National

Many Veteran Suicides are Guardsmen, Reservists

By John McChesney

Published February 12, 2008 at 1:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

More than half of the suicides of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans in the past several years were among National Guard and Reserve troops.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has been analyzing the suicide data since 2001 and found that Guard or Reserve members made up 53 percent of veteran suicides, according to a report Tuesday by the Associated Press.

Why might the suicide rate among these troops be higher?

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National

John McChesney

Since 1979 senior correspondent John McChesney has been with NPR, where he has served as national editor (responsible for domestic news) and senior foreign editor. Over the course of his career with NPR, McChesney covered a variety of beats and traveled extensively throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. His reports can be heard on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, and newscasts.

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