WASHINGTON — Suicides in the U.S. military rose in 2023, continuing a long-term trend that the Pentagon has struggled to mitigate, according to a Department of Defense report released on Thursday. Growth is a bit of a setback after deaths fell slightly the previous year.

The number of suicides and the rate per 100,000 active duty service members increased, but this increase was not statistically significant. The number also increased among members of the Reserves, while it decreased slightly for the National Guard.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made the issue a priority, and top leaders in the Defense Department and across the services have worked to develop programs to both increase mental health assistance for troops and strengthen gun safety education, locks and storage. Many of the programs, however, have yet to be fully implemented, and the moves fall short of the more drastic gun safety measures recommended by an independent commission.

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In a statement on Thursday, Austin said the new numbers “demonstrate the urgent need for the Department to redouble its work in the complex areas of suicide prevention and postvention.” He said the department was moving urgently to implement changes, adding: “There is still a lot of work to do and we will not let up.”

The increase was fueled by increases in the number of deaths in the Army and Air Force, while the Marine Corps and Navy saw a very small decrease.

Overall, 523 suicides were reported in 2023, compared to 493 in 2022. The number of active duty troops who committed suicide increased to 363 from 331.

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Officials said that because of the shrinking size of the active-duty force in recent years, they believe the suicide rate, rather than the number, is a more accurate measure. The suicide rate is calculated based on an active duty force of about 1.28 million, about 330,000 reserves and almost 430,000 in the Guard. The rate for active duty and reserve members increased, while the Guard was lower.

More broadly, however, the trend in 2011 was an increase in suicides among active-duty suicide service members, while the Guard and Reserve remained largely stable. Officials said the statistics generally reflect suicide rates for society as a whole, when adjusted for age and gender, because most of those in the military are young and male.

Analysis of the annual report also shows continuing trends in those who kill themselves and how they do it. The report shows that young, male enlisted troops still account for the vast majority of suicides. and that the majority of deaths involve the use of a firearm.

The data on the suicide of members of the family of the troops is one year ago. But it shows that fewer family members committed suicide in 2022 than the previous year, with a 9% drop in the rate. Although there are far fewer male spouses, they account for nearly half of all suicide deaths.

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An independent committee recommended the establishment of the department early last year a number of gun safeties to reduce force suicides, including waiting periods for service members to purchase firearms and ammunition from military property.

The commission said the department should raise the minimum age for service members to buy guns and ammunition to 25 and require everyone living in military housing to register all privately owned firearms. In addition, he said the department should limit the possession and storage of privately owned firearms in military barracks and dormitories.

In response to this report, Austin launched a new campaign to address force suicides, but the department chose not to implement key firearms changes suggested by the commission. Instead, the Pentagon said it would “incentivize” safe storage of firearms, provide more storage locations and do more public education about how to store guns safely — similar to steps officials have talked about in the past.

Defense officials said those changes, which could include providing troops with a voucher to cover some of the costs of locking up and storing weapons, are in the works but have not been finalized. They are still working to modernize training programs to better train troops on the safe storage and use of weapons and to reduce the stigma of seeking mental health support.

In addition, the military services hire personnel for personnel prevention programs, and as of this summer, approximately 1,000 professionals have been hired with a goal of 2,500 by 2028.

The National Suicide and Crisis Helpline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.

News 3 also spoke with Teri and Patrick Caserta. They lost their son Brandon to suicide at Naval Station Norfolk in 2018.

Since then, they have pushed for service members to have more access to mental health treatment.

A policy called the Brandon Act is named after their son. It allows service members to begin the process of obtaining a mental health evaluation at any time, in any environment, and protects their privacy as much as possible.

The Casertas say nationally not enough people know about it and continue to push for greater promotion of Brandon’s Law.

“This has to be the number one priority in the military period, don’t put up with anything. You can’t do the mission without the people. I’m sorry, but the mission can’t come first if you don’t have the people to do the mission.” Patrick said.