DOD Officials Underscore Long-Term Commitment to Suicide Prevention

The Defense Department remains committed to long-term, sustained efforts to prevent suicide throughout the total force, Pentagon officials said today as the department released its Annual Report on Suicide in the Military.

This year's report, which accounts for suicides and suicide attempts among the active component, reserves, National Guard, and spouses and dependents, revealed a slight increase in suicides among service members in 2023 with 523 deaths by suicide last year compared with 493 in 2022.

The suicide rate increased by 12% in the active component and 8% in the reserves last year when compared with 2022 while decreasing slightly, by nearly 5%, among members of the National Guard.

The latest figures reflect an increasing long-term trend in suicide rates for active duty service members from 2011-2023. The long-term trend remains stable, neither increasing or decreasing, for members of the reserves and National Guard.

In general, suicide rates by members of the military were similar to rates for the U.S. population 2011-2023.

The report also examined suicides among service members' immediate families in 2022, the latest full year of data available for dependents. The report revealed a 9% decrease in suicide deaths among military family members from 2021.

While presenting the findings to members of the media today, defense officials underscored the significant weight each suicide carries and the department's continued commitment under the leadership of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III to taking care of its people.

"Since his first day in office, the health, safety and well-being of our military community has been one of Secretary Austin's top priorities," Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said.

"As you've heard him say many times before, we owe it to our service members and our military families to provide the best possible care, identify risk factors and spot warning signs, and to eliminate stigmas around seeking help," he said. "And when it comes to suicide, one loss is too many."

Last year, Austin directed the department to implement a long-term approach to suicide prevention which includes 83 enabling actions recommended by the Suicide Prevention Response and Independent Review Committee, or SPRIRC.

Those actions are aligned to five overarching lines of effort that guide the department's suicide prevention and response efforts:

• Fostering a supportive environment
• Improving the delivery of mental health care
• Addressing stigma and other barriers to care
• Revising suicide prevention training
• Promoting a culture of safety surrounding lethal means

So far, DOD has completed 20 of the 83 SPRIRC recommendations. Officials said today that the department, with the support of Congress, will make further, unprecedented investments in suicide prevention in fiscal year 2025.

"There's still much more work to do, and we won't let up," Austin said in a statement accompanying the report.

"The Department mourns our teammates whom we've lost to suicide," he said. "And through our actions - by taking care of our people, and prioritizing the health, well-being and morale of our Force - we honor their memories."