A newly released report from the Department of Veteran Affairs found that young veterans are committing suicide at a higher rate than in years past.
According to Stars and Stripes, the study found that while the overall suicide rate among veterans has remained largely unchanged between 2009 and 2011, there was a 44 percent increase in suicides among male veterans under the age of 30. It's equivalent to two suicides a day.
"Their rates are astronomically high and climbing," Jan Kemp, the VA's national mental health director for suicide prevention, told the news source. "That's concerning to us."
Not only was there an increase in suicides among young male veterans, but there was also an 11 percent spike in the suicide rate among female veterans. However, the report did hold some good news: There was a decrease in the suicide rate among veterans who received treatment within the VA health system.
According to a VA report released in February 2013, 22 veterans commit suicide each day in the U.S. VA officials stated then that the department was establishing an "aggressive" hiring campaign that would add 1,600 new clinical staff and 300 new administrative workers to their mental health teams. The department is also training 800 peer-to-peer mental health counselors.