Silhouette of a solider standing guard
Average number of suicides among U.S. troops per day, according to Pentagon statistics. In a July 23 TIME cover story, Nancy Gibbs and Mark Thompson reported that, since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, more U.S. military members have committed suicide than have been killed while fighting in that war. While the rate of suicides leveled off in 2010 and 2011, it increased by 18% this year, making suicide the “leading noncombat cause of death among U.S. troops.”