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Posted on Nov 9, 2019
What is your opinion about the lack of understanding of the suicide epidemic within the active ranks?
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Toxic leadership, failure to command
Posted in these groups: 
Stop Soldier Suicide
Stop Soldier Suicide
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 6
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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.
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TSgt (Join to see)
Colonel Smith does not know PVT Elliot is having issues unless SGT Jones passes the info up the chain of command. It is really easy to blame senior leadership for everything, but NCO's carry most of the responsibility.
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SFC Stephen King
Exactly, I recently talked with a CPT who said I don't know all the people I command. Really, this is what he said.
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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
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
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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.
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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.
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.
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SFC Stephen King
TSgt (Join to see) I agree there needs to be more exposure of the problem. We lose more active duty service members than Veterans yet the focus of 20 or 22 a day is mainly to bring awareness to the veterans. I believe the whole program needs to be reevaluated and brought to the front. As I pursue higher education my intent is to reengage the community and offer plans to assist with the situation.
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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.
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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........
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