Army Officer Shares Lessons After Friend’s Suicide

Army Officer Shares Lessons After Friend’s Suicide
Filed under DOD NEWS, SUICIDE PREVENTION
SEPTEMBER 23, 2012
by GLENN.SELBY

When a close friend committed suicide, a junior Army officer from Fort Lee, Va., opened her eyes to how active leadership and genuinely caring for fellow troops can help prevent suicide in the military.

Second Lt. Noelle Edinger was home on leave in Wyomissing, Pa., in late April when a close friend of hers ended his life and changed hers forever.

“You hear about it all the time, but when it’s close to home and somebody you actually know, the first thing you think is, ‘How could you?’ … They were supposed to be the first person you would call when you needed help. And then you realize that you never knew they were hurting that bad,” said Edinger, an adjutant officer with the 530th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion at Fort Lee.

Edinger last saw her friend two months before his suicide. She said its impact on her included an increased awareness of her surroundings when she returned to work.

“He was my buddy … I didn’t think the stuff he was going through was anywhere near as hard as what some of my soldiers experience (during long training missions and deployments),” she said. “It made me more aware of the soldiers around me and what they might be going through. And it made me realize that not every soldier – not every person – handles stress and depression the same way. Not every soldier shows it. And (the suicide) really taught me that just because they’re not showing it doesn’t mean they’re not having a bad day, or it doesn’t mean that they’re not having something going on at home.”
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