The U.S. Army suicides hit the highest level in nearly 2 decades in 2007, according to the Pentagon's statistics made public by CNN on Thursday.
The report said that at least 115 Army soldiers committed suicide last year, or 18.8 for every 100,000, compared to 102 in 2006.
The 2007 number is higher than at any time since the first Gulf War that ended in 1988, it said.
The report, which is set to be officially released later Thursday, found that more than 40 percent of the suicides happened to soldiers who have returned home from deployments abroad, and about 25 percent killed themselves when they were on their first deployments.
Another 25 percent suicides happened to those without ever having been deployed, it added.
According to the Defense Department, a total of 1.08 million troops or so are serving in the Army, including 525,000 active-duty troops, 194,000 reserve soldiers and 356,000 National Guards.
The reasons for the suicides were cited by Army in the 2007 report included failed relationships, legal and financial problems and "occupational/operational" issues.
Source:Xinhua
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