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FORT HOOD, Texas - Robin Williams’ untimely death evokes many feelings and thoughts. One of those thoughts is the tragic reminder that suicide is a problem that knows no boundaries.
Though the number of suicides in the military fell in 2013 from 2012, suicide in the military is still a prominent concern for the entire Department of Defense.
Military service members took their own life at the rate of more than one a day in 2012. More service members died at their own hands than died in combat that year. Because of these stark numbers, the Department of Defense began to closely examine the causes of suicide by service members and develop programs that better target those causes.
Those programs seem to be making a difference. Suicides at Fort Hood declined by 65 percent in 2013 compared to 2012. The suicide rate across the Army’s active component dropped approximately 18 percent in 2013.
Even with these gains, more work must be done to prevent suicides in the military. Robin Williams was a well-known supporter of the military, having performed at numerous USO shows in combat zones around the world. Because of this, his death has raised the topic of military suicides to a national level.
“I want to take the time to communicate to our Army family that this can happen to anyone,” said Gen. Ray Odierno, the Chief of Staff of the Army on his Facebook page on Aug. 12. “Soldiers and family members don’t always wear their scars on the outside; we may never see the struggles that someone is going through unless we take the time to ask.”
Through close examination of every suicide in the military, it has become clear that combat deployments are not the only factor that leads service members to take their own lives. Personal relationships and financial matters and drug and alcohol use, among other things, contribute significantly to service member suicide.
As the Army continues with necessary force reductions, relationship and financial concerns will continue to increase even though numbers of deployments will continue to decrease.
For that reason, this year’s the Department of Defense and national Suicide Prevention Week of Sept. 8-14 will take on even greater significance.
Then as we move past the Suicide Prevention Week and closer to the holiday season, relationship and financial stresses can be magnified and alcohol use can to increase. These factors combined with the stress of changing job and life circumstances generated by involuntary separations from the service can create an atmosphere for an increase in suicides amongst service members.
That is why it is critical that everyone in uniform of all ranks takes Gen. Odierno’s words to heart: “We may never see the struggles that someone is going through unless we take the time to ask.”
So ask. Ask your buddy how he or she is doing. Be available to help. And if you need help yourself, do not be afraid or ashamed to ask for it. You deserve it.
In December 2007, Robin Williams was part of a USO tour stop in Ramadi, Iraq. Members of C Company, 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor, 3rd Infantry Division had been in Iraq for a year and had just had their tour extended to 15 months as part of the military surge. Without knowing who would be performing, several members of the company conducted the dangerous one-hour combat patrol from their small outpost to FOB Ramadi to attend the show.
“That couple of hours took us away from a place that held the all-too-real facts about war,” said Sgt. Maj. Stanley Balcer who was 1st Sgt. of C Company at the time. “His smile, his handshake wasn’t just for a photo op, it wasn’t because he needed the press it was because he believed.”
Those Soldiers never forgot what Robin Williams did for them that day in Ramadi. They repeated the jokes and stories to their comrades who could not make the trip. The impact of Williams’ belief in those Soldiers that day cannot be measured.
Similarly, the impact of one Soldier today taking the time to believe in and talk to another Soldier during a difficult personal time will never be measured, but it will be real.
There are many resources available to service members today. The Department of Defense has a website for suicide prevention and awareness (http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2013/0913_suicide-prevention/). Every installation has programs available to help service members with every issue that can cause a person to consider suicide. There are programs for relationships, finances, drugs, alcohol, and anything else that can be a concern.
Even with all these programs, though, the most powerful and effective resource is a friend. Reach out to someone.
| Date Taken: | 08.14.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 08.18.2014 12:31 |
| Story ID: | 139651 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 414 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, To prevent suicide, reach out to someone who needs you, by MAJ Steven Miller, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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