White House Suicide Condolence Letters For Troops Exclude Most Deaths

A new White House policy to send condolence letters to the family of troops who go to war and commit suicide excludes the vast majority of those soldiers and their families, undercutting President Obama's stated effort to defray the stigma associated with mental health problems from combat. The loophole has also disappointed veteran advocates.

President Obama inherited a policy to send condolence letters only to soldiers killed in action, but not those who commit suicide. The White House says that has now changed. "The President ordered a review of a long-held administration policy of not sending condolence letters to the next of kin of service members who commit suicide," the White House said in a statement sent to TIME.

"As a result of this review, the President has decided to change the administration's policy and will now send condolence letters to families of service members that commit suicide while deployed to Operation New Dawn (OND), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and other combat operations."

The statement said the change in policy is designed to "destigmatize the mental health costs of war to prevent these tragic deaths, and changing this policy is part of that process."

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