(melancholy music)
- Our teammates are taking their own lives.
We lose more airmen to suicide
than any other single enemy.
Even more than combat.
78 of our brothers and sisters have given up
on life this year alone, 78.
That's 78 teammates, that's 78 wingmen,
that's 78 spouses, that's 78 brothers and sisters
and sons and daughters, 78
(melancholy music)
who couldn't find a single reason to keep going.
That's 28 more than this time last year.
If we don't do something,
we could lose up to 150, 160 airmen in 2019.
We can't let this keep happening.
This is our problem,
and we have to dedicate ourselves every single day
to building strong and healthy airmen,
supporting and engaging teams,
and coachers of trust and respect
to help keep these airmen hopeful.
To give them an opportunity to thrive
in this great Air Force.
That's why General Goldfein has directed
this resilience tactical pause,
a break in the daily grind so that we can focus,
we can focus on our airmen and their well-being.
Now this is not a one day effort to check a box.
This is the beginning of a much needed dialogue
between airmen, command teams, helping agencies,
and frankly our entire Air Force.
We have to get this thing turned around.
This is your day, so make it your own.
We won't tell you what to do.
We won't tell you how to do it.
You know best what your teams need.
Use the resources that we've made available to you,
but make it personal, make it about them, all of them.
Most importantly, keep this as a primary focus
beyond this pause.
Make every single airman count every single day.
You know, someone right now in your organization
is struggling.
Someone in your organization is suffering
from post-traumatic stress or depression.
Someone in your organization is feeling hopeless,
and they may be thinking that suicide is the answer.
Give 'em better options.
Let's lead 'em to a better answer.
(dramatic music)