What has been the impact of suicide on soldier and unit morale?

COL Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 00:14:37 -0500

**REPOST** 6 More Anonymous Participants Needed

Are you a current or previous Battalion Commander or Command Sergeants Major that is currently serving or have served within the last 4 years whose unit suffered from a suicide? Would you like to share how that event impacted the other Soldiers within your unit and its readiness or morale? Also, would you like to discuss what you think should be done to address the military response to providing soldiers with more postvention resources?

If so, you are invited to take part in this study to share your observations on how these events impacted your Soldiers and your unit. You will also be able to provide your thoughts on what you think needs to be done to address this growing problem of suicide within the military with hopes of some positive social change in the future.

This study is being conducted by a researcher named Tom Noble, who is a doctoral student at Walden University. He is also a current serving Battalion Commander. However this study is being conducted for his PhD, and is not part of his job in the army. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Tom Noble using RP messages.

Response by LTC Wayne Brandon made Dec 23 at 2019 12:23 AM

LTC Wayne Brandon — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 00:23:20 -0500

This sounds like a great piece of research.
Will the results of this study be made available to the RP community?

Response by COL Dana Hampton made Dec 23 at 2019 7:13 AM

COL Dana Hampton — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 07:13:29 -0500

I was a NG BN CDR from 9/2011 to 10/2014. In that time the BN suffered 2 suicides.

The first was an E4 who had left Active Duty about 4-5 months prior, entering the NG while attending college. After an evening of heavy drinking, he took his own life with a hand gun. Unknown to the Command at every level, until after his death, was that he was under VA care for PTSD and supposed to be on medication for depression and had stopped taking his medication. His family knew. The Soldier knew. The VA knew. Yet that information was never shared with us as the gaining unit or NG medical providers. At that time, and maybe to this day, because of HIPAA rules, information wasn’t transmitted to the NG and the Soldier failed disclose his condition, no one had any awareness of his struggles until the investigation after his death. His battery was very solemn for a short while afterward, but recovered as time passed. I hope the VA changes it rules to share medical information with NG providers.

The 2nd was a long serving E6 who was a very good cannon Section Chief and well respected by leaders and Soldiers. The day he died he had done PT that morning with the Readiness NCO and even spoke forward thinking thoughts about the upcoming drill. Unknown to the chain of command, he was in severe financial distress for his family. He took his own life with a hand gun about 4 hours later. The investigation revealed he took his own life for the SGLI so his wife could payoff debt. Again, he did not seek out help or notify his chain that he needed help. His battery’s morale was affected much longer largely because he had served years with the same unit.

Bottom line, in both of these cases, these soldiers were veterans of OIF or OEF, had personal issues of which the chain had no awareness prior to their deaths and they never shared their struggles with people who could have intervened.

2 of the toughest funerals I ever attended and the most needless.

We’d had all the required suicide prevention training. Those around them knew the signs to look for, yet, no one saw them. The Soldiers never shared.

In my opinion, pride kept these Soldiers from seeking assistance. It hurt more, because resources were (and are) available to help each. I still am challenged by their loss to this day.

Response by TSgt Thomas Monaghan made Dec 24 at 2019 2:22 PM

TSgt Thomas Monaghan — Tue, 24 Dec 2019 14:22:42 -0500

Will the armed services start treating people before they get to Suicide? As of now is people are honest about there mental issues no matter how big or small the military tries to discharge them. This is a major reason why NO ONE EVER ANSWERS TRUTHFULLY!!!

Response by SPC Stewart Smith made Dec 25 at 2019 3:31 PM

SPC Stewart Smith — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 15:31:54 -0500

I was in '04-'08.
We had a soldier in my squad commit suicide after re-deployment.
There were no signs he showed to anyone. He was outgoing, positive, great moral booster, and an overall great soldier who talked about reenlistment. He was a good friend who I miss to this day.
When SPC J committed suicide it was a shock to everyone. The Battalion chaplain had a meeting with our company to tell us what happened. We were all up in the conference joking around and discussing what we were doing later before he came in. As soon as he started to speak his voice was cracking. He didn't get past "SPC J" before he burst into tears. The entire room was silent as he spoke. When he finished "died last night..." there were multiple people crying. The 1SG, commander, PSGs, and LTs all stood there and talked to us. They hugged us as we left. Throughout the next few days, before the funeral, the entire company was quiet. Nobody was in their 'normal' happy joking mood. Morning formation had a somber tone. Sadness was everywhere. We had a ruck march about 3 days after the funeral to boost moral. The Chaplain was with us on that march and when we got to our destination we sat for about 3 hours and discussed what was going on.
I PCSd about 4 months later. Leading up to that PCS moral never really went back to what it was. We sort of "got used" to what had happened. We started joking around again and joking, but it was never quite the same.
The entire atmosphere changed and never returned to normal. I miss Jornales. He was closer than a friend. I deployed with him. I grew with him. He was my brother and I'll never see him again.

Response by Lt Col Charlie Brown made Jan 9 at 2020 6:25 AM

Lt Col Charlie Brown — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 06:25:19 -0500

Please share

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 9 at 2020 11:33 PM

COL Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 23:33:55 -0500

Thanks everyone for over 1900 views. If you know of anyone that meets the requirements for this study, please share the invitation with them.