Army Suicide Prevention
February 17th, 2009 by Admin
The military, especially the Army, has taken a hit lately on the increase in suicides. While being attributed to the war, to assume such would be a naive and ignorant statement. The fact is that suicides in the military are as varied in reason as there are troops who commit them. The fact is that almost half of suicide victims have never deployed.
The Army is a stressful profession. By lowering our standards of enlistment, we have allowed people into the military that just shouldn't be here. By lowering our standards at basic training, civilians are not being challenged or stressed enough to be able to handle the rigors of Soldier life or combat. Our motherly approach to training is a contributor. Being one of my Soldiers probably contributes as well!
We also can't forget about the economy. When the economy goes bad, our Soldiers suffer. While we probably have no worries when it comes to losing our job, we still feel the effects of higher prices perhaps more than most people. The divorce also plays a part.
The truth is that there are many factors to why suicides in the Army are rising, but it's important to note that they are rising in the civilian sector as well. Unlike the civilian sector, Soldiers have access to programs and help the civilian sector can only HOPE to enjoy. Soldiers receive numerous briefings on suicide prevention and how to recognize the signs in our fellow troops.
The Army has produced this video as an additional aid to deal with this problem. I would urge anyone considering suicide to get help. Reconsider. Life is never so bad that you have to resort to taking your life. As a matter of fact, your death will only makes things worse for others. Talk to someone and let them help you work through your problems. Your pain in temporary. This difficult period in your life will go away. You do not have to go through it alone!
Thank you for sharing this important message!
~AM
Thanks, AirmanMom! I appreciate your input. This is something that I feel strongly about and needs to be addressed. Just not in the sensationalist manner the media is doing it. We're not ignorant victims and we're working it out as best we can.
Great article CJ. This is so important for people to understand.
CJ:
However, those things you mentioned (lower standards, lower standards in basic training) are all things that occurred after the war began, in an attempt to get more bodies for a war that required a lot of them. This is the "military breakdown" piece of IVAW's platform (and the panel I chaired at Winter Soldier). A large piece of our grievance with the war is that it has lowered standards and made our Army less prepared to accomplish its true mission-defense of the nation.
Not really. It only got worse when the war started. We've been dumbing down and easing up on our basic trainees since 1996 when Drills could no longer curse or really stress out the Soldiers. When the war started, it was obvious that the previous eight years of military cutbacks had left us dead in the water. The only way to RAPIDLY build up forces is to change the standards of entrance. Thankfully, as we've grown in the past couple of years, they are started to go back to pre-war standards of enlistment criteria, but we still have the issue of tough, realistic training to deal with.
Well written article CJ. As you know, my contention is that the Media is as much to blame as anything else in Sucide rates as well as PTSD rates. Heck, the media is even part of the recruitment problem … certainly SOME potential recruits are scared away by the negative … make that abusive … reporting against the military and the war by the media.
Great article and one I agree with completely CJ. I've covered this topic extensively as well over at ASM and ended up having to do a writeup as well for our post newspaper on the topic as well. As you said, suicide rates are going up in the civilian sector as well as the military and it's something that needs to be addressed and made a priority in our nation as a whole.
To say that war does not have any influence on suicides would, in my opinion, be the ignorant statement and assumption.
I understand the consideration for taking ones life comes from an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. Generally, no one factor precipitates the killing of ones self, to say otherwise would probably be foolish. To discount a soldiers or veterans taking of their own life because the last thing to happen to them was the death of their dog, would be to dishonor their service and sacrifice. Just as no one event can be attributed to a suicide, neither can one crisis be excluded in as much.
When we see no other way out of a bad situation, we have exceeded our capacity to cope and manage our personal pain. I understand this from a personal perspective and a deep realization to "know" the thought of "if I just pulled the trigger, the relief I would feel" to ease my emotional pain.
I would like to see the information on percentages of suicides verses deployments. If our research grant gets approval we will be investigating the causes of military and veteran suicides soon. If this evidence can be validated, I would be inclined to add this to the overall report.
Well said RG. BTW, who said that war has NO influence?
CF doesn't read good. he like to put words in people's mouth for mere shock value! no one said that.