"Officials confirmed the number last week after the latest statistics appeared on social media," a recent Military.com story says.
The photo of what appears to be a computer screen showing the data in question appeared Jan. 30 on the Air Force Forum Facebook page, a page for military news.
Military.com said the new numbers represent a 33 percent increase in suicides compared to the previous year.
"Suicide is a difficult national problem without easily identifiable solutions that has the full attention of leadership," Military.com quoted Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly, deputy chief of staff for manpower for the Air Force, as saying.
The photographed page shows that active-duty suicides through Dec. 31 reached 84, by far the majority of “total force suicides” of 136 for the same period. The computer screen is labeled in one corner as “For internal DOD use only.”
Airmen suicides is a problem the Air Force has eyed with concern for some time. In August, the Air Force ordered all wings to stand down for one day in coming weeks to focus on suicide prevention and emotional well-being.
In a message sent to commanders last summer, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein gave wings until Sept. 15 to hold what he called a “resilience tactical pause.”
Col. Thomas Sherman, 88th Air Base Wing and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base installation commander, said in his own follow-up e-mail at the time that the local base and its units were taking the issue seriously.
“We received the Air Force-wide directive for the ‘resiliency tactical pause,’ and we share our leaders’ concerns about the well-being of all of our airmen, officers and civilians,” Sherman said. “Suicide is the leading cause of death in the Air Force, and we must collectively own this problem as we work to take care for those who may be suffering.”
An Air Force spokeswoman referred questions about the data to a colleague Thursday. A message was sent to that colleague.
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