Although the base's top commanders say they have made suicide prevention a top priority, the number of self-inflicted deaths among airmen and employees at Hill Air Force Base continues to rise.

The death of an airman on Antelope Island over the weekend brings to at least eight the number of people from the airbase that have taken their own lives so far this year and brings to at least 22 the number of suicides counted at Hill since 2006.

The Antelope Island death was the second in as many weeks, after a period of several months without a self-inflicted death that had Hill officials hoping that efforts to provide mental health services to struggling workers were having an effect.

"We lost two of our own in the past few weeks to suicide," said Col. Patrick Higby, 75th Air Base Wing commander. "We all know that one suicide is too many, and this year's statistics certainly have our attention. A top priority continues to be wellness among our airmen and educating them about the many programs we have available to help people in crisis."

The base has hired 14 "wingman advocates" to find people who may be in distress and connect them with services.

Higby said that over the next few weeks he would ask Hill employees "to be extra vigilant for those that may need assistance because of the emotional toll an act like this takes."

He also asked everyone at Hill "to have the courage to seek help if they need to talk with someone."

Hill's numbers represent a rate several times higher than Utah's already higher-than-average suicide rate and do not include thousands of contractors who work at the base or any deaths that have not conclusively been proven to be intentionally self-inflicted. The majority of the deaths have come among members of the base's large maintenance wing, but officials deny that workplace troubles are responsible for the problem.

The problem came to public attention in the wake of the death of 39-year-old sheet metal machinist Donald Cleavenger, who killed himself in an aircraft hangar after receiving a poor performance review on New Year's Eve. He was at least the fifth person from Hill in 2008 -- a tally that, at the time, was the highest number of self-inflicted deaths in at least a decade at Hill.

mlaplante@sltrib.com / blogs.sltrib.com/military