One thing stands out on military suicide prevention

One thing stands out on military suicide prevention
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 21, 2013

The New York National Guard "suicide prevention" training was the subject of an article on DVIDS. There is one thing that stands out.

"Most of the training we've done in the military, that I've done in my 17-year career, has been suicide prevention," Sgt. 1st Class Shaun Butcher, an ASIST instructor with the 106th Regional Training Institute, said.

Over in Dupont Washington there was another article about military suicides because they had two suicides in less than six months. When you read this, after what you read about New York National Guards training, you will understand that all the training has not really worked.

The 2012 Blue Star Family Military Family Lifestyle Report, which was completed by 5,125 military family members and service members, cited 18 percent of active duty military as having considered suicide and 60 percent as personally knowing someone who has either taken their own life or contemplated it.

This is August 21, 2013 and the Department of Defense Suicide Event Report for 2012 has still not been released. This report contains detailed information on suicides in all branches as well as attempted suicides. As of right now we do not know how many tried to killed themselves. The media has the number of suicides for 2012 wrong as it is because they do not include the National Guards and Reservists even though the Department of Defense includes their numbers every month in their report.

The last report was July 30 with the numbers of Army suicides for June. July numbers have not been released yet. Army Releases June 2013 Suicide Information

The Army released suicide data today for the month of June 2013. During June, among active-duty soldiers, there were 14 potential suicides: four have been confirmed as suicides and 10 remain under investigation.

For May 2013, the Army reported 12 potential suicides among active-duty soldiers: two have been confirmed as suicides and 10 are under investigation.

For CY 2013, there have been 77 potential active-duty suicides: 42 have been confirmed as suicides and 35 remain under investigation.

Updated active-duty suicide numbers for CY 2012: 185 (166 have been confirmed as suicides and 19 remain under investigation).

During June 2013, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were eight potential suicides (4 Army National Guard and 4 Army Reserve): none have been confirmed as suicides and eight remain under investigation.

For May 2013, among that same group, the Army reported 10 potential suicides; however, subsequent to the report, 4 more cases were added bringing May’s total to 14 (11 Army National Guard and 3 Army Reserve): two have been confirmed as a suicide and 12 cases remain under investigation.

For CY 2013, there have been 81 potential not on active duty suicides (51 Army National Guard and 30 Army Reserve): 40 have been confirmed as suicides and 41 remain under investigation.

Updated not on active duty suicide numbers for CY 2012: 140 (93 Army National Guard and 47 Army Reserve): 138 have been confirmed as suicides and two remain under investigation.

Now that you are caught up on what has been happening, think of what was said in the beginning of this post and you'll know a lot more than the DOD does. What they are doing is not working. It has not been working since they started "training" back in 2006.