Mikayla Bragg and 31 Soldiers "Fell Through the Cracks"

How Mikayla Bragg and 31 Soldiers "Fell Through the Cracks"
Huffington Post
Paul Rieckhoff
Founder, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Posted: 10/24/2012

Alone in a guard tower 6,800 miles from her home in Longview, Wash., Specialist Mikayla Bragg took her own life last December. Bragg's commanding officers at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan, had no idea that in the months prior to her deployment the 20-year-old Army specialist had multiple encounters with the military mental health system.

Had her mental health care history been shared by those treating her at Fort Knox, Bragg's COs in Afghanistan would have known that the young soldier had previously made an attempt on her life, that she had spend 45 days in an Army hospital for mental health treatment prior to deploying, and that six months before she committed suicide she had ceased using prescription anti-anxiety medication so that she could deploy.

In the 135-page report following the Army's investigation into Bragg's death, a behavioral health officer at FOB Salerno said that it was his/her opinion that Bragg "fell through the cracks" thanks to a lack of communication between officials at her duty station stateside and her commanding officers in Afghanistan. For Bragg's CO to be left in the dark about her mental health care needs is unconscionable; our leaders (and our systems) cannot allow our troops to fall through so-called cracks.

Last Friday, the Army released suicide numbers for the month of September. There were 31 potential suicides for the month: 15 among active-duty soldiers and 16 among the reserve and Guard components, bringing the total number of Army suicides so far in 2012 to 247. After just nine months of 2012, the number of suicides has almost surpassed the total number of suicides in 2011.
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