Photo By Spc. Nathan Goodall | Spc. William J. White, a Worcester, Mass., native, and radar operator with Battery F,...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. – Train as you fight – a common phrase heard among soldiers. Whether it is practicing combat movements on the battlefield or counterfire drills in a tactical operating center, the motto can be heard repeated, like a mantra, during any Army training.
But there is more to soldiering than training to become tactically and technically proficient and, for that, the Army teaches its men and women how to aid soldiers when their conflicts take place off the battlefield.
For Spc. William J. White, a Worcester, Mass., native, and radar operator with Battery F (Target Acquisition), 26th Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Fires Brigade, suicide intervention training helped him aid a fellow soldier in a very real struggle with suicide.
White got a knock on his door in February from a friend in the brigade that he met while skateboarding.
“He told me he tried to kill himself, so I went through [Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training] and asked him, ‘how’d you do it, why’d you do it,’ asked him if he planned on doing it again, etc.,” White said.
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, or ASIST, is a program developed by LivingWorks Education, Inc., that was picked up by the Army in 2009. It’s become a mandatory class for soldiers, and while some might feel silly role-playing an intervention, White said there is a purpose to it.
“It develops muscle memory. Basically, they make you practice talking to someone as if they just attempted to take their life, over and over again, no matter how dumb you think it is,” White said, adding the point of the exercise, “when the time comes, ASIST helps you just ask the questions outright.”
White loosely compared it to taking indirect fire at the forward operating base he was stationed at while deployed to Afghanistan. Even if there were no obvious signs that an attack was imminent, training for it helped soldiers react instinctually when it did happen.
“I think the training just helps you get into the right mindset for the situation. If it ever does occur to you, you have that to fall back on,” he said. “If you don’t know the person that well, you can always just ask the questions you practiced.”
Defaulting to the training he received helped lead White to a more personal conversation with a friend in need.
“We really just sat there and had a discussion about his life and what he was going to do to help him better himself so he wouldn’t do it again,” White said.
While White felt confident that his friend wouldn’t attempt suicide again, he knew his job wasn’t finished. He was trained to make sure his friend was getting the help he needed.
“He had told me he’d already talked to his chain of command, but I wanted to follow up,” White explained. “The only way to do that, since I didn’t know what battery or what battalion he was with, was to go to my chain of command and tell them what happened so they could help me get in touch with his leaders and actually make sure he had done what he said so we could stop the problem.”
It turned out to be the right thing to do, not only because White was obligated to follow up, but because it was what his friend needed.
“His higher chain of command, as in [his] platoon sergeant and his battery commander and first sergeant, weren’t tracking it like he said they were,” White said. “[When they found out], his chain of command basically told him, ‘you need help right now, so right now is when we’re going to help. There’s no waiting involved because we don’t want you to regress.’”
White was grateful the soldier got the help. Likewise, White’s leaders were grateful for his reliance on training and quick reaction to the situation.
White was given a coin by his battalion commander for his professionalism during a situation involving a soldier’s life. While he appreciated the acknowledgement from his leaders, he believes that being a ready and resilient soldier is part of his duties, and his friend deserves the real praise for having the courage to come forward and ask for help.
“People told me I saved someone’s life, but I don’t really see it like that at all,” White said. “I helped him realize his downfalls and what he was doing wrong in his life, and he fixed it, not me. I didn’t fix anything. I just opened up his eyes.”
Currently, there are 103 Army programs, including Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness; the First Sergeant Barracks Program 2020; the Army Continuing Education System; Strong Bonds and the Soldier and Family Assistance Center, that build resilience.
On Feb. 4, Army Secretary John McHugh signed a directive, while at the 7th Infantry Division Headquarters, stating that programs— from resilience training to suicide prevention— be part of a wide-ranging “Ready and Resilient Campaign” (R2C) plan. A little more than one month later, on March 12, the Army launched a new online resource to complement the R2C.
The campaign's website is available at www.army.mil/readyandresilient, and is designed as a "one-stop shop" for resources related to soldier resilience and readiness. The new site includes sections for medical readiness, personal readiness, and soldier transition issues.
If you are feeling distressed or hopeless, thinking about death or wanting to die, or, if you are concerned about someone who may be suicidal, please contact the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
| Date Taken: | 04.08.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 04.09.2013 16:26 |
| Story ID: | 104895 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Hometown: | WORCESTER, MA, US |
| Web Views: | 380 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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