Troubling response to two Vermont National Guard suicides in a week

This may sound like a good idea especially after two members of the Vermont National Guard committed suicide in one week, but it isn't. I really hate to say it but it could lead to larger problems stopping them from asking for help. If the VA shares information with the National Guards, what does the "multidisciplinary response" actually mean to the members of the Guard?

Guard, VA promote programs to help combat vets
Free Press
Sam Hemingway
Staff Writer
October 3, 2014

Col. Martin Lucenti, state surgeon with the Vermont National Guard, talks about the outreach team tasked with reaching out to soldiers, even knocking on doors, to check the mental health of its soldiers.
(Photo: RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS)

COLCHESTER – A team of Vermont National Guard and Veterans Administration personnel are on the lookout for combat veterans who have mental-health or other re-integration problems, the Guard's top medical officer says.

"We get together regularly and say, 'Who are you worried about?' " Col. Martin Lucenti said during a news briefing Thursday afternoon at Guard headquarters at Camp Johnson in Colchester. " 'Who's having drug problems? Who's having behavioral health problems? Who has financial crises?' All those things trigger a multidisciplinary response."

Lucenti said the exact number is unknown, but about 25 percent of the 1,500 Guard soldiers deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lucenti made his remarks in the aftermath of the suicides of two Guard soldiers in the past week.
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