2021 was particularly difficult for the US military, considering the terrible blow to its image by Joe Biden’s apocalyptic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The de facto loss of the 20-year-long war on terror in Afghanistan (which the United States was forced to wage in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks) and the capitulation to Taliban terrorists wreaked havoc on the morale of the US Armed Forces.
Furthermore, the 13 slain US troops in question were completely needless victims; they were set up for being attacked, due to Biden’s embarrassing Afghanistan evacuation.
Twice More Military Suicide Deaths in Single Quarter Than COVID-19 Deaths
Against this backdrop, data from the Pentagon is showing alarming numbers of suicides among US military personnel.
According to the newly released “Quarterly Suicide Report” of the Department of Defense, the US military saw a total of 163 suicides in the third quarter of 2021.
This means between July and September 2021, twice as many US service personnel died by suicide than have perished of COVID-19. A total of 86 service members died of the coronavirus up until January 8, 2022.
Of the 163 members of the US military who perished by suicide in 2021’s third quarter, a total of 70 were on active duty. Another 56 were in the reserve and 37 were members of the National Guard.
According to the latest Pentagon data, the total number of suicides among US service personnel in the first three quarters of 2021 is 476. In all of 2020, a total of 701 members of the US military committed suicide.
The figures from the Department of Defense show the number of suicides declined among active-duty members in the third quarter of 2021, compared with the second quarter.
Among the members of the reserve and the National Guard, the number of suicide increased.
America Lost Four Times More Troops to Suicide Than to Wars
The Pentagon data also shows the number of COVID-19 deaths among US military personnel doubled between September 2021 (when it stood at 43), and January 2022, when it reached 83.
In December 2021, the US military took another blow, as the Department of Defense started to take disciplinary action against service members who have refused to comply with the sweeping vaccine mandate of the Biden administration.
The US Marine Corps has been the military branch with the highest resistance to Kabul Joe’s vaccine dictate.
So far, over 200 Marines have been dismissed because they refused the coronavirus vaccine; the number might grow to thousands as many requested religious exemptions, but not a single one has been granted.
The suicide epidemic in the US military is looming large as a giant issue; a 2021 research paper showed a total of 30,177 US military personnel – both active duty and veterans – died by suicide in the two decades since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The research paper in question came from the Cost of War Project, a research project executed jointly by Boston University and Brown University.
The report emphasized the US government and American society must make substantial changes to fix the “mental health crisis” in the US military.
Otherwise, the military suicide rates will keep growing.
Some Perspective-
Nearly twice as many military members died from suicide July-Sept than from coronavirus since pandemic's start
Suicides among active members of the military dropped from Q2 to Q3 but suicides rose among reserve and National Guard members#USMilitary #Suicide pic.twitter.com/2VxBGyCRVX
— Dominick DiNardo (@dinardodp) January 9, 2022
It took me just a couple minutes to learn that military suicides have increased in 2021, but the trajectory of increase has been persistent over ~5 years and similar to increases in suicides of civilians (but military suicides are higher to begin with) pic.twitter.com/NhpNpBIuzA
— Brad Y Sphygmia (@KevinDr_ver) January 9, 2022
