Army Released 2011 July Suicide Data

            The Army released sui­cide data today for the month of July.  Among active-duty sol­diers, there were 22 poten­tial sui­cides:  three have been con­firmed as sui­cide and 19 remain under inves­ti­ga­tion.  For June 2011, the Army report­ed nine poten­tial sui­cides among active-duty sol­diers.  Since the release of that report, three cas­es have been con­firmed as sui­cide, and six cas­es remain under inves­ti­ga­tion.
            Dur­ing July 2011, among reserve com­po­nent sol­diers who were not on active duty, there were 10 poten­tial sui­cides: none have been con­firmed as sui­cide and 10 remain under inves­ti­ga­tion.  For June 2011, the Army report­ed five poten­tial sui­cides among not-on-active-duty sol­diers.  Since the release of that report, one case has been added for a total of six cas­es.  Four cas­es have been con­firmed as sui­cide, and two cas­es remain under inves­ti­ga­tion.
            “Every sui­cide rep­re­sents a trag­ic loss to our Army and the nation.  While the high num­ber of poten­tial sui­cides in July is dis­cour­ag­ing, we are con­fi­dent our efforts aimed at increas­ing indi­vid­u­als’ resilien­cy, while reduc­ing inci­dence of at-risk and high-risk behav­ior across the force, are hav­ing a pos­i­tive impact,” Gen. Peter W. Chiarel­li, vice chief of staff of the Army, stat­ed.  “We absolute­ly rec­og­nize there is much work to be done and remain com­mit­ted to ensur­ing our peo­ple are cared for and have ready access to the best pos­si­ble pro­grams and ser­vices.”
            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 at http://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 at http://www.militaryonesource.com or by dial­ing the toll-free num­ber 1–800-342‑9647 for 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 at http://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) 

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