Suicidal troops lack enough supervision

WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- Lack of supervision of troubled U.S. soldiers is a major contributing factor in the rising number of Army suicides, a report says.

The head of the Army's suicide task force says her research indicates that young Army commanders have not been trained to help soldiers who have returned home from combat and are exhibiting risky behaviors that are often the precursors to taking their own lives, USA Today reported Monday.

"We have young leaders who have not been trained in the art of … just taking care of soldiers," Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire wrote in the report, which represents three months of talking to soldiers and commanders, reviewing the records of last year's record 143 Army suicides and visiting bases throughout the United States.

McGuire also found that more recruits are entering the Army with pre-existing mental problems, further emphasizing the need for commanders to be skilled at monitoring troubled troops when they're at home as well as when they're in combat, USA Today said.