ATTENTION: Sgt. Maj. of the Army to discuss Army wide Suicide Stand Down

Sgt. Maj. of the Army, Raymond Chandler, III

On Thursday, September 27, 2012 the Army will conduct a suicide prevention Stand Down worldwide to focus on promoting good health, teammate involvement, risk reduction and resilience training. The theme for the Stand Down is “Shoulder to Shoulder, We Stand Up for Life.”

On Wednesday, September 26, at 12:30 p.m. ET, Sergeant Major of the Army, Raymond F. Chandler, III will participate in a bloggers/media roundtable to discuss the Stand Down and how the Army is working to reduce and eliminate stigma associated with seeking help for suicidal ideations and actions.

Listen to the conversation LIVE here: http://www.dvidshub.net/webcast/2645

September is recognized nationally and by the Army as Suicide Prevention Month. The theme for this years’ observance is “A Healthy Force is a Ready Force.” The Army Suicide Prevention Program focuses on minimizing suicidal behavior by training Soldiers, leaders, Department of the Army civilians and family members to recognize signs of suicidal behavior, intervention strategies and how to refer individuals for care.

During the Army Suicide Prevention Month, agencies and organizations throughout the Army are executing appropriate educational activities to observe Suicide Prevention Month. In addition, Public service announcements with senior leaders messaging have been disseminated throughout the Army to support Army leaders.

Learn more about what the Army is doing to prevent suicides and to find additional resources, visit http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicide/default.asp.

Sharon

Glad this is being addressed for our soldiers. I am no doctor but grew up with a suicidal parent.please ask fr help,not everyone dead with stress the same. Your in a stressful,harms way situation. You see death,injuries far more then the normal person would ever see.. Doesn’t make you less of a man or woman to seek help.
ArmyDoc

The recent stand down of Forces in effort to improve suicide
awareness is just another example of the Military “checking the
box.” While there may have been
organized instruction on some posts at Ft. Gordon there was definitely
NOT! There was a 100% mandated
individual counseling of service members by supervisors. Great plan, with one problem….the supervisors
to a man were ill equipped to deal with the question’s answers. Suicidal ideation was the easiest to
address-escort immediately to medical treatment facility. The rest…Even medical providers counseling
their soldiers had no guidance as to what determined moderate vs. high
risk. Furthermore medical providers were
to report high risk providers to their Battalion Commander. Who is???
The counseling forms recommended we have at risk off post soldiers bring
in their weapons. I personally have
treated two soldiers who shot themselves when they were sent to retrieve their
weapons. You keep the soldier and send
the unit to retrieve the weapon. When is
the Military going to figure this one out?
Airborne Stormie!

Its about time the Army recongnizes its a problem they can’t hide behind “training accidents” anymore. I only hope middle and upper management supports mental health options for soldiers these days, for when I was in 2001-2009 all I ever heard was “going to mental health is a career ender because you will get diagnosed will PTSD or depression, it follows you like SAP (Substance and Alochol Program) and the Dr’s will put you on paxil permentantly.I lost 2 of my closest friends to sucide one right after the other in Iraq during 2003, both of the deaths were considered “training accidents or KIA”. During our debriefing stateside we had to clear psych, but were briefed before hand that, “discussing trauma or mental defect will result in further treatment that will be recorded in our medical file and could seperate us from the service.” Two weeks after redeployment another soldier in our battalion took his life. All of this could have been prevented, however I am glad to see the Army is making an effort now.

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ATTENTION: Sgt. Maj. of the Army to discuss Army wide Suicide Stand Down

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