WASHINGTON — The parents of an Iraq war veteran who committed suicide and members of Congress on Wednesday questioned why there’s not a comprehensive tracking system of suicide among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
Mike Bowman of Forreston, Ill., said his son, Spec. Timothy Bowman, 23, is a member of the “unknown fallen” not counted in statistics.
His son, a member of the Illinois National Guard, took his own life in 2005, eight months after returning from war. Bowman said he considers his son a “KBA” — killed because of action.
“If the veteran suicide rate is not classified as an epidemic that needs immediate and drastic attention, then the American fighting soldier needs someone in Washington who thinks it is,” Bowman said.
Bowman was one of several witnesses who testified before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on the issue.
Rep. Bob Filner, the committee chairman, questioned why the comprehensive tracking wasn’t already being done.
“They don’t want to know this, it looks to me,” said Filner, D-Calif. “This could be tracked.”
Dr. Ira Katz, the deputy chief patient care service officer for mental health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, defended the work being done by his agency to tackle the issue, including implementing a suicide prevention hotline.
Earlier this year the Army said its suicide rate in 2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops — the highest level in 26 years of record-keeping.
