I recently saw an article dealing with the increase in the suicide rate among service men and women this year. Like so many towns, Westerly has it's share of monuments to its veterans-this one is to the ones who fought in the Spanish-American War (The one John Hay once referred to as "The Splendid Little War.").

Here are some statistics and the story:

Global War on Terror (as of May 2008)
Total Service members (Worldwide) 1,384,968
Deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan 165,000
Iraq Casualties: 34, 413 (4,084 deaths)
Afghanistan Casualties: 1,368 (342 deaths)
Philippine Casualties: 16 deaths
Horn of Africa Casualties: 20 deaths

WASHINGTON - The number of Army suicides increased again last year, amid the most violent year yet in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer

Two defense officials said Thursday that 108 troops committed suicide in 2007, six more than the previous year. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the full report on the deaths wasn't being released until later Thursday.

About a quarter of the deaths occurred in Iraq.

The overall toll was the highest in many years, and it was unclear when, if ever, it was previously that high.

The 108 confirmed deaths in 2007 among active duty soldiers and National Guard and Reserve troops that had been activated was lower than previously feared. Preliminary figures released in January showed as many as 121 troops might have killed themselves, but a number of the deaths were still being investigated then and have since been attributed to other causes, the officials said.

Suicides have been rising during the five-year-old war in Iraq and nearly seven years of war in Afghanistan.

The 108 deaths last year followed 102 in 2006, 85 in 2005 and 67 in 2004.

More U.S. troops also died overall in hostilities in 2007 than in any of the previous years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Overall violence increased in Afghanistan with a Taliban resurgence and overall deaths increased in Iraq, even as violence there declined in the second half of the year....

The numbers kept by the Army only show part of the picture because they don't include guard and reserve troops who have finished their active duty and returned home to their civilian jobs.

The Department of Veterans Affairs tracks the number of suicides among those who have left the military. It says there have been 144 suicides among the nearly 500,000 service members who left the military from 2002-2005 after fighting in at least one of the wars.

The true incidence of suicide among veterans is not known, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report. Based on numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the VA estimates that 18 veterans a day — or 6,500 a year — take their own lives, but that number includes vets from all wars.