This article is just poor journalism. It left out the most important detail and intentionally injected inaccurate hyperbole.
1. It correctly states that using 2024 data (the last available) the rate of attempted suicide in the US Navy is 106 attempts per 100,000, or 0.106%.
2. The eight attempts include the full strike group, aircraft carrier, airwing, and escorts. If so, we are looking at 6,000 to 7,000 Sailors, numbers reported in the article, so we’ll use those. If you are including the escorts assigned (and it would be helpful if they would), if it were four (three Aegis ships and an SSN), then the number would be north of 7,000.
3. That means the low end expected number of attempts in that spread would be between 6.36 and 7.42.
4. In the article, they quote an unnamed ‘US military official’ who said, “Eight attempted suicides is incredibly high.”
5. The author and his editor can do math. They know that 8, while higher than 7.42, is not “incredibly high.”
In essence, this article is written as if it were penned by a staffer for Sen. Gillibrand who has decided to use this as a smear attack against our Navy….and it also reminds me why in 4QCY2001 in Bahrain we turned CNN off and switched to other news sources.
Eight US Navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during a period that included when the ships undertook combat operations against Iran and the carrier set a modern record for its time at sea, according to a letter from the service’s acting secretary, which was obtained by CNN.
cnn.it/46KZD4f
Editor's note: This story contains discussion of suicide. Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the US, call or text 988 for help. The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world.