Army takes note as vet rapper Soldier Hard's lyrics tackle suicide

'Red Flags': Army takes note as vet rapper Soldier Hard's lyrics tackle suicide
By Bill Briggs
NBC News contributor
May 5, 2013

A hip-hop song beseeching battle buddies to be on watch for suicidal signals among their peers is being used — informally for now — within the Army as a prevention tool to help the branch stem an ongoing suicide crisis.

“Red Flags,” penned and recorded by former Army tank gunner Jeff Barillaro, was created as an urgent call for current troops as well as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans not to ignore or miss the sometimes-subtle yet often-obvious behavioral changes known to precede many suicides, Barillaro said.

“We’ve seen the red flags but we were blind to them,” said Barillaro, an Iraq War veteran who performs under the stage name Soldier Hard. Many of his songs and videos draw on his own raw experiences with a diagnosis of severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
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This is one of the best things I've seen on PTSD and suicides in a very long time. In 2006 I started making videos for Vietnam veterans. Naturally I used "old" music that many of the new veterans complained about. Some of them like the oldies but most do not listen to that music. They listen to Rap and Red Flags hits all the right points.

This is one of them on Great Americans. It used to be on YouTube.

As you can hear, it is not the kind of music they want to listen to. I am glad the Army is paying attention to what can really help these younger veterans reach out for help instead of reaching the end of their hope.