[Vision2020] Army Suicide Rate Increases

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the US Department of Defense website at:

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12740

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2009

Army Releases May Suicide Data

The Army released suicide data for the month of May today, reporting one
confirmed suicide and 16 potential suicides among active duty soldiers.

In the April report, the Army reported seven active duty potential
suicides.  Since that time an additional suicide was reported, for a total
of eight April potential suicides, three of which have been confirmed and
five remain under investigation.  There have been 82 reported active duty
suicides in the Army during calendar year 2009.  Of these, 45 have been
confirmed as suicides, and 37 are pending final determination of manner
death.  For the same period in 2008, there were 51 suicides among active
duty soldiers.

During May 2009, among reserve component soldiers who are not on active
duty, there was one confirmed suicide and seven potential suicides; to
date in 2009, among that same group, there have been 16 confirmed
suicides, and 21 potential suicides are currently under investigation. 
For the same period in 2008, there were 23 suicides among reserve soldiers
who were not on active duty.

In January, the Army implemented an Army-wide effort to combat the rise of
suicide in its ranks.  The Army mandated a suicide prevention stand-down
that involved all 1.1 million soldiers; established a Suicide Prevention
Task Force; has made dozens of improvements to Army policies, procedures
and resources; and recruited additional psychological and behavioral
health counselors.

“We have got to do better,” said Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter W.
Chiarelli, “It’s clear we have not found full solutions to this yet.  But
we are trying every remedy and seeking help from outside agencies that are
experts in suicide prevention.  There isn’t a reasonable suicide
prevention tool out there the Army won’t potentially employ.”

The Army’s Suicide Prevention Task Force is focused on rapid improvements
across the spectrum of health promotion, risk reduction and suicide
prevention to ensure the Army’s programs in these areas are coordinated,
fully-resourced, and effective.

“As hard as this problem truly is, in some ways it is also very basic,
because it requires caring for soldiers, and that’s something we already
know how to do,” said Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director, Army Suicide
Prevention Task Force.  “We must simultaneously get back to basics and
optimize current programs to set conditions for future programs to tackle
this problem.”

The Army has identified additional crisis intervention resources available
to the Army community.  Soldiers and families in need of crisis assistance
are strongly encouraged to contact Military OneSource or the Defense
Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury
Outreach Center (DCoE).  Trained consultants are available from both
organizations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

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Pro patria,

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the
tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."

-- Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.