US Army Releases August Suicide Data

     The Army released sui­cide data today for the month of August. Among active-duty sol­diers, there were 19 poten­tial sui­cides: three have been con­firmed as sui­cides and 16 remain under inves­ti­ga­tion. For July 2011, the Army report­ed 22 poten­tial sui­cides among active-duty sol­diers. Since the release of that report, five cas­es have been con­firmed as sui­cide, and 17 cas­es remain under inves­ti­ga­tion.

     Dur­ing August 2011, among reserve com­po­nent sol­diers who were not on active duty, there were nine poten­tial sui­cides: none have been con­firmed as sui­cide and nine remain under inves­ti­ga­tion. For July 2011, the Army report­ed 10 poten­tial sui­cides among not-on-active-duty sol­diers. Since the release of that report, one case has been added for a total of 11 cas­es. Three cas­es have been con­firmed as sui­cide and eight cas­es remain under investigation. 

     “Sui­cide pre­ven­tion train­ing and aware­ness are vital com­po­nents of the Army’s health pro­mo­tion and risk reduc­tion efforts against the trag­ic occur­rence of sui­cide with­in our ranks,” said Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G‑1. “It is a pri­or­i­ty that deserves our full atten­tion and con­tin­ued empha­sis by all lead­ers. Junior lead­ers and first-line super­vi­sors can be espe­cial­ly effec­tive in assist­ing those in a moment of cri­sis. We col­lab­o­rate exten­sive­ly with oth­er fed­er­al and nation­al pro­grams to assure we remain abreast of the very lat­est research and best prac­tices. To date, our focused efforts have result­ed in thou­sands of trained indi­vid­u­als through­out the Army who now have the skills to rec­og­nize the signs of sui­cide, exer­cise appro­pri­ate inter­ven­tion tech­niques, and engage the numer­ous orga­ni­za­tions with­in the Army and DoD that stand ready to help at any hour of the day or night. These skills are invalu­able and have equipped many in our Army to lend a hand to fel­low sol­diers, Depart­ment of the Army civil­ians, and their fam­i­lies in their dai­ly encoun­ters,” said Bostick. 

     Sol­diers and fam­i­lies in need of cri­sis assis­tance can con­tact the Nation­al Sui­cide Pre­ven­tion Life­line. Trained con­sul­tants are avail­able 24 hours a day, sev­en days a week, 365 days a year and can be con­tact­ed by dial­ing 1–800-273-TALK (8255) or by vis­it­ing their web­site athttp://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org .

     Army lead­ers can access cur­rent health pro­mo­tion guid­ance in new­ly revised Army Reg­u­la­tion 600–63 (Health Pro­mo­tion) at: http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r600_63.pdf and Army Pam­phlet 600–24 (Health Pro­mo­tion, Risk Reduc­tion and Sui­cide Pre­ven­tion) at http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/p600_24.pdf .

     The Army’s com­pre­hen­sive list of Sui­cide Pre­ven­tion Pro­gram infor­ma­tion is locat­ed at http://www.preventsuicide.army.mil .

     Sui­cide pre­ven­tion train­ing resources for Army fam­i­lies can be accessed at http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicide/training_sub.asp?sub_cat=20 (requires Army Knowl­edge Online access to down­load materials). 

     Infor­ma­tion about Mil­i­tary One­Source is locat­ed athttp: // www.militaryonesource.comor by dial­ing the toll-free num­ber 1–800-342–9647for those resid­ing in the con­ti­nen­tal Unit­ed States. Over­seas per­son­nel should refer to the Mil­i­tary One­Source web­site for dial­ing instruc­tions for their spe­cif­ic location. 

     Infor­ma­tion about the Army’s Com­pre­hen­sive Sol­dier Fit­ness Pro­gram is locat­ed at http://www.army.mil/csf/ .

     The Defense Cen­ter for Excel­lence for Psy­cho­log­i­cal Health and Trau­mat­ic Brain Injury (DCoE) Out­reach Cen­ter can be con­tact­ed at 1–866-966‑1020, via elec­tron­ic mail at Resources@DCoEOutreach.org and at http://www.dcoe.health.mil .

     The web­site for the Amer­i­can Foun­da­tion for Sui­cide Pre­ven­tion is http://www.afsp.org/, and the Sui­cide Pre­ven­tion Resource Coun­cil site is found athttp://www.sprc.org/index.asp .

     The web­site for the Tragedy Assis­tance Pro­gram for Sur­vivors is http://www.TAPS.org, and they can be reached at 1–800-959-TAPS (8277).

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs)