More money from the Marines on Suicide Prevention

If you think with all money I've discovered over the last few weeks is all there is, there is more. This is from the Marine Corps.

1.7 billion for higher suicide from the Army was posted earlier today.

The 2011 Posture of the United States Marine Corps
March 8, 2011

Marines have expressed a desire for assistance navigating Department of Veterans Affairs benefit processes such as in cases of enrollment for and access to education benefits. We will modify existing websites to improve access and enhance opportunity for separating Marines to speak directly to Marine Corps support personnel who are trained to remove administrative benefit processing barriers. We will improve networking opportunities to help Marines find 27 meaningful employment and are adapting our current job fairs to support increased networking opportunities that will allow them to meet mentors and employers.

Combat Stress, Resiliency, Medical and Mental Health Care. We continue to advocate for the highest quality medical care and facilities for our service members, retirees, and their families. To ensure the Department can continue to provide the finest health care benefits in the country to our beneficiaries, we fully support the medical efficiencies and adjustments in TRICARE included in the President's budget proposal.

The evolving security environment requires a physically and mentally resilient Marine able to endure extended exposure to ambiguous, stressful, and ever-changing situations. Young leaders find themselves on the vanguard of a protracted war, adapting to a variety of situations and scenarios. To improve their resilience, we are working aggressively and creatively to build a training continuum that better prepares them for the inevitable stress of combat operations and to equip them with the necessary skills required to cope with the challenges of life as a Marine. Instruction founded and focused on our core values helps provide some of this resilience, especially in irregular warfare and complex environments. A program combining the “best practices” of mental, emotional and physical fitness will best instill in our Marines the resiliency needed to endure the stressors of combat and enhance their ability to perform effectively across the range of military operations. We are developing a comprehensive program to improve the resiliency of our Marines both in garrison and in combat.

We are partnered with the Navy to address the nation-wide dearth of qualified mental health care providers, which challenges our ability to provide care at some of our bases and stations and, in some cases, to our reservists in remote locations. During Calendar Year 2010, we saw a nearly 30 percent decrease in the number of suicides within our Total Force.15 We are too early in our suicide studies to identify what specific initiative(s) have resulted in this dramatic turnaround. However, we have implemented a number of measures on multiple fronts. Some of these include the following:
• Evocative Peer-led Training Program: "Never Leave a Marine Behind" suicide prevention program for non-commissioned officers and Junior Marines. We are expanding this training to include staff non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers this year.
• DSTRESS Line Pilot Program with TRICARE West: “By Marines-For Marines” call center designed to assist with problems at an early stage. The call center is staffed by veteran Marines, providing anonymous service to all current Marines, veteran Marines, their families and loved ones.
• Combat and Operational Stress Control and Operational Stress Control and Readiness Teams: Utilizing unique training programs across the Total Force and ensuring the presence of mental health professionals in front-line units as a primary prevention tool to help Marines identify and mitigate stress.
• Marine Resilience Study to Assess Risk and Resilience: We are participating in a longitudinal research study that will examine risk across three domains: biological, psychological and social. The outcome of this study will inform our future work in the area of building and maintain resiliency across the Corps.

Behavioral Health Integration. Behavioral health needs since 9/11 have become increasingly complex with individuals often requiring assistance in a number of areas at one time. Marines with more than two deployments have been identified as a higher risk population. According to the Joint Mental Health Assessment Team, psychological health problems remain steady at 11 percent of Marines for the first and second deployments, but increase to 22 percent for those who have deployed three or more times.
Sixty-five percent of Marines are under 25 years old. Associated with this young force are high-risk factors that include communication and coping skills, isolation, combat-related wounds and substance abuse. Drawdown of end strength following Operation ENDURING FREEDOM and return to garrison life will likely result in additional behavioral healthcare requirements as Marines redeploy and adjust to the garrison environment. We continue to move forward with our integration of prevention and intervention programs initiated in 2009. We have established a Behavioral Health Branch at our headquarters for Manpower & Reserve Affairs. Headquarters Marine Corps Health Services also has created and filled a new billet for a Director of Psychological Health.

Remember the Benghazi attack?
Posture of the Marine Corps 2012
Embassy Reinforcement for 2012

Embassy Reinforcement: We continue providing security for 154 U.S. Embassies and consulates in 137 countries around the world through the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group. To augment this mission, Marines from our Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Teams rapidly deployed to reinforce embassies. This past year they deployed to protect American lives and property in Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen as crisis events unfolded across the Middle East.

16 The current yearly rate of PTS diagnosis in active duty Marines is less than 2 percent as compared to 3.5 percent in the civilian population. The percentage of Marines who will be diagnosed over their lifetime with PTS is estimated to be 10-18 percent while the civilian population lifetime diagnosis is estimated to be 6.8 percent.

Suicide Prevention in the Force: We continue to report a positive, steady decrease in the number of suicides within the Corps from high levels seen in 2009. While we cannot yet draw a conclusion between our prevention efforts and the reduced suicide rate, we are cautiously optimistic our programs are having a positive effect. However, reported suicide attempts have continued to increase. We suspect this increase in attempts may be due to improved surveillance—fellow Marines recognizing the signs of suicide and intervening to stop attempts, and more Marines reporting past attempts when coming forward for help.17 Regardless, we still need to do better because one suicide completed is one too many.
There were 33 confirmed suicides and 175 attempts in the Marine Corps during Calendar Year 2011.

4 This percentage is based on the enacted FY-12 Defense budget authorization and is slightly larger than the 7.8 percent sum cited in the past. This percentage includes $3 billion in FY-12 funding for amphibious warship new construction

as well as Navy funding for chaplains, medical personnel

, amphibious warships (operations and maintenance) and Marine Corps aircraft. 5 Five Year Forecast: 2012-2017 Assessment of International Challenges and Opportunities That May Affect Marine Expeditionary Forces January 2012, pg 1. 6

Subtitle I--Suicide Prevention and Resilience Sec. 580. Enhancement of oversight and management of Department of Defense suicide prevention and resilience programs. Sec. 581. Reserve component suicide prevention and resilience program. Sec. 582. Comprehensive policy on prevention of suicide among members of the Armed Forces. Sec. 583. Study of resilience programs for members of the Army.