Different Kinds of Death in the Military

Did you know that April is the Month of the Military Child? The military may want to consider making that a year-round focus, after disturbing news was released from embargo today that deaths from child abuse were highest in North Carolina among children of military personnel.

The two counties in North Carolina that have military installations have more than double the abuse homicide rates for children (from a state average of 2.2 deaths per 100,000 children to 5.0 and 4.9 in the two counties with military bases).

“In this study period, the long-term patterns of child abuse homicides are not coincidence,” Marcia Herma-Geddens, DrPH, UNC adjunct professor, said in a press release. “They suggest problems in and around North Carolina military families and military communities that predictably result in a consistently higher number and rate of child abuse homicides than in non-military communities.”

It is important to note that non-military child abuse deaths were also higher in those two counties, indicating a broader problem. The military needs to act now to conduct comparable studies in other states (newspaper journalists should contribute as well) and bolster support services for parents in North Carolina.