“Suicide is a major issue right now throughout the DoD,”

“Suicide is a major issue right now throughout the DoD”
Right now? Really? Let's see how true that is.

Scorby signs suicide prevention awareness proclamation
Posted: September 12, 2012
By MC1(SW) Greg Johnson
Navy Region Southeast Public Affairs

Rear Adm. Jack Scorby Jr., commander, Navy Region Southeast (NRSE), signed a suicide prevention awareness proclamation at NAS Jacksonville Sept. 6.

The proclamation recognizes September as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and is intended to raise suicide awareness prevention throughout the Southeast Region.

“This proclamation brings to light an issue of paramount importance in our military today,” Scorby said.

Each year, we lose shipmates, co-workers and family members to suicide and these losses can be prevented. It is our collective responsibility to remain alert to the warning signs and to be prepared to take action with those in our lives who might be at risk. An actively engaged force, including everyone in the Navy family, is key to the successful prevention of suicide.”

The proclamation emphasizes the Navy’s “Act, Care, Treat” (ACT) training tool, which is designed to raise awareness of suicide warning signs and encourages people to intervene with those at risk.

According to Dianne Parker, NRSE assistant suicide prevention outreach coordinator, knowing the warning signs of suicide and being proactive is particularly important when it comes to Department of Defense (DoD) personnel.

“Suicide is a major issue right now throughout the DoD,” she said.
read more here

When you read this, you'd think this report just came out,

Army approves suicide prevention plan
By Pauline Jelinek
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Army has approved new guidance to military commanders in an effort to stem the rising toll of soldier suicides.

The Army said in a statement Thursday that the new plan was approved by Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli after he recently visited a half dozen American military bases and talked to commanders and staff who care for soldiers and their families.

The Army didn't disclose details of the new plan Thursday. But officials had said earlier the suicide prevention plan would include hiring more mental health workers and tightening the way the service handles drug testing, health screening and a host of other long-standing procedures that in some cases have become lax as the Army has focused in recent years on fighting two wars.

Army leadership has become more alarmed as suicides from January through March rose to a reported 56 — 22 confirmed and 34 still being investigated and pending confirmation.

but I posted it on Thursday Apr 23, 2009

You'd think the same thing of this when you read what the DOD is "trying" to do to address military suicides.

PTSD:Widow says Army's screenings don't work
Kristin M. Hall
Monday, November 17, 2008

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - On the outside, Spc. Carl McCoy seemed to be the perfect soldier, his personnel file highlighted with praise from his officers like "great man" and "could not have asked for a better mechanic."

But McCoy's personal life was unraveling after he returned from his second tour in Iraq in December. He was drinking so much that he often passed out. He was losing a custody battle with his ex-wife and was in marriage counseling with his new wife, who worried he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

McCoy, 23, took a hard step for a battle-tested soldier and made an appointment with a mental health counselor at Fort Campbell, Ky. At the last minute, his appointment was canceled because the counselor was sick. That night, McCoy put a gun in his mouth, pulled the trigger and died instantly at his home in Clarksville, Tenn.

An Army investigation into his July 11 suicide says McCoy's superiors didn't realize how much emotional pain he was in until it was too late. McCoy's family wonders why, when he did reach out, he didn't get better care from the Army, including the canceled appointment.

"I feel now that this was Carl's last cry for help, and his voice went unheard," Sgt. Maggie McCoy, his widow, said in a letter she sent to the Army inspector general and members of Congress asking for better mental health treatment for soldiers.

When you have been tracking these reports as long as I have, it should be easy to understand repeating the same mistakes over and over again is how we got to where we are and why so many combat survivors are taking their own lives when they come home.

I think it is wonderful they are trying just as I thought it was wonderful way back when Vietnam veterans pushed to have Combat PTSD treated. What I think is really lousy is too few learned from what researchers discovered over 30 years ago.

This should have been required reading for anyone in military mental health.

It has been hanging on my wall to remind me everyday that while the DOD and the VA keep getting things wrong, there are more people in this country getting it right.