Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

SAN DIEGO — The basic rule for Marine boot camp is simple: Keep your mouth shut and mind your own business.

But it’s different when the subject is suicide.

Drill instructors encourage recruits to watch out for, and promptly report, warning signs in their buddies.

The suicide rate in the active-duty Marine Corps was 16.5 per 100,000 in 2007 — a jump from 12.9 in 2006.

In the first six months of this year, 25 Marines committed suicide, the most in that length of time since records have been kept. If that early trend persists, 2008 could prove the most deadly year for Marine suicides since at least the beginning of the war in Afghanistan.