Military suicides among active duty and reserve troops will increase in 2023

WASHINGTON — The suicide rate among active duty and reserve troops rose in 2023 after the military saw an overall decline the year before, according to an annual report released Thursday by the Pentagon.

The Pentagon last year reported an active-duty suicide rate of about 28 suicide deaths per 100,000 service members, a 12% increase from 2022.

“This increase is not statistically significant,” said Liz Clark, director of the Pentagon’s Defense Suicide Prevention Office. The report states that “not statistically significant” means there is little confidence that this is a real difference.

The percentage is calculated based on an active-duty force of about 1.28 million troops, about 330,000 in the Reserves and nearly 430,000 in the National Guard.

For years, the Pentagon has struggled to reduce suicides in its ranks. The Department of Defense began collecting and reporting quarterly surveillance data on military suicides in 2018 to help guide prevention efforts.

A total of 523 suicides were reported in 2023, compared to 493 in 2022. The number of active-duty troops who died by suicide increased from 331 to 363.

The Air Force, Army and Navy all saw increases in suicide rates, while the Marine Corps stayed about the same. According to the report, the suicide rate among Reserve troops increased by 8%, while the National Guard rate fell by about 5%.

“As in previous years, soldiers who died by suicide were largely young men under the age of 30. This group accounted for 61% of suicide deaths in the active component,” Clark said.

According to the report, suicide rates among active-duty troops have increased since 2011, but have remained relatively stable among Reserve and National Guard troops.

The Defense Department has sought to improve access to mental health care for troops in recent years, amid rising suicide rates and outrage from members of Congress and others.

In 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved the creation of the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee, which made 127 recommendations for short- and long-term solutions to address suicides in the ranks.

The independent panel recommended that the department implement a series of gun safety measures to reduce the number of suicides within the force, including waiting periods for the purchase of firearms and ammunition by soldiers on military property.

The panel said the department should also raise the minimum age to 25 for military personnel to purchase guns and ammunition and require anyone living in military housing to register privately owned firearms. In addition, the panel said the department should restrict the possession and storage of private firearms in military barracks and dormitories.

Austin released a memo in September 2023 with more than 100 recommendations to be implemented by 2030 to address the suicide crisis in the military. Some of the recommendations included expanding telehealth services, increasing the availability of appointments by overhauling the mental health workforce model, launching a comprehensive public education campaign on firearm safety and updating the number of training courses in the area of suicide prevention. The department chose not to implement the firearms changes at the time.

“The majority of our efforts … involve the secure storage of their firearms, particularly empowering military personnel,” said Timothy Hoyt, deputy director of the Pentagon’s Force Resiliency Office. “We believe that the focus on safe storage strikes a better balance between what might be recommended and taking into account that firearms are the tools of military training.”

The Pentagon completed 20 of the commission’s 83 recommendations in 2024. Austin said in a statement issued Thursday that the Pentagon “will make an unprecedented investment in suicide prevention.” Hoyt said the 2025 budget is expected to be about $250 million for initiatives.

“We are committed to fighting for our service members by fostering supportive team cultures and addressing the stigma of asking for help and other barriers to care. There is much more work to do and we will not give up,” Austin said.

The 2023 suicide report also included data on suicides among military families for 2022. The data shows that fewer family members died by suicide in 2022 than the year before, a decrease of 9%. Although there are far fewer male spouses, they are responsible for almost half of suicide deaths.

In addition, the military services are hiring for prevention programs and have hired approximately 1,000 professionals with a goal of 2,500 by 2028.

The national suicide and crisis helpline can be reached by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.