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372

Women in the Army Are More Likely to Be Killed by Fellow Soldiers Than Enemy Combatants (theintercept.com)

submitted 1 week ago by technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/news@lemmy.world

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...

Analyzing over 14 years of Defense Department death data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, The Intercept’s investigation is the first to compare rates of violence against women in the Army to factors like duty location, jobs, and relationships with perpetrators. The FOIA data also reveals deaths not previously announced by the Army and the Department of Defense.

Violence against women in the military also appears to take a mental toll. In addition to the 41 women who died by homicide, another 128 died by suicide, the majority of them lower-ranking enlisted soldiers. From 2011 to 2024, the last complete year of data, homicide and suicide rates for women in the Army were double their equivalents for women nationwide.

The Army doesn’t make any of this public, and the Intercept’s investigation has found flaws in what data collection currently occurs: Homicide and suicide death rates are not separated by gender or calculated per capita, preventing deeper analysis and comparison.

There’s also nothing publicly accessible on how many homicides are committed by service members, who their victims are, or where homicides occurred. The Defense Department’s annual suicide report doesn’t note how many of the deceased had experiences with sexual assault or harassment.

Meanwhile, systems meant to protect women are being rolled back and dismantled.

...

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[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

In addition, women are much less likely to be in jobs that involve fighting on the front lines where being shot by an enemy is likely.

I remember back in one of the Gulf wars they released some statistics about members of the armed forces being killed, and a significant number were killed just loading and unloading equipment that was being shipped to the middle east before the war even started. These days you're very unlikely to be killed by an enemy, but the military still involves some high-risk jobs like construction work, welding, aircraft pilots and engineers, iron and steel workers, etc.

Also, keep in mind, these numbers are extremely low. They counted 41 over 14 years, so an average of 3 per year out of around 230,000 total women in the armed forces (military demographics PDF).

The article says, in addition "homicide and suicide rates for women in the Army were double their equivalents for women nationwide". I wonder how much of that is simply due to the ages of the people involved. 45% of members of the armed forces are under 25. Homicide rates are much higher for people around 25 than older people. It may be that if you pick any job where you mostly get younger people: cashiers, waiters, retail sales, etc. you get a much higher suicide / homicide rate than the national average.

I'm not saying there isn't a problem. I'd imagine a mostly male workplace is very likely to have more problems than one with an even mix of genders. I wouldn't be surprised if weapons availability and training led to more incidents than average. And, if you're teaching people to kill, it shouldn't be surprised if they kill. On the other hand, most jobs don't involve the kind of supervision you get in the military. And, most employers aren't as obsessed with procedures, discipline, etc. as the military. So, it might be that despite all those things, it remains safer for female workers than say being a woman on a construction site.

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

So, it might be that despite all those things, it remains safer for female workers than say being a woman on a construction site.

If you read the article thoroughly, the rate of homicide per 100k between 2021-2024 for women in the army is higher than men in the army, women nationally, and women globally.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works -2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What about by women in similar age groups and similar occupations nationally?

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

At a quick glance, the article notes that over 70% of victims had an intimate relationship with the perpetrator and that the rate of homicides among women soldiers from intimate partner violence is at least 3 times higher than the national average. (EDIT: IPV is common. It affects millions of people in the United States each year. More than 1 in 3 women (nearly 43.5 million) and more than 1 in 6 men (20.7 million) experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetimes Source )

Of the 41 women who died by homicide, 23 of them were killed by other service members. Which is the focus of the article - the extra danger that women face in the army at the hands of their fellow servicemen.

128 died by suicide - double the rate for equivalent women worldwide. ("In fact, The Intercept’s investigation found, suicide is the leading cause of death of Army women.")

And since the Army doesn't separate by gender:

The Army doesn’t make any of this public, and the Intercept’s investigation has found flaws in what data collection currently occurs: Homicide and suicide death rates are not separated by gender or calculated per capita, preventing deeper analysis and comparison.

It's difficult to get the real numbers to compare to women worldwide.

Edit: This article that The Intercept has written here is the first to look at these numbers. It says so in the article.

A first-of-its-kind analysis by The Intercept found that in the Army, women are more likely to be killed by their fellow service members than by enemy combatants, in a reversal of the threat soldiers are trained to face. Between 2011 and August 2025, at least 41 women died by homicide in the Army — more than half of them at the hands of other service members or veterans. Using Defense Department manpower data to calculate per capita death rates, The Intercept found that active-duty Army women face a higher risk of homicide than male soldiers, the opposite of national and global trends.