U.S. Military Suicides Have Overtaken Combat Deaths

U.S. military combat deaths have been declining since the end of the war in Iraq, along with a slowdown in the pace of operations in Afghanistan. However, U.S. military suicides have never been so high, according to the Department of Defense. Deaths from suicide surpassed combat deaths for the first time in 2012 - 311 soldiers died in military action while there were 349 cases of suicide. Looking closely at the services, there were 182 suicides in the Army, 60 in the Navy, 59 in the Air Force and 48 in the Marine Corps.