US Army Releases September Suicide Data

     The Army released sui­cide data today for the month of Sep­tem­ber. Among active-duty sol­diers, there were 16 poten­tial sui­cides: two have been con­firmed as sui­cide and 14 remain under inves­ti­ga­tion.  For August 2011, the Army report­ed 19 poten­tial sui­cides among active-duty sol­diers. Since the release of that report, four cas­es have been con­firmed as sui­cide and 15 cas­es remain under investigation. 

     Dur­ing Sep­tem­ber 2011, among reserve com­po­nent sol­diers who were not on active duty, there were six poten­tial sui­cides: two have been con­firmed as sui­cide and four remain under inves­ti­ga­tion. For August 2011, the Army report­ed nine poten­tial sui­cides among not-on-active-duty sol­diers. Since the release of that report, one case has been added for a total of 10 cas­es. Three cas­es have been con­firmed as sui­cide and sev­en cas­es remain under investigation. 

      “There is noth­ing more impor­tant than the health and well-being of our sol­diers, DA civil­ians, and fam­i­ly mem­bers,” said Gen. Ray Odier­no, the Army’s Chief of Staff. “We need each and every mem­ber of our team. One sui­cide is one too many. Pre­ven­tion and inter­ven­tion efforts must be at the top of our pri­or­i­ties. They are also crit­i­cal to main­tain­ing trust, the bedrock of our pro­fes­sion. Sol­diers must trust their fel­low sol­diers and their lead­ers to help them through dif­fi­cult times. Lead­ers can make a dif­fer­ence, one sol­dier at a time, by rec­og­niz­ing and respond­ing to high risk behav­ior ear­ly. I believe it is a sign of strength to ask for help.” 

     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.pdfand 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)