Friday, May 30, 2008

Active-Duty Soldier Suicides Hit New High

Pentagon Reports 115 Soldiers Killed Themselves In 2007 Marking Third-Straight Increase

The number of Army suicides increased again last year, amid the most violent year yet in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

An Army official said Thursday that 115 troops committed suicide in 2007, a nearly 13 percent increase over the previous year's 102. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because a full report on the deaths wasn't being released until later Thursday.

About a quarter of the deaths occurred in Iraq.

SNIP





A Soldier's Cry For Help
CBS News first broke the story of the growing epidemic of suicides among army personnel last November. David Martin has one soldier's harrowing story and her struggle to get help.

1 comment:

Jimmie S. - LT Navy (ret) said...

This is very troubling, disturbing and frankly, not too unexpected. I don't think any one branch of the service has a real answer, or grasp of the problem. It's multi-factorial, and I would include repeated tours, combat stress, lack of infrastructure support (I'll elaborate on this separately), pre-existing mental illness/history of depression, apathy of commands, and indifference of leaders. The latter two are what I would include in poor infrastructure support. I don’t think having more suicide “stand-downs”, or workshops are going to make a huge impact. My premise for this is that it falls to the leadership, and I mean from the Commander in Chief, to the Platoon Sergeant, NCO level. The military has embraced this business model philosophy and unfortunately, the product is some junior officers, younger leaders are being force fed leadership via academics, not by example. Leadership starts at the top, does it not? Our current president and much of his WH staff are all examples of ineffectual policy makers, and leaders. Although G.W. does show empathy and concern for these soldiers, does he really understand why?
Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen are a cadre of proud men and women whom serve in this country voluntarily and respond to the call for arms, as they should. Military men and women have never questioned orders, authority and always did and still do what was/is asked of them. In light of the revelations about the legitimacy for the war in Iraq are the troops immune from questioning their Commander in Chief quietly? In Afghanistan we fare no better, as there seems to be no end in sight without a clear obtainable objective. The President would have us believe it is to bring stability and democracy to the regions. For what cost and for how long will we continue? I think along the line of a decade or more, if ever? I think most military members understand the dim prospects for any end in sight, as they continue to be stretched thin across both theaters of operation. Add into this mixture the lack of logistical support, such as armor on their vehicles, SAPI plates, inadequate air or medical support. Blend into this the pressure by military staff to keep all units filled to the what the table of organization (TO) allows, which in I would wager that more than a few are woefully below TO. The requirement is further pressed to do more with less. Leaders can become apathetic to request for treatment for depression, anxiety if the onus is on them to keep every man in the field or deployable, especially when they are critically short. When men and women are referred for screening or treatment this can takes weeks, or months. Even the post deployment questionnaires are a measure of enforcement without much action, as the paper in neatly filed in the members jacket without any further intervention. It becomes a requirement fulfilled, no less than sitting through 30 minutes of suicide awareness.
So, what’s the answer? No easy answer that I can see as long as we persist in sending our men and women to what I believe at least to be one purposeless war (Iraq). Afghanistan has been relegated as the other war and most of its initial success has fizzled, and the Taliban have rebounded as we have shifted support to Iraq. The leadership at all levels needs to be held responsible for their charges, (our sons and daughters). The first thought of a CO/platoon leader/NCO of a distressed soldier should not be to punish, humiliate, ostracize, or ignore them. Passing them off to a psychiatrist or psychologists whom assume they are malingering (in reference to the story today about a soldiers suicide in Iraq), and therefore fit for full duty and returned to their commands. This should not be interpreted as a pass the buck to the treating physician, when commanders are aware that a member is making a suicidal threat, acting depressed, or overly anxious. My plea is that these are the soldiers that see the individual every day, and at least his squad leader should know that gestures such as a soldier putting a rifle in his mouth do not require a suicide prevention class to know that something is terribly wrong. Some soldiers are stoic and suffer in silence, but I still bet their battle buddy knows them well enough to interpret a change in behavior for what it is. A mechanism with effective leadership, and genuine regard for the individual would go a long way in preventing some of these deaths.
I did not intend for this to be such a long post, but my heart breaks for the suffering of these men and women. I was a Navy Medical Officer assigned to a small BAS about 50 miles from the Iranian border in SW Afghanistan, with the responsibility of the health and well-being of about 100 soldiers and marines, many miles and hours for medical evacuation. Through my 30 year career, I’ve seen much of the military and the changes it brought; namely our style of leadership which has swayed from by example, to following business philosophies, Demming’s Total Quality Management, in the mid 80’s to Total Quality Leadership the latter 80’s, and more recently mentor/mentee programs. All have positive merits, and I believe they have or had purposes, but there is no substitution for knowing your men, developing your subordinates, and accepting responsibility and accountability even in the face of unpopular opinion (putting soldiers back to duty on the assumption of malingering as in the recent suicide). This alone won’t deter all suicides, but it’s a start. In addition we are severely understaffed to treat these returning vets, and the mechanisms are painfully slow, tedious, underfunded, or don’t exist to meet the need.

All expressed opinions are my own, and certainly welcome fulfillment of Mr. Lennon’s vision for the masses.