The new total marks the highest annual number since the US Air Force began keeping an official record in 2008, stated service spokeswoman Lynn Kirby. Some 60 active-duty airmen died by suicide in 2018 and the service lost 103 airmen across the total force that year, according to the US Department of Defense."Suicide is a difficult national problem without easily identifiable solutions that has the full attention of leadership," Lieutenant General Brian Kelly, Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel and Services for the Air Force, told Military.com.
Speaking to Military.com in October, the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright said that, over the course of his career, he has heard feedback from airmen who felt the most hopeless during deployments, unable to connect with someone from their unit or loved ones back home."Our teammates are taking their own lives," Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright announced, noting, "We lose more airmen to suicide than any other single enemy."
Officials raised concerns over the rising suicide levels in the US Air Force in August last year. Men are known to be statistically more likely to die by suicide than their female counterparts, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Men make up around 80 percent of the active-duty Air Force.
The rate of suicide among active-duty troops has increased significantly over the past five years, according to a Pentagon report released in September. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper stated in September that the military was caught up in "what some call a national epidemic of suicide among our youth".
I don't know, but would guess, that as IQ goes up, so does the risk of suicide. Likewise, as IQ goes down, the risk of murder(s) THEN suicide increases.
RC