More troubling signs in military suicide prevention

Sgt. Maj. Sanders talks about the hardest time in his life and on that, he has done a remarkable thing. When someone in his position talks about not only wanting to commit suicide, but tried to twice, that very well may save lives.

Soldier prevents suicide
3rd Medical Deployment Support Command
FORT GILLEM, Ga. - “I live to save lives,” said Sgt. Maj. E. Joseph Sanders, 3rd Medical Command (Deployment Support) MDSC.

The citizen-soldier recalled a time when he felt that his life was not worthy of living.

“I now call it my year from hell,” he explained. “I was serving as the 1st Sgt. and had recently experienced several deaths in my family. I was going through a divorce and custody battle for my children. With stress added on from my civilian job, I had a mild stroke and was depressed because my disability had been denied. The Army also wanted me to take a non-medical discharge,” he shared.

During the time of his dilemma, a mental health professional in his Reserve unit recognized the warning signs of depression in the young 1st Sgt. Sanders.

“Had it not been for Col. Emil Risby, I wouldn’t be here today, he saved my life,” Sanders thoughtfully revealed.

Coping skills for dealing with his life’s issues were not yet fully developed. The mental and physical exhaustion led Sanders into a troublesome state of mind. He had considered suicide as his only way out.

In detail Sanders explained, “I had an out of body experience when I decided to play Russian roulette with my life. Thank God that the revolver ended up on an empty chamber. I had to find a reason to live for someone other than myself.”

Crisis intervention and first aid for mental health helped him to realize that suicide is considered a selfish act and he had not grasped the fact that, “So many people depended on me. I thought that I would be doing them a favor by not being here anymore for them to worry about,” he declared.

His family and friends proved him wrong during both of his attempts to commit suicide.

Sanders prematurely withdrew from his counseling sessions and unfortunately reverted to more life stressors that escorted him back down that same dark road. It led him to a second suicide attempt. He survived through help from his friends.
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By reading this, it is clear that the "selfish" push is still on when trying to convince soldiers suicide is only done as a "selfish act" and not one done out of pain they can no longer believe they can endure. This is very troubling. Talk to survivors of attempted suicides and they tell you that they didn't' want to be a burden to anyone. Ask MOH Dakota Meyer when he said he didn't want to become a burden to his family when he pulled his truck over the side of the road, pulled out his gun, put it to his head and pulled the trigger.

Do they still believe telling these soldiers suicide is selfish will work? It won't.

Sanders tried to commit suicide twice. This is after years of "resiliency training" and many claims of the military addressing it.

The suicide prevention hotline calls go up at the same time the rate of successful suicides does along with multiple attempts like Sanders.

The other troubling sign is the fact the DOD wanted Sanders to take a non-medical discharge.

Some things are working as Sanders' story shows but too many other things are not working.