soldiers committed suicide in 2020, eight in 2019, and three in 2018.