Official: White House to lift the ban on the condolences of the military suicide - CNN

Army Spc. Chancellor Keesling, is shown here with his father Gregg Keesling, committed suicide in Iraq in 2009.Official: move applies to the families of deployed service members who commit suicideDecision will help end "stigma" of the toll of the mental health of the wars, official said statementSenators, a deceased soldier family had asked the President to reverse the policyArmy report showed a steady increase in 2004-2009 army and Navy suicide rates

(CNN) - Obama administration reversed a policy of the White House do not send letters of condolences to the relatives of service members who commit suicide, a senior administration official confirmed in a statement to CNN.

The move comes nearly six weeks after a group of Senators - 10 Democrats and a Republican, asked the President Barack Obama change what they called an "insensitive" policy that date back several jurisdictions and has been the subject of attack by some military families.

In the statement Tuesday, the White House official said a review had been completed, and the President will send letters of condolences to the families of service members who commit suicide while that deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat operations.

"The President strongly believes that we need to de-stigmatize mental health of war costs to prevent these tragic deaths, and change this policy is part of this process," said an official statement.

"Unfortunately, perpetuating a policy that denies the letters of condolences to the families soldiers who die by suicide only serves to strengthen this stigma eclipsing the contributions of the life of a person with the unfortunate nature of his death." It is simply unacceptable that the United States to send the message to these families that somehow their beings expensive of those sacrifices are less important. »

CNN for the first time in 2009 on the Chancellor Keesling of Spc. family army, which committed suicide while he was serving in Iraq.

The family has created a wall of tribute to Keesling in their house in Indiana. With his uniform and the flag of his funeral service, a space was left to the letter of condolence of the Commander in Chief.

Upset when they learned that a suicide did not deserve a letter from the President, father of Keesling, Gregg, wrote to the President and the Chief of staff asked the policy be changed. He argued that the suicide of his son was the result of what he has been exposed to during the war and that he deserved to be regarded as caused by the battle.

Report of the U.S. Army 2010 suicide prevention

According to an army report last year, the annual suicide rate in the body of the marine and army - two branches more participated in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan operations - increased steadily between 2004 and 2009, more than 20 per 100,000. During this time the rate of these two branches exceeded the average civil national, adjusted by age, while the rate of suicide for the Air Force and Navy has remained below the average national.

In 2001, the rate of suicide among the Marines, as the Air Force and Navy, was about half the rate of civil, and the army, while it is higher than the other three branches, was still lower than the rate of the civil, according to the report of the army.Adam Levine's CNN have contributed to this report.