Army focuses on suicide-prevention training
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
In a servicewide “stand-down,” the Army has ordered soldiers to put aside their usual duties today and spend the day on suicide-prevention training as the military struggles with a spike in the number of self-inflicted deaths this year.
The plan will focus on making sure that troops know what behavioral health programs are available to them and helping them get over the embarrassment that keeps many from seeking help.
There are limited exceptions to today’s stand-down: Troops with duties such as combat operations in Afghanistan or medical duties in Army hospitals will schedule their training when possible.
“The Army has decided that this issue is so important to us that we’re going to devote an entire day ... that was otherwise devoted to something else and say ‘That’s not as important as this,’” the Army’s top enlisted man, Sgt. Maj. Raymond Chandler, said Wednesday.
The Army is the largest of the services; it has the highest number of suicides; and it is the only branch planning the special training today.
For the first seven months of 2012, the Army recorded 116 suicides among active-duty soldiers, officials reported last month. If that pace were maintained through December, the year’s total would approach 200, compared with 167 total in 2011.
Suicidal behavior in the military is thought to be related to cumulative stress from combat duty as troops fought two simultaneous wars over the past decade. It also is believed linked to marital and financial problems and health issues.
Still, military and defense leaders have been puzzled by the rise after years of working to blunt the problem with new programs such as a regime of resilience training starting at boot camp and the hiring of more psychiatrists and other mental health workers. So far this year, the number of suicides in the military has surged beyond expectations, given that the pace of combat deployments has begun to slow and that rates were leveling off for two previous years. Suicides also are rising in the civilian population, officials said.
The day’s activities are also open to troops’ families as well as the department’s civilian employees.