Fort Bliss soldier deaths at home compared to Fort Hood

Despite the recent soldier violence, Fort Bliss has experienced fewer soldiers deaths at home than other major Texas military installation for 2011.

According to military officials, Fort Hood saw 53 deaths so far in 2011. Fort Bliss has seen 17 deaths.

These deaths are non-combat related, including things such as car accidents and stabbings.

However, Fort Bliss has about half the people at Fort Hood. Fort Bliss has 27,000 soldiers. Fort Hood has 46,500.

But, new data indicates deaths are down at Fort Hood from 2010. There were 62 deaths in 2010.

The recent deaths have raised questions on KFOX14's Facebook page on how many deaths were related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Tonight on KFOX14 News at Nine, no one is saying our local deaths are connected in any way to PTSD.

However, KFOX14 did discover more combat veterans are flooding VA hospitals nationwide to get treatment for PTSD, according to USA Today, which cites Department of Veterans Affairs numbers.

The VA is seeing about 9,000 new cases of PTSD every three months.  Experts said the number of PTSD cases is only expected to rise with more troops coming home as withdrawl deadlines loom.