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FORT BRAGG, N.C. - It was a regular Sunday morning in Mosul, Iraq; a squad leader was preparing to get ready for church when he received an instant message from a female soldier. The message stated, “I tried my best and please tell my children that I love them.”
He immediately jumped up, ran outside of his living quarters, and knocked on his platoon sergeant’s door.
He told the platoon sergeant of the message he had just received and they both ran to the Soldier’s living quarters to find her sitting on the floor crying and a noose hanging from the ceiling.
This may or may not be a scenario that everyone can relate to, but suicide is currently a very real and major concern — not only to the military, but to the nation as a whole. For this reason, September has been designated as the National Suicide Prevention Month.
“Although it is suicide prevention month, we can’t just educate and inform people about it this month and not do anything about it next month or the rest of the year,” said Lt. Col. George Ross, commander, Forces Command and U.S. Army Reserve
Military leaders at all levels are voicing their concerns about the current Army suicide rates.
Gen. Ray Odierno, Army chief of staff, told USA Today in a recent interview that in the Army, suicides are claiming more lives than combat or motor vehicle accidents. Furthermore, according to a Time Magazine article, the Pentagon reported a record high of 38 suspected suicides in July among active duty, Reserve and National Guard Soldiers.
Currently at Fort Bragg, there have been 13 reported suicides this year, which is equal to the total number of suicides in 2011.
Suicide is a very personal issue, often making it very hard to determine what leads an individual to take his or her own life.
“With so many different reasons why Soldiers commit suicide, it is hard to focus on one specific area, therefore leaders needs to be steadfast and diligent in finding solutions to this problem,” said Maj. Jose M. Vargas, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg Suicide Prevention Program Action Officer.
The most common speculation as to why Soldiers commit suicide usually blames constant deployments and the effect that it has on themselves and their families.
“Optempo, in terms of deployment, is a factor but it is not as big of a factor as some people make it out to be,” said Ross. “Many times we find out that those who commit suicide have never deployed. It all boils down to leaders at the lowest level taking the time to know their Soldiers.”
With a military culture that encourages Soldiers to be strong, reaching out for help can be perceived a sign of weakness.
“Leaders have to work to remove the stigma by showing concern and letting the Soldiers know that it is OK to seek help,” said Ross.
Across the Army, senior leaders are working tirelessly to dispel the notion that seeking help is a demonstration of weakness.
“There is a stigma of sorts. But, I don’t know if it is a top driven but an internal struggle of what it is that we ask each other to do,” said Chaplain (Maj.) Ralph O. Clark, Fort Bragg Family Life Chaplain, “It is a courageous move to say that you are thinking about committing suicide, it opens a whole lot of doors to even entertain that thought.”
In an effort to reduce the current suicide rate, the Department of Defense has established several programs to provide assistance to those who have considered or even attempted suicide as a solution to hardships.
In April 2011, Maj. Gen. Rodney O. Anderson decided to operationalize the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg Suicide Prevention Program; he did this by changing it from a civilian-led department to entrusting it to the leadership of Col. Chad McRee, the commander of the 16th Military Police Brigade, and Fort Bragg Directorate of Emergency Services director.
The goal of the suicide prevention program is to assist commanders in the identification, assessment and engagement of “high risk” and “at risk” individuals in order to predict and prevent violence and reduce the casualty rate among XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg Soldiers, Army civilians and Family members.
The chaplain or unit ministry team at all levels play important roles in the prevention, intervention and postvention of suicide.
It is important to note that chaplains can be used as source of absolute confidentiality; they are mandated to work with individuals who are contemplating or have attempted to harm themselves. The chaplains do this by fostering a supportive environment and by encouraging them to seek the help that they need.
Aside from providing support to Soldiers, the chaplain is the head trainer and the lead voice of the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training program. ASIST is an intervention program sponsored by the Army G-1, which provides caregivers the resiliency in helping to prevent the immediate risk of suicide.
“Aside from the ASIST program, we encourage Soldiers to build stronger relationships outside of themselves. In effect, we have found that this gives them something more to live for and deters them from entertaining the thoughts of suicide,” said Clark.
Furthermore, Clark goes on to say, “Bad news always travels faster than good news and there is always plenty of bad news out there, but what folks do not realize is that there are a number of people who have been helped by the programs out there and are alive and with us today because of it.”
| Date Taken: | 09.20.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 07.21.2014 11:43 |
| Story ID: | 136750 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 256 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Suicide: ‘A real, major concern to Fort Bragg and the nation, by Alexandria Brimage-Gray, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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