WASHINGTON — The Army wants the number of soldiers seeking help for mental health and personal issues to grow exponentially, in the hope that a shift in military culture will result in fewer suicides.
“Eliminating the stigma” of asking for help is one of the most important challenges the Army faces in addressing high suicide rates among service members, Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the vice chief of staff of the Army, said at a news conference on Thursday.
The Army also wants to focus suicide prevention resources on individuals identified as high risk — either because of their demographic characteristics, such as age, or records of behavioral problems, such as alcohol or drug abuse.
In a 15-month report released this week, the Army identified 160 suicide deaths among active duty and reserve members during the fiscal year 2009, and 1,713 suicide attempts. That number is probably low, according to Chiarelli.
“That does not account for the individual who takes a bottle of aspirin, doesn’t think they’re going to wake up, wakes up the next morning and we never hear about it,” he said.
The report identifies 146 additional deaths that resulted from “high risk” behavior, such as substance abuse.
In early 2009 the military reported that the suicide rate had surpassed the national civilian suicide rate for the first time since the Vietnam War. More than 75 percent of the soldiers who committed suicide during that fiscal year had no deployment history or had been on just one deployment.
“The most dangerous year to be a soldier is your first year in the United States Army,” Chiarelli said. “We see more suicides in that first year than any other year.”
He attributed that finding to the relatively low psychological and emotional resiliency of young soldiers, who are often 18, 19 or 20 years old. However, he said the good news is that resiliency and coping skills can be taught.
“In basic training today … we have added 10 hours of resiliency training for young soldiers entering the Army,” Chiarelli said. “That is the kind of thing that comes out of data like this and it allows us to focus our efforts to make sure that we are expending resources where we need to expend resources.”
The report, which is available in an interactive format online, could be an important tool to help Army leaders lower suicide rates on the ground, the general said.
“A commander now – a young lieutenant down there, a young captain down there – knows that his high-risk population is that new population that is coming into his unit, so that time that he has or she has, they can focus it on that new soldier.” Chiarelli said. “Pay attention to soldiers that demonstrate high-risk behavior, look at the data we were able to provide you here, and [you can] use that to help you prioritize your time on who you’re going to concentrate on.”