U.S. Army Releases January Suicide Data

The Army released sui­cide data today for the month of Jan­u­ary. Dur­ing Jan­u­ary, among active-duty sol­diers, there were 16 poten­tial sui­cides: five have been con­firmed as sui­cide and 11 remain under inves­ti­ga­tion. For Decem­ber, the Army report­ed 11 poten­tial sui­cides among active-duty sol­diers. Since the release of that report, eight have been con­firmed as a sui­cide and three remain under investigation. 

Dur­ing Jan­u­ary, among reserve com­po­nent sol­diers who were not on active duty, there were six poten­tial sui­cides (five Army Nation­al Guard and one Army Reserve): none have been con­firmed as sui­cide and six remain under inves­ti­ga­tion. For Decem­ber, among that same group, the Army report­ed five poten­tial sui­cides. Since the release of that report, one case has been added for a total of six cas­es (four Army Nation­al Guard and two Army Reserve). Six were con­firmed as sui­cides and none remain under investigation. 

“With our Army in sig­nif­i­cant tran­si­tion, our lead­er­ship at all lev­els is engaged to syn­chro­nize our efforts to improve the health and dis­ci­pline of the force and the well-being of our Army fam­i­lies,” said Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, the Army deputy chief of staff, G‑1. “I am encour­aged by the 2011 Army sui­cide data that reflects a slight decrease in sui­cides from the record year expe­ri­enced in 2010 and a halt­ing of the dra­mat­ic increas­es expe­ri­enced between 2006 and 2009; how­ev­er, many chal­lenges lie ahead, which we must tack­le togeth­er.” Bostick urges lead­ers and sol­diers to read, digest and apply the prin­ci­ples and lessons learned reflect­ed in the “Gold Book” as it con­tin­ues and expands the dia­logue on health pro­mo­tion and risk reduc­tion. “The ‘Gold Book’ will help lead­ers at all lev­els con­tin­ue the face to face con­ver­sa­tions that are focused on reduc­ing the stig­ma asso­ci­at­ed with help-seek­ing behav­ior. Our Army fam­i­ly deserves our very best effort and that is what they will receive!” 

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 .

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