For three years, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli has been spearheading the Army's effort to reduce the number of suicides in the service.
His effort has been thorough and transparent -- but the numbers indicate the effort may not be effective.
The latest numbers released by Chiarelli during a briefing with reporters Thursday show that active-duty Army suicides were up again in 2011, compared to 2010. And suicides throughout the Army, the Army Reserves and the National Guard, while down in the past year, are still nearly 40% above what they were from 2008, the year before Chiarelli began overseeing the Army suicide prevention effort.
The figures show that there were 164 suicides in the Army in 2011, compared to 159 in 2010. For all three categories -- Army, Army Reserves and National Guard -- there were 278 suicides in 2011, compared to 200 in 2008.
Chiarelli believes that one way to reduce soldier suicides is to get guns away from soldiers who exhibit high-risk behavior. However, the general doesn't want to take the guns, he simply wants the Army to have the right to ask high-risk soldiers if they want their weapons locked up at a base depot while they are dealing with behavioral issues. Right now, an NRA-backed law forbids even asking soldiers about guns in the home.
Luckily, Chiarelli has predicted recent treatment and mental health evaluation programs and awareness among military leaders will help turn the trend around.
Do you find it surprising that these efforts have not effected suicide rates? Should the NRA allow us to ask soldiers about guns in their homes? Do you think there could be another effective way to helping struggling soldiers?
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/us/army-suicides/index.html?hpt=us_c2
8 comments:
I am not surprised that the efforts have not had much of an effect, the soldiers deal with major trauma and issues that we cannot even understand. I do not believe that the NRA law should be taken away, the soldiers are defending our nation and so they should be able to defend their home and family as well. Guns are not the problem, a gun is not the only way to kill yourself. If they really want to kill themselves they will find a way. I think that therapy and possible ways of getting to soldiers to confront their past or giving the soldiers something that they find just as meaningful as serving.
I definitely do not find it shocking that these efforts have not effected the suicide rates. Like Sean said, these soldiers endure immense amounts of trauma when they are stationed in combat. The conditions they are put under can easily make a person mentally unstable and put in the position where they think suicide is the best option. I do not think that the suicides can lower by simply getting guns away from soldiers who show high risk behavior. In war, there are many ways that someone can kill themselves that do not involve shooting themselves. In addition, it may not be very easy to tell if someone is showing thoughts of suicide, especially with all of things going on during a war. A soldier can seem perfectly fine one day and commit suicide the next. These situations cannot be prevented by the new effforts taking place. Also the NRA-backed law preventing soldiers from having guns in their home is not effective for the same reason. There are many more ways to commit suicide that with a gun. I believe that the best way to lower the suicide rates in the military is by treating the soldiers mentally. The military has medics, so why not have therapists as well. If the mental stress that the soldiers endure can be reduced in any way, I believe that the suicide rate will drop.
Assomeone who has seen many military family members suffer from PTSD in reaction to their service, I too am not surprised that these measures were not able to effect the needed change.
The real problem is not the presence of arms in the home. In fact,if a soldiers gun was taken from him and he classified as "high rick" that action would further accentuate his struggle and isolate him even more. No, the way to prevent suicides is not by taking away the things that make a soldier, a soldier, but rather to ensure that the military families and the enlisted person themself are given proper treatment and education on the effects of service.
As in the case of veterans returning home from Vietnam, returning soldiers can feel isolated and out of place in civilian society. Similar to the child soldier in Ishmael Beah's book A Long Way Gone, the enlisted are descensitized from normal society and adapt behaviors and manners that best suit the environmentthey are in. Therefore,returning home can be a culture shock, an abrupt awakening from the life of active duty. By educating families on the effects of PTSD or other disorders that theveteran suffer from, they can effectively help ease the shock and help the soldier adjust. IN addition, a monitoring system should be put in place to ensure that the transition into the civilian world is going as smooothly as possible. Though this obviously will not completely stop suicide rates, it will provide a steady support system that the discharged or wounded soldiers can lean on.
The issues with suicides in the Army are inevitable almost. I think programs that help soldiers deal with post traumatic stress can help a little, but the sad truth is that there are going to be suicides in these situations. War leaves mental scars on men like nothing else in the world does. I think that while the problem cannot totally be eliminated, is it a good idea to have the right to ask soldiers if they want their guns taken away during times of stress or mental struggle. This at least will take off some temptation. These mental health programs for soldiers, however, needed to be elevated and more heavily funded if we want to actually see some positive changes in the suicide rates. These soldiers need to know that people care too much about them to see them take their own lives.
This is a sad fact of war. Soldiers are put in extremely stressful situations and are often exposed to the horrors of humanity. Suicide rate among soldiers is extremely high, and it is something that our nation needs to work to reduce. I think that Gen. Chiarelli has good ideas on ways to help prevent this epidemic. The idea of asking soldiers if they want their guns removed from their home if they are high risk could be one effective way to manage the problem. There is nothing wrong with letting the army ask about a soldier's guns, but I don't think they should be allowed to take them. I think that if we want to solve the problem completely, we need to offer more programs to help soldiers deal with the problems they are having. Simply eliminating guns from their house will not solve the problem. We need to provide them the resources to get better. I think that is the best route to solving our high military suicide rate, although giving the soldier the option to remove guns is a step in the right directions
The other day I watched a movie called Stop Lose with soliders returning from Iraq battling with PTSD and you saw the horrors they relive. The soliders tend to get the mind set that they have to be strong and can not break thus not go for help when clearly they needed. Like Sean said guns are not the only way of ending a life, substance abuse, hanging etc the ways go on. We need more frequent follow ups with the soliders and keep a better eye on those with a higher risk. The NRA law should not be taken away and like Jack said its a part of war and the efforts that go into help people with PTSD have shown to help but others go unnoticed and result in taking their own life cause they cant find a way to cope with the horrors of war. ITs up to the person if they want to place their gun in a safe locked base but you can not force them.
The other day I watched a movie called Stop Lose with soliders returning from Iraq battling with PTSD and you saw the horrors they relive. The soliders tend to get the mind set that they have to be strong and can not break thus not go for help when clearly they needed. Like Sean said guns are not the only way of ending a life, substance abuse, hanging etc the ways go on. We need more frequent follow ups with the soliders and keep a better eye on those with a higher risk. The NRA law should not be taken away and like Jack said its a part of war and the efforts that go into help people with PTSD have shown to help but others go unnoticed and result in taking their own life cause they cant find a way to cope with the horrors of war. ITs up to the person if they want to place their gun in a safe locked base but you can not force them.
Many former and current military personnel suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a mental illness that causes immense amounts of stress to a suffering patient. I find it hard for anybody that endures the entirety of a war, all the bombing, killing, and loss of friends, to not suffer from some sort of depression or stress. The problem is not the guns however. Guns are a part of the military and war, and taking away guns from both the war and individuals does absolutely nothing productive. While soldiers who exhibit high-risk behavior may have their guns taken away, there are other methods of suicide. The only way to treat a mental condition like PTSD or depression is through therapy and medical diagnosis. The symptoms need to be recognized early and quickly for Army suicides to stop.
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