At the Pentagon, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said suicides reported among Army soldiers in the last four and a half months totaled 51, compared to 41 in the first two months of the year alone.Suicides reported among soldiers have tapered off from extreme highs of early this year amid intense Army efforts to stem the deaths, but officials are not yet ready to say they have turned a corner on the problem.The ISR will design and conduct several large-scale survey data collections, and build and manage the study research databases in a way that protects the identity and privacy of Army personnel. The ISR will survey 90,000 active personnel, including members of the Army, National Guard, and Reserves. Researchers will ask about the prevalence of suicide-related behavior, as well as risk and protective factors. Saliva and blood samples will be taken for genetic and biologic analysis. The head of an Army suicide task force, Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, said Monday a three-month review of 143 suicides last year — the highest since records were kept in 1980 — found “we have young leaders who have not been trained in the art of just taking care of soldiers,” particularly after they come home from combat.