How would you improve the ACE Card's effectiveness?

CH (MAJ) William Beaver — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 18:17:26 -0400

Most all Soldiers these days have seen - and probably carry on their person the Army ACE Card. This is a three step suicide prevention card. We usually receive it at a briefing or training. How effective is the Ace Card? Have you used it to help a Buddy? If you were tasked with improving the Ace Card itself, or the training program for it, what would you do? How would you improve its effectiveness ? Or would you use a different item or training to meet the same need?

Response by GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad made Apr 23 at 2015 6:19 PM

GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 18:19:20 -0400

Thanks for sharing ... I had honestly never seen one of these before. Do all branches use these?

Response by SFC Stephen King made Apr 23 at 2015 6:25 PM

SFC Stephen King — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 18:25:28 -0400

If I were to do one thing I would make it mobile. Using the card is a great tool but if you mobilize it with an application for a smartphone it will be with Soldiers at all times.

Response by CH (CPT) Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 23 at 2015 8:14 PM

CH (CPT) Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 20:14:12 -0400

I think it's okay for what it is. Our command is pushing ASIST training at the BN level a bit more than ACE recently. ASIST is suicide intervention and ACE is suicide prevention. I think they both have a place and are helpful.

Unfortunately, due to the sensitive and sometimes confidential nature of suicide and suicidal ideations, it's really hard to quantify the effectiveness of these programs one way or the other--outside of one's own personal experiences and knowledge of success/failure due to the programs use.