A quick post - the astonishingly high suicide rate in the US Army

Some report came out from somewhere saying that the suicide rate in the US Army was way to high. From CNN:

Army suicides set another yearly record
Suicides among soldiers this year have topped last year's record-breaking numbers, but Army officials maintain a recent trend downward could mean the service is making headway on its programs designed to reduce the problem, Army officials said Tuesday.

Since January, 140 active-duty soldiers have killed themselves while another 71 Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers killed themselves in the same time period, totaling 211 as of Tuesday, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, U.S. Army vice chief of staff, told reporters at a briefing Tuesday. But he said the monthly numbers are starting to slow down as the year nears its end.

Each one is a tragic loss of life but let's look at some numbers. The US Army (2008 figures) has 1,097,050 soldiers This makes a suicide rate of 0.000192 per capita or 19.23 per 100,000 soldiers. The suicide rate for the USA (2005 figures) is 17.7 per 100,000 citizens. I do not see that much of a reason for concern. Yes, it is tragic but it is also statistically in line with the rest of the USA's numbers. The article at CNN makes it sound like the number is much higher than it really is.