What is your opinion about the lack of understanding of the suicide epidemic within the active ranks?

SFC Stephen King — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 12:32:38 -0500

Toxic leadership, failure to command

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Nov 9 at 2019 1:13 PM

SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 13:13:56 -0500

More should be done by those in leadership, even though they may have a full plate of other reponsibilities, they should think of those under them.

Response by MSG Danny Mathers made Nov 9 at 2019 4:29 PM

MSG Danny Mathers — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 16:29:16 -0500

I heard a while back that a lot of the suicides were due to the embarrassment of being raped and the stigma that comes with it. Think about it........

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Nov 9 at 2019 7:29 PM

SGM Bill Frazer — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 19:29:02 -0500

Look people we die like flies. AD suffer about 1 per day, that is not too far off the average- Things like toxic leadership, INABILITY to COPE, and a whole multitude of things add to the package. An epidemic? you are kidding right ?? Units like the 82nd suffer 20K of injuries in a year, and we lose folks due to training accidents every few days. AN Epidemic is the 22 Veterans who commit suicide every single damn day.

Response by TSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 9 at 2019 9:43 PM

TSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 21:43:23 -0500

It is a multi-level problem.

First off no one wants to take responsibility for the role they play. The member's friends don't want to admit they knew something was wrong. The member's direct leadership knew the member was having family and financial problems and did nothing. And no one told the unit leadership that they had a morale problem in the junior ranks or had a member that had issues.

It is really easy to blame the leadership that they are responsible for suicides. Do they hold some responsibility absolutely! Leadership molds unit cohesion. But they are not the glue, they don't see you every day.

I had a friend in the service that basically told me he had bought a rope and when that one really bad day happened he had the tree picked out already. He had a litany of different things going on, but to make a long story a touch short I helped guide him for a while and he has gone on in life.

As people, we have to be willing to reach out and help those in need that are right next to us. We have to be willing to be emotionally invested when the time comes. If you can't find someone who will be...

We have to take responsibility when we don't help and step up when can. We have so many resources that go unused every day because no one wants to say or do anything.

Response by SFC Stephen King made Nov 10 at 2019 7:37 AM

SFC Stephen King — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 07:37:00 -0500

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/09/26/active-duty-suicides-are-on-the-rise-as-the-pentagon-works-on-new-messaging-and-strategy/

Active duty suicides are on the rise, as the Pentagon works on new messaging and strategy

Pentagon data shows that active duty suicides are rising, while the National Guard has the highest rate overall.

Response by SFC Stephen King made Nov 10 at 2019 7:47 AM

SFC Stephen King — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 07:47:56 -0500

Here are the 2018 numbers broken down by service (several of the reserve component branches do not have a rate, because they have fewer than 100,000 members):

Army: 139 for a rate of 29.5
Marine Corps: 58, for a rate of 31.4
Navy: 68, for a rate of 18.5
Air Force: 60, for a rate of 18.5
Army Reserve: 48, for a rate of 25.3
Marine Corps Reserve: 19
Navy Reserve: 11
Air Force Reserve: 3
Army National Guard: 118, for a rate of 35.3
Air National Guard: 17