Avoiding the obvious on Army suicide number reports

Avoiding the obvious on Army suicide number reports
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 18, 2013

I really love my readers. You guys keep sending me links and letting me know what you find. The problem is I keep getting the reports on suicides going down this year. It would be great if reporters would start to actually see the obvious answer.

Stop wondering why Army suicides are down this year. The answer is very clear. There are less serving this year.

On October 19, 2012 the Department of Defense announced their suicide numbers from January of 2012

For 2012, there have been 146 potential active-duty suicides

On October 31, 2013 they announced the numbers from January of 2013

For CY 2013, there have been 115 potential active-duty suicides

Some think it is great news but when you factor in that there are less in the military this year than last year, it is really a no brainer as to why the numbers went down.

The press points to this as a "success" when even the DOD says they do not know why the numbers went down. They don't? Why?
Army Posture Statement 2013

As a result of these spending cuts, we are reducing Active Army end strength from a wartime high of about 570,000 to 490,000, the Army National Guard from 358,000 to 350,000, the Army Reserve from 206,000 to 205,000 and the Civilian workforce from 272,000 to 255,000 all by the end of FY 17. These reductions, which began in FY 12, represent a net loss of 106,000 Soldier and Civilian positions.

National Guards and Suicide Prevention is yet another factor being ignored. The flip side is there are more suicides this year than there were last year in the Guards and Reserves.

Suicide Prevention The Army Guard trained 144 trainers in the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) program in FY12, bringing the total trained to 459. These trainers will, in turn, train approximately 35,000 gatekeepers in advanced suicide intervention skills. In FY12, ARNG trained 6,761 gatekeepers. A gatekeeper is a Soldier who, by virtue of his position, must be able to recognize people in crisis, intervene to keep them safe, and refer them to help.

This is what they have been doing.

Army Guard clinicians have screened more than 8,000 Soldiers; 2,000 were referred for ongoing care in FY12.

Army Guard behavioral health counselors provided informal consultations to 30,000 Soldiers and family members; 1,400 of these consultations led to further psychological care in FY12.

Army Guard counselors conducted more than 2,000 briefings and training sessions to Soldiers and their families in FY12.

The National Guard Bureau Joint Surgeon’s Office (NGB-JSG) has established a National Guard Psychological Health Program. With NGB-JSG guidance, the Army and Air Guard have placed licensed behavioral health providers known as State and Wing Directors of Psychological Health (S / WDPHs) in every Wing, state and territory. In the last 18 months, DPHs actively mitigated 954 high risk situations; to include suicidal, homicidal and assault cases.

DPHs are embedded advisors to leadership to promote psychological health that normalizes “help seeking” culture.

Established suicide awareness and prevention and other support resource websites such as: www.wingmanproject.org and www.jointservicessupport.org Aggressively promote Soldier and Wingman culture and fitness/resilience.

With all that being done how is it that in 2012, the highest suicide year on record, was at 93 Army National Guard and 47 Army Reserve. A total of 140 has already been passed?

In October of 2012 the Department of Defense put the total at 67 Army National Guard and 34 Army Reserve. Total 101.

For 2013 by October there had been 70 Army National Guard and 42 Army Reserve for a total of 112.

The question that really needs to be answer is; With so much being done and less to answer for, why aren't the numbers a hell of a lot lower? Here's a reminder of what has been going on and the attitude the brass still holds.

"Some of it is just personal make-up. Intestinal fortitude. Mental toughness that ensures that people are able to deal with stressful situations."

That was said by Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno in October to the Huffington Post. He went on to say that it was also partly the families to blame as well.

"But it also has to do with where you come from. I came from a loving family, one who gave lots of positive reinforcement, who built up psychologically who I was, who I am, what I might want to do. It built confidence in myself, and I believe that enables you to better deal with stress. It enables you to cope more easily than maybe some other people."