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DENVER >> The Defense Department says it has more data on military suicides than ever before, but still not enough to analyze the differences between personnel who take their own lives and those who don’t.
The military released a massive report Wednesday on 295 confirmed or suspected suicides last year, down from 309 the year before. It says Caucasian men under age 25 in the lower ranks were at the highest risk, the same as the year before.
The report says commanders submitted data on 100 percent of confirmed suicides in 2010, up from 90 percent in 2008.
But it says not enough is known about personnel who didn’t commit suicide to determine whether any factors indicate someone has a higher risk.
A pilot study to collect that data is under way.
