Record high suicide rate prompts Army-wide initiative, again

Army pauses operations for mandatory suicide prevention training
Record high suicide rate prompts Army-wide initiative
By Erin Cox
The Baltimore Sun
September 26, 2012

At Fort Meade, where the suicide rate among service members is six times higher than that of the entire state, a crowd of 75 soldiers offered mostly silence when Mark Fisher asked them to list potential warning signs that a colleague is about to take his or her own life.

Col. John B. Wells, commander of the U.S. Army Claims Service at Fort Meade, listens to mandatory suicide prevention training in the Post Theater on base. (Baltimore Sun photo by Algerina Perna / September 26, 2012)

"The only way we're going to attack suicides is to talk about it," Fisher urged them.

"We have to get it. And this is the only way."

Fort Meade's mandatory suicide prevention training Wednesday was part of an Army-wide initiative undertaken as the military branch is on pace to reach its highest-ever suicide rate. The number of suicides each year has nearly doubled since 2005, from 87 to 165 last year. And the number of monthly suicides doubled from June to July — when suicides outpaced combat deaths of active-duty soldiers.

Aberdeen Proving Ground will hold its "stand down" training Thursday as military installations around the globe temporarily halt operations to focus on suicide prevention.

"Out of 365 days of the year, we're taking a day that was otherwise devoted to something else and saying: That's not as important as this," Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III said in a conference call.

"The nation has asked our soldiers to carry a heavy load over the past 11 years, and they have not let us down. But suicide is an enemy we have yet to beat."

At the current pace, the Army's suicide rate would be its highest yet at 29 deaths per 100,000 people this year. Fort Meade saw six suicides within the past 12 months among its military population of 11,600 people, base spokeswoman Mary Doyle said. Based on those numbers, the rate for Fort Meade would be more than 50 per 100,000 people.
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