SPECIAL REPORT: How U.S. Military Is Hiding Secret Shame of More Recruits Dying by Suicide Than on Battlefields
Veterans' advocates call for 'something to be done' to address growing vet and active-duty suicide rates.
Jan. 23 2025, Published 7:25 p.m. ET
The U.S. military has been accused of hiding a shameful secret about service members as the number of veterans and active-duty personnel who are dying by their own hands dwarfs the number of those dying in combat, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Following the deadly New Year's Day Cybertruck bombing in Las Vegas carried out by a highly decorated Army Green Beret, military insiders and veterans' advocates have once again called on the nation's brass to find a solution to the suicide crisis plaguing U.S. service members.
Army Green Beret Matthew Livelsberger detonated a Tesla Cybertruck outside of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day.
Jeremy Perkins, a veterans' advocate from Ohio who runs Dress Right Dress Inc., a nonprofit working with vets on mental health services and substance use disorders, said: "Something must be done.
"This individual is just one of the thousands of vets and active-duty service members who die by suicide each year. It's just that in this case, it happened to make national news."
Tragically, as many as 24 veterans die by suicide every day, according to a 2022 report published by America's Warrior Partnership and Duke University – and another 20 die from drug overdoses.
A 2022 report found as many as 24 veterans take their lives each day.
In all, the White House said more than 65,000 vets have killed themselves since 2020, while fewer than 5,000 service members died in combat during the same time frame.
The distressing figures do not include the around 500 active-duty service members who take their own lives each year.
Derrick Iozzio, who runs El Paso-based Catch 22 Peer Support, a nonprofit working with veterans, said: "The truth is that suicide rates among active-duty personnel and veterans has been growing for years so that the percentages now far outstrip those for the general population."
A veterans' advocate said former service members at 72 percent more likely to commit suicide than civilians.
He continued: "If you're a vet in this country, you're 72 percent more likely to take your own life than if you did not serve, and if you're active-duty, the suicide rate is double that for civilians."
The deadly trend is said to be a confluence of factors including the scars soldiers carry from the battlefield, trouble transitioning to civilian life and the stigma associated with seeking mental health support.
Iozzio added: "When you see someone wounded or killed in combat, at that moment you don't have time to stop and grieve. It's only later, once you get home, that you being to process it all.
"I experienced it myself. I still feel those things on a daily basis, and it's very hard."
Veterans' advocates said the growing trend of soldier suicides is often ignored and addressed publicly only when a catastrophe like one that happened outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day occur.
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Active-duty personnel suicide rates are double that of civilians.
In that case, authorities said 37-year-old U.S. Army solider Matthew Livelsberger – who deployed to Afghanistan twice and was currently on leave from his post in Germany – detonated a Tesla Cybertruck packed with canisters of gasoline and fireworks mortars moments after shooting himself in the head. No one else was injured in the disturbing incident.
Authorities said the devoted father was likely suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and that he had recently sought help from the Army for depression.
Spencer L. Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI's Las Vegas field office, said: "We are also aware that there were potential other family issues. It ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide."
Meanwhile, Livelsberger's ex-girlfriend, military nurse Alicia Arritt, revealed the five-time Bronze Star recipient had complained of having had concussions and memory loss and was likely suffering from a traumatic brain injury.
