Pentagon Orders New Suicide Panel to Look at Alaska and 5 Other Bases – By Travis Tritten (Military.com) / March 22, 2022
The Pentagon has ordered a new independent commission to review suicides at three Alaska bases where a spike in the number of troops who have taken their lives has alarmed military leaders.
The commission will also look into suicides at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Fort Campbell, Kentucky; and Camp Humphreys, South Korea, the largest overseas U.S. military base, as well as the North Carolina National Guard and two other facilities, according to a memo sent out by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday.
Congress mandated a panel outside of the military leadership to investigate the ongoing problem of suicide as part of the annual defense authorization bill. Austin said he expected commission members, who have not yet been chosen, to begin visiting the bases by August and report back to lawmakers in the first months of 2023 on what might be done to reduce the deaths.
