Staff Sgt. Quinte Brown never showed up for dinner. It was a monthly ritual he kept with his friends in the Air Force — tacos and tequila — meant to remind each other that they were still human. Brown was always early, the one who helped cook, played with the kids, and stayed late to clean up. But on that cold Sunday night in January 2023, his friends kept checking their phones, wondering where he was. For someone as steady as Brown, an unexplained absence was unusual.

One of Brown’s friends offered to stop by his townhouse before heading over. The door was unlocked. The lights were off. On speakerphone with the others, he searched the house, then stepped outside and looked through the window of Brown’s car. He found him sitting in the driver’s seat, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Everyone on the call heard the moment he realized what he was seeing. On the other end of the line, several friends fell to their knees sobbing.

Brown’s death was one of hundreds in the past decade that the Air Force has quietly logged and filed away as another isolated tragedy. While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth obsesses over the supposed “softening” and “weakening” of American troops, the Pentagon is concealing the scale of a real threat to the lives of his military’s active-duty members: a suicide crisis killing hundreds of members of the U.S. Air Force.

Data The Intercept obtained via the Freedom of Information Act shows that of the 2,278 active-duty Air Force deaths between 2010 and 2023, 926 — about 41 percent — were suicides, overdoses, or preventable deaths from high-risk behavior in a decade when combat deaths were minimal.

This is the first published detailed breakdown of Air Force suicide data. The dataset obtained by The Intercept, formatted in an Excel spreadsheet, lists airmen’s deaths by unique markers known as Air Force Specialty Code and cause, including medical conditions, accidents, overdoses, and violent incidents. Gunshot wounds to the head and hangings appear frequently.

While it’s long been known that members of the U.S. Armed Forces often struggle with their mental health during or after service, the Department of Defense has historically been obstinate in its refusal to supply detailed data on suicides. In 2022, the National Defense Authorization Act mandated the Defense Department to report suicides by year, career field, and duty status, but neither the department nor the Air Force complied. Congress has done little to enforce thorough reporting.

The dataset obtained by The Intercept contradicts many of the Air Force’s previously released statistics and statements about mental health, resilience, and deployment readiness. It shows a troubling pattern of preventable deaths that leaders at the senior officer level or above minimized or ignored, often claiming that releasing detailed suicide information would pose a risk to national security. Speaking to The Intercept, current and former service members described a fear of bullying, hazing, and professional retaliation for seeking mental health treatment.

“That was always the fear going to mental health: ‘I’m going to get pulled off the flight line. Everyone’s going to look down on me,’” said former Sgt. Kaylah Ford, who was Brown’s girlfriend before his death. “It always had that negative stigma.”

Brown and Ford were both Air Force maintainers, the aircraft mechanics who keep the Air Force’s planes flying. Of the 926 airmen who died by suicide and other preventable measures, 306 were maintainers, according to The Intercept’s analysis. These troops represent the largest single career field in the Air Force, according to the Government Accountability Office, but they account for only a quarter of Air Force personnel — and a third of suicides and preventable deaths.

The Intercept reviewed the dataset line by line, identifying deaths likely to be suicides or overdoses and cross-checking them with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifications and medical classifications. Among maintainers, 250 were confirmed suicides, 45 were drug overdoses, and 11 were other preventable deaths with unclear intent, with causes including autoerotic asphyxiation. These causes of death — whether from outright suicide, drug use, or other life-risking behaviors — all point to deep psychological distress, according to Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas, a clinical psychologist with 20 years of experience in suicide prevention research,

“Addiction and suicide are deeply intertwined,” Spencer-Thomas said. “Many people use substances to cope with emotional pain or stress because it works in the short term, but over time, dependence sets in, and the fallout spreads through their health, relationships, and sense of hope.”

The Intercept reviewed more than two decades of government-funded studies and GAO reports and interviewed 16 Air Force maintainers from multiple major commands for this investigation. The reporter of this story is a former Air Force maintainer.

“Aircraft maintenance is a grinder,” said former Air Force Capt. Chuck Lee, who served as a maintenance officer for nine years before transferring to the Army and has since retired. While most maintainers rarely see combat, the field is known for an unsustainable work tempo, with airmen often working 10- to 16-hour shifts for years in high-risk environments. The constant exposure to toxic chemicals and the deafening sound of fighter jets can cause chronic health problems, inflaming the work’s psychological toll.

The evidence points to structural failures and systemic negligence across Pentagon and Air Force leadership. During two major periods of restructuring — known as the 2013–14 sequestration and the 2019 readiness plan — the Air Force consolidated jobs, leaving fewer troops to maintain the fleet while flight demands remained the same. Both times, suicides increased.

Experts like Spencer-Thomas say that instability and uncertainty during such transitions can heighten suicide risk.

“Mental health in the military is a joke if you don’t take it into your own hands.”

Now, another round of consolidation is coming. The Air Force plans to consolidate more than 50 aircraft maintenance specialties into seven starting in 2027, according to an Air Force memo made public earlier this year. A senior compliance leader with nearly two decades in the Air Force who requested anonymity for fear of professional reprisal called the move “do more with less on steroids,” raising concerns that the next wave of reforms could contribute to a rise in suicides.

“You know the phrase ‘Mission first, but people........

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