JBLM SPOKESMAN: “We Take Suicide Very Seriously”

At least 12 JBLM soldiers died from suicide in 2011, an all-time high. An internal Army investigation, prompted by senator Patty Murray, into the ‘un-diagnosing’ of PTSD in as many as 400 JBLM soldiers found that at least half had their PTSD diagnosis reversed to reduce disability compensation costs to DoD. Suicide statistics for 2012 are mostly unknown and unreported. The Army is expected to publish its annual suicide report for 2012 sometime next month. Meanwhile, senior Pentagon leaders continue a campaign to minimize the connection between PTSD, war duty and suicide in the military. According to a Nov. 18 USA Today news report, DoD continues its PR effort to link the ongoing military suicide epidemic to a struggling U.S. economy, failed relationships and suicide increases in the general population. “This is not just a military issue or an Army issue,” said Gen. Lloyd Austin III, Army vice chief of staff. “Across the military, we’re a microcosm of what’s in the nation,” said Navy Vice Adm. Martha Herb, director personnel readiness. Above, JBLM soldiers assigned to the “The Ranger Battalion” conduct ceremonies Nov. 7, 2012, at Fort Lewis to mark the end of its 15th combat deployment in the post-9/11 era. According to recently published statistics on a JBLM photo website, the Rangers spent a total of 59 months deployed to combat zones overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. (DoD)

For Tacoma Military Base, a Grim Milestone in Soldier Suicides

JBLM passed an unwelcome milestone in 2011, recording more soldier suicides than in any previous year. At least 12 soldiers took their own lives in 2011, up from nine in 2010 and nine in 2009, said Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield, a Fort Lewis PR officer assigned to the Army’s ‘Most Troubled Post.’ Suicide death totals will likely grow as the Army completes investigations ahead of expected release of its annual suicide report next month. In June, a news report cited Fort Lewis claims that no JBLM soldiers had died from suicide in the first six months of 2012.

by Adam Ashton
Tacoma News Tribune, Nov. 27, 2012

Joint Base Lewis-McChord passed an unwelcome milestone in 2011, recording more soldier suicides than in any previous year.

JBLM spokesman LtCol Gary Dangerfield.

Twelve soldiers took their own lives in 2011, up from nine in 2010 and nine in 2009, Army I Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield said. The total could grow as the Army completes investigations ahead of its annual suicide report next month.

The toll at Lewis-McChord rose despite new efforts to counsel soldiers when they come home from war, including the creation of a suicide-prevention office.

Lewis-McChord leaders plan to apply what they learned from those programs to help soldiers cope with stress at home and in their work.

“We take suicide very seriously,” Dangerfield said. “We’re going to continue to push the envelope to make sure soldiers get the resiliency training they need.”

Lewis-McChord’s surge in suicides followed its busiest year of combat deployments. More than 18,000 soldiers from the base served in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009-10.

The base is also larger than ever, with some 34,000 soldiers stationed there, up from 19,000 before the war in Iraq started.

Leaders at the base established plans to help soldiers readjust to stateside life as major homecomings took place in the summer of 2010. In early 2011, Madigan Army Medical Center reported a rising number of soldiers and military family members seeking behavioral health services, a trend officers interpreted as a sign that people were becoming more open about asking for help.

This is not just a military issue or an Army issue.

— Gen. Lloyd Austin III, Army vice chief of staff

Across the military, we’re a microcosm of what’s in the nation.

— Navy Vice Adm. Martha Herb, director personnel readiness

Read this story at its source:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/12/30/2382161/for-tacoma-military-base-a-grim.html

Watch video news report about Fort Lewis as “most troubled” military base:

PANETTA LEGACY: Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps All Setting New Record Highs for Suicide Deaths in 2012; Reserve Statistics Unaccounted

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta jokes with Army Leader Gen Raymond Odierno at an event in Washington, D.C. Both men are in critical leadership positions at a time when historic rates of suicide continue inside the Army and DoD. Neither man has taken any action to stop the suicides in the military, which will exceed at least 330 active duty men and women in 2012.

Army, Navy Suicides at Record High

by Gregg Zoroya
USA Today, Nov. 18, 2012

Suicides among active-duty forces across the military are now occurring at a rate faster than one per day.

With six weeks left in the year, the Army and Navy are already reporting record numbers of suicides, with the Air Force and Marine Corps close to doing the same, making 2012 the worst year for military suicides since careful tracking began in 2001.

The deaths are now occurring at a rate faster than one per day. On Nov. 11, confirmed or suspected suicides among active-duty forces across the military reached 323, surpassing the Pentagon’s previous high of 310 suicides set in 2009.

Of that total, the Army accounted for 168, surpassing its high last year of 165; 53 sailors took their own lives, one more than last year.

The Air Force and Marine Corps are only a few deaths from record numbers. Fifty-six airmen had committed suicide as of Nov. 11, short of the 60 in 2010. There have been 46 suicides among Marines, whose worst year was 2009 with 52.

“We continue to reach out to and embrace those who are struggling,” the Army’s chief personnel officer, Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg, said in a statement Sunday. “We’ve taken great strides to prevent suicides, but our work isn’t done.”

Military and medical leaders have been searching for answers to what Defense Secretary Leon Panetta describes as an “epidemic” of suicides ever since the numbers began increasing among soldiers and Marines in 2005.

Military suicide researcher David Rudd sees a direct link with the effects of combat and frequent deployments.

“The reason you’re going to see record numbers is because these wars are drawing down and these young men and women are returning home,” Rudd said. “When they return home, that’s where the conflicts surface.”

Read the rest of this story:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/18/navy-suicides-army/1702403/

MILITARY SUICIDE HEARINGS BEGIN: A Distracted-Impotent 112th Congress Prompts New Jersey Action on 23,000 Veterans Dead From Suicide Since 2008; DoD-VA Prevention Programs Have Proved Miserable Failures

Exposure to sustained human carnage on repeated deployments to the killing fields of Afghanistan and Iraq are resulting in historic PTSD and suicide rates among veterans at home. At least 23,000 veterans have killed themselves since 2008 according to data from the VA, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and CBS News. The CDC reports at least 20 percent of all US suicides are veterans. Congressional oversight has failed to slow suicides. DoD-VA efforts have also failed. Pictured above is war scene familiar to troops, but hidden from public view in America. At Kandahar Role 3 Hospital, Navy Lt. Rodolfo Madrid of Kingsville, Texas, runs to receive what’s left of a soldier’s body severely mangled in IED blast. (Justin Sullivan/Getty)

MONDAY ADVISORY: Senate & Assembly Military and Veterans Affairs Committees to Hold Joint Hearing on Suicide, PTSD

Senate and Assembly Military and Veterans Affairs Committees to Hold Joint Hearing on Suicide, PTSD Among Veterans and Members of Armed Forces

by Droseman
PolitickerNJ, Oct. 19th, 2012

TRENTON – The Senate and Assembly Military and Veterans Affairs committees will hold a joint hearing on Monday, October 22, to discuss and hear testimony on the current status of suicide and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans and members of the United States Armed Services and the National Guard.

“We are facing an epidemic among those who serve our country,” said Senator Jim Beach, chairman of the Senate Committee. “They are either taking their own lives because of the traumatic experiences they have undergone, or they are experiencing horrible after affects.

“The men and women who have served our country deserve better than this. We need to fully understand why this is happening and provide solutions to stop it.”

We are facing an epidemic among those who serve our country. … The men and women who have served our country deserve better than this. We need to fully understand why this is happening and provide solutions to stop it.

— Jim Beach, chairman of the New Jersey State Senate Committee

“Most of us cannot even imagine what our service men and women have experienced while defending our freedom,” said Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker, Chair of the Assembly Committee.

“We owe it to them to better understand how we can help them cope with the traumas they’ve witnessed and the difficulty transitioning back into civilian life, particularly in this economy.”

Suicides among veterans and those on active duty remain disturbingly high. As reported by the New York Times, approximately 270 active-duty service members have committed suicide this year.

If that rate continues it would be the highest amount of suicides in three years.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder, triggered by a traumatic event, which can lead to depression, nightmares, flashbacks, insomnia, memory loss, and substance abuse problems. Over the last four years, the demand for PTSD counseling has increased by 33.9 percent.

The hearing will feature testimony from Adjutant General Michael Cunniff, and various representatives of the armed forces community.

The hearing will take place at the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, 101 Eggert Crossing Road, Lawrenceville, beginning at 1 p.m.

Read this story at its source:

http://www.politickernj.com/60531/monday-advisory-senate-assembly-military-and-veterans-affairs-committees-hold-joing-hearing-su