Task force calls military suicide prevention efforts inadequate
By BARBARA BARRETT
McClatchy Newspapers
A Defense Department task force devoted to preventing suicide in the military presented a grim picture of the trend Tuesday, with suicides rising at a near steady pace even as commanders apply various balms to soothe a stressed, exhausted fighting force.The military has nearly 900 suicide prevention programs across 400 military installations worldwide, but in a report released Tuesday, the task force describes the Defense Department's approach as a safety net riddled with holes.
Last year, 309 men and women slipped through.
In 2008, 267 service members committed suicide. In 2007, the number was 224.
However, the task force also gave a message of hope: Prevention efforts can work, members said, and suicidal behavior after combat deployment isn't normal.
"Having any of our nation's warriors die by suicide is not acceptable - not now, not ever," said Army Maj. Gen. Philip Volpe, a physician and co-chairman of the Department of Defense Task Force on the Prevention of Suicide by Members of the Armed Forces.
Among the task force's findings:
-The military doesn't have enough behavioral specialists and suicide prevention officers, and that those it has need better training.
-Suicide prevention programs aren't streamlined across services.
-Service members still encounter discriminatory and humiliating experiences when seeking psychiatric help.
-Unit-level leaders especially struggle with how to assist the men and women under their guidance.
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
900 suicide prevention programs across 400 military installations that don't work
If the task force turns to the same people they've been talking to all along, whatever they come up with will fail as well. It is not a matter of them not trying but they have been getting the wrong answers. Congress has been just as bad when they keep asking people who have suffered and it's too late to save the lives already gone. The only thing Congress hears about then is what has failed instead of what has worked. They have to start thinking outside the box and talk to different people. If they want to repeat failures, then they should be talking to people who failed or were failed. If they want to find out what works and succeeds then they should be talking to the veterans and families who already passed the test of living.
As the greiving great aunt of a wonderful young Marine who took his life 6 weeks ago yesterday, I am angry and frustrated by the finding of the task force. Never once in the presentation of the finding did I hear mention of the root cause of the problems these brave warriors encounter once back. Please, it's the complete horror of friends killed, often blown to bits, the guilt that they survived, the constant threat of an ununiformed and all but impossible to identify enemy, and the disconnect they find upon return with those who "just don't get it". All the privacy laws are a huge henderence in getting proper timley help, since the "helpers" can't or won't talk/listen to the families.
ReplyDeleteI am very sorry for your loss and my heart breaks every time I read about another suicide. I think it may break even more because I know none of this has to happen.
ReplyDeleteI am married to a Vietnam veteran. While it is a different generation, combat and PTSD are no different now than it was back then. There are a higher percentage of them to care for because of awareness, the survival rate and the increased risk from redeployments. If families know how they can help them, then they can help heal them, so therapists need to include the families in on the treatment. Families can either make it worse because they don't understand or they can make it better because they know.
Please find some comfort in knowing you and your family did the best you could with what you knew at the time. I saved my husband but we lost his nephew due to suicide. To this day I wonder what I could have done differently and then I look at my husband and know, sometimes there is nothing we can do but try.