$1.7 billion for higher suicides and attempts in 2012?

I have been posting on how much money has gone into "suicide prevention" because I am finishing up on THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR. Where has all the money gone on suicide prevention was just the start of more I found in searches. The question is, where has the media been on this?

$1.7 billion for higher suicides and attempts in 2012?
Title from the Army 2011 Posture Statement
A STATEMENT ON THE POSTURE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY 2011
submitted by THE HONORABLE JOHN M. McHUGH and GENERAL GEORGE W. CASEY, Jr.
to the Committees and Subcommittees of the UNITED STATES SENATE and the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st SESSION, 112th CONGRESS
MARCH 2011
Page 5
FY 12 Budget Highlights for Sustain
Provides $1.7 billion to fund vital Soldier and Family programs to provide a full range of essential services to include the Army Campaign for Heath Promotion, Risk Reduction, and Suicide Prevention; Sexual Harassment/Assault
Expanded Survivor Outreach Services to over 26,000 Family members, providing unified support and advocacy, and enhancing survivor benefits for the Families of our Soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
★ Graduated more than 3,000 Soldiers and Civilians from the Master Resilience Trainer course.
★ Surpassed one million Soldiers, Civilians and Family members who have completed the Army’s Global Assessment Tool to begin their personal assessment and resilience training.

If you think that is bad, it gets worse because they have been spending that kind of money and ended up leaving more families grieving by the graves. Reminder, RAND along with many other experts said these programs do not work?


This is from Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Service
Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States (US), with nearly 100 suicides occurring each day and over 36,000 dying by suicide each year.1 Among Veterans and current military, suicide is a national public health concern. Recent estimates suggest current or former military represent 20 percent of all known suicides in the US2 and the rate of suicides among Veterans utilizing Veterans Health Administration (VHA) services is estimated to be higher than the general population.3 The enormity of the problem has led to several major public health initiatives and a growth in research funding for suicide prevention.
*no significant benefit of the intervention*study too short*study too small

FY 11 Budget Highlights
Provides $1.7 billion to standardize and fund vital Family programs and services to include welfare and recreation; youth services and child care; Survivor Outreach Services; and expanded education and employment opportunities for Family members.

Provides a 1.4% military basic pay raise and Civilian pay raise, a 3.9% basic allowance for housing increase, and a 3.4% basic allowance for subsistence increase.

Warrior Transition Units for our wounded Soldiers will continue to receive strong support in FY 11 with $18 million in Military Construction funds allocated to resource construction of barracks spaces.

Supports the Residential Communities Initiatives program, which provides quality, sustainable residential communities for Soldiers and their Families living on-post, and continues to offset out-of-pocket housing expenses for those residing off-post.

Progress and Accomplishments
The Army met 104% of its recruiting goals for 2009, and achieved both numeric goals and quality benchmarks for new recruits.

All components exceeded 105% of their reenlistment goals.

We reduced off-duty fatalities by 20%, to include a 15% reduction in overall privately-owned-vehicle fatalities and 37% reduction in motorcycle fatalities.

In collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health, the Army began a seminal study into suicide prevention that will inform the Army Suicide Prevention Program and society’s approach to suicide.

We began instituting Comprehensive Soldier Fitness – an all-inclusive approach to emotional, social, spiritual, family, and physical fitness – as the foundation to building resiliency within the Army.

We initiated an unprecedented series of construction projects at five major hospitals as part of our commitment to modernize our healthcare system.

The Army established the Warrior Transition Command and reorganized Warrior Transition Brigades to provide centralized support, rehabilitation, and individualized transition planning to our recovering Warriors.

We expanded Survivor Outreach Services to over 26,000 Family members, providing unified support and advocacy, and enhancing survivor benefits for the Families of our Soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

We implemented the Post 9/11 GI Bill, significantly increasing educational benefits for active duty Soldiers, Veterans, and Family members.

The Army Reserve established Army Strong Community Centers to support geographically-dispersed Soldiers and Families. Together with Army National Guard Family Assistance Centers and Soldier and Family Assistance Centers on active duty installations, these centers provide help to Soldiers’ Families near their hometowns.

Behavioral Health
What is it? Army Medicine is committed to strengthening psychological resilience and improving the behavioral health of our Soldiers and their Families. Military research shows that approximately 15 percent of Soldiers deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom have Post-Traumatic Stress symptoms, and another 10 to 15 percent will experience other behavioral health problems that could benefit from treatment. The Army, as an enterprise, is moving towards a model of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness. This model will focus on enhancing the Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual fitness of Soldiers and their Families across the whole life spectrum.

What has the Army done?
The Army Medical Department offers an extensive array of behavioral health services to address the strain on Soldiers and Families who have experienced multiple deployments and other demands of military life during this period of increased operational tempo. These services include Combat and Operational Stress Control, routine behavioral healthcare, and suicide prevention programs. Chaplains, Military OneSource, Warrior Adventure Quest, and Family Morale Welfare Recreation Command also offer substantial support to these Soldiers and Families.

The Army has maintained a robust Combat and Operational Stress Control presence in Theater since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are currently maintaining a behavioral health provider ratio of greater than one provider for every 700 (1:700) deployed Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. This equates to over 115 behavioral providers deployed in support of Afghanistan and over 135 behavioral providers deployed in support of Iraq. Behavioral health programs include:

Comprehensive Behavioral Health System of Care. The Comprehensive Behavioral Health System of Care (CBHSOC) is a new initiative nested under the Army Campaign Plan for Health Promotion, Risk Reduction, and Suicide Prevention. The CBHSOC will standardize and optimize the vast array of behavioral health policies and procedures across the Medical Command to ensure seamless continuity of care to better identify, prevent, treat and track behavioral health issues that affect Soldiers and families during every phase of the Army Force Generation cycle.

Child, Adolescent, and Family Behavioral Health Proponency. This is a pilot program established by the U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) to address the behavioral health care needs of Army children, adolescents, and families administered at the installation level.

Provider Resiliency Training. This training targets Army healthcare providers to address burnout and compassion fatigue. In 2010, the Army is expanding its Provider Resiliency Training Program across the force. This revised program will be renamed the Care Provider Support Program and provide enhanced compassion fatigue training to all healthcare providers in the Army inventory.

Suicide Prevention. There is a concerted effort to improve suicide prevention efforts. The Army Campaign Plan for Health Promotion, Risk Reduction, and Suicide Prevention continues to establish policy and programs in response to the Army’s increasing suicide rate.

RESPECT-MIL. This is a program designed to decrease stigma associated with seeking assistance from behavioral healthcare professionals and to improve access to care by providing behavioral health services in primary care settings.

Military Resilience Training. Lifecycle and Deployment Cycle Battlemind Resiliency products are being merged into the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program.

Comprehensive Soldier Fitness will enhance overall readiness, improve unit and individual readiness, and sustain a balanced, healthy, campaign capable, expeditionary Army. Family and Morale, Welfare Recreation Command (FMWRC). This program plays a role in behavioral health support including the Community Recreation Division’s Outdoor Recreation program and Army Community Services. Through Army Community Services, Family and Military Life Counselors are available at each installation to provide confidential support to Soldiers and Families that is separate from Army resources. Warrior Adventure Quest offers redeploying units, of platoon size or larger, the opportunity to incorporate a high stress recreational activity (such as whitewater rafting, paintball, rock climbing, and rappelling) into its post-deployment training schedule to assist in post-deployment decompression.

What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?

In 2010, $168 million of additional funds will be used by the Army to sustain implementation of over 45 initiatives under the categories of access to care, resiliency, quality of care, and hiring over 300 behavioral health providers to augment behavioral health services across Army installations worldwide. The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command is currently evaluating numerous proposals to help identify ways to increase psychological and spiritual resilience in Soldiers and Families. The behavioral health research supports development and evaluation of interventions for prevention, treatment, and long-term recovery needs. This research program includes over 150 projects addressing post traumatic stress disorder and 10 projects dedicated toward suicide research. The research portfolio also includes a robust epidemiologic effort for continued monitoring of Soldier and Family behavioral health and wellbeing.

Why is this important to the Army?
Behavioral health is an important factor in enabling Soldiers to function effectively on the modern battlefield. The Army is aggressively working to remove the stigma associated with seeking help for behavioral health issues as a barrier to care, to improve access to care, and to incorporate suicide prevention training into all training programs. Leaders are talking openly about seeking help, and Soldiers are listening and acting to protect their buddies.