White House Will Write to Families of Military Suicides

With suicides in the US military on the rise, the White House has changed its policy and will send letters of condolences to the soldiers' families, notes Jezebel. "The president feels strongly that we need to destigmatize the mental health costs of war to prevent these tragic deaths, and changing this policy is part of that process," explains a White House statement. The move comes after a formal request by a group of senators to scrap the "insensitive" policy, reports CNN.

The Obama administration agreed: "It is simply unacceptable for the United States to be sending the message to these families that somehow their loved ones' sacrifices are less important," said its statement. (More US military stories.)