Vet News: Department of Defense Releases First Quarter 2015 Suicide Information

Today, the Department of Defense released the Quarterly Suicide Report (QSR) for the first quarter of calendar year 2015.

The report summarizes confirmed suicide counts for all services and components during the months of January thro there were 57 suicides among service members in the active component, 15 suicides among service members in the reserve component and 27 suicides among service members in the National Guard.

The QSR is intended to communicate the department’s suicide data on a routine basis. The QSR is available at suicideoutreach.org. Additional information is available on the Defense Suicide Prevention Office website at suicideoutreach.org.

Service members and their families who need support can reach out to the Military Crisis Line, which offers free and confidential support for those in crisis. The Military Crisis Line is staffed by caring, qualified responders from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, many who have served in the military themselves.

Support is available through March of 2015, and also includes total suicide counts for 2014, 2013 and 2012.

In the first quarter of 2015, the crisis line phone number, online chat, and text-messaging services for all service members (active, National Guard and reserves) and veterans 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year by visiting the Military Crisis Line website at veteranscrisisline.net/ActiveDuty.aspx; Online Chat at: veteranscrisisline.net/ChatTermsOfService.aspx; sending a text to: 838255 or calling toll free at: 1-800-273-8255, Press 1.