Army Preps Massive Study to Target Troop Suicides

(July 29) -- A survey expected to include 400,000 troops is set to start this summer, in a Pentagon-backed bid to rein in the alarming number of military suicides, which reached an all-time high this June. (An average of one troop a day, including members of the National Guard and Army Reserves, killed themselves.)

Now, Stars and Stripes is reporting on the next phase of a $50 million research collaboration between the Army and the National Institutes of Mental Health. The partnership, launched in 2008, will make recommendations on changes to the military's mental health policies and programs.

The Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service-members (STARRS) will span three years and include new recruits, active-duty troops and reservists.

Beyond paper surveys and in-person interviews, the study will include genetic studies using saliva and blood samples. That information could help pin down biological factors that put some troops at increased risk of post-combat depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or even suicide.

Although a complete analysis of the data won't be finished for at least five years, researchers anticipate preliminary findings after each set of surveys is completed.

Information on previous Army suicides, gleaned from military documents and records, will also be reviewed.

"It's a comprehensive examination of the Army's programs, policies, procedures," Col. Chris Philbrick, director of the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force, said in a YouTube video. "Do we have the right resources? Are there gaps in our policies, for example?"

Of course, some key culprits have already been identified. Repeated deployments, for example, are already being blamed for more troops than ever being discharged for mental health problems.

This study, then, will be particularly useful in parsing out factors -- from military deployment policy to an individual's inherited risk -- and determining their relative import and overlap.

RELATED
Military's Facial Prosthetic Program Transforms Injured Troops
Number of US Troops Discharged for Mental Illness Rises by 64 Percent