WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The suicide rate among U.S. soldiers in Iraq (news - web sites) far exceeds t he Army average and experts believe more mental health specialists should be sent to Iraq, among other measures, officials said on Wednesday.
But they said the 12-person Army Mental Health Advisory Team, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and experts in combat stress, did not regard the suicide rate in Iraq as a crisis.
"The finding was that there is no epidemic," said a senior Army official, discussing the report a day before its formal release.
The Army has reported that at least two dozen soldiers have taken their own lives in Iraq and Kuwait. But since five soldiers committed suicide in July alone, the rate has averaged about two suicides per month, officials said.
From 1995 to 2002, the Army reported a suicide rate of 11.9 per 100,000 soldiers. Soldiers in the Iraq war experienced a suicide rate of 17.3 per 100,000 in 2003, and the overall Army reported a rate of 12.8 per 100,000 in 2003, officials said.
"Army statistics are slightly higher than in years past. However -- and this is why it's not a crisis -- they are still lower than the U.S. national average in the same age-group category, which is the 18 to 30-year-old, which comprises most of our population," the official said.
The United States has about 120,000 troops in Iraq, most from the Army.
The team recommended that the Army leadership put more mental health professionals in Iraq and Kuwait, the senior official said. The intent would be to intervene with help when it was still possible to prevent a soldier from suicide.
In addition, the team urged that the Army use a "buddy system" to emphasize the importance of soldiers keeping a close watch on one another for signs of trouble, the official said.
The team, dispatched by Army leaders in August, returned in October after interviewing almost 760 soldiers, officials said.
The senior official said that the team identified several causes of stress, including uncertainty about how long they would serve in Iraq, a tough transition from active combat to serving in an occupation force, intense heat, and little in the way of support from the Army.