My NCO's successfully intervened in two attempted suicides. Both times the Soldiers were armed. Is the Soldiers Medal warranted?

In order to meet the criteria for the Soldier's Medal, the danger needs to be to the Soldiers who intervened, not the suicidal Soldier(s). That will need to be borne out by witnesses. I think a case can be made, if the circumstances support it.

What draws my attention is that you have had not one, but two attempts involving armed Soldiers? That screams out that there is a problem in your unit. I would be taking a very hard inventory, if I were there.

SFC (Join to see), a lot is going to depend on the actual circumstances. The Army differentiates between a "suicide attempt", and a "suicidal gesture". In a suicidal gesture, the person involved usually wants to get the attention of someone (often due to depression, or other causes), and can be "talked down" by reminding him that the world is not really ending just because his/her life sucks at the moment.

A suicide attempt, on the other hand, involves a person actually doing bodily harm to him/herself. Really taking action to end their life.

It is difficult to prove that the Soldier involved was really going to commit suicide without the NCOs involvement, and that it was not merely a call for help on the part of the SM. Of course, it is an NCOs job to listen, and to keep up with the well being of his Soldiers. It's just a part of pinning those stripes on.

I have only seen one award for this sort of action during my career, and it for an NCO who actually found a kid hanging in his room by a belt. The NCO performed CPR and managed to bring the Soldier back. I think that some Commanders would expect this kind of action from an NCO before recommending him/her for an award like the Soldiers Medal.

I believe I've seen NavComs for interventions before. The Soldier's/etc Medal is a Valor Medal of a non-Combat nature, which is not quite in the same vein as an intervention. I've known one recipient of the Navy & Marine Corps Medal who was recognized for a grenade pit incident. Having weapons involved might escalate things, but I just don't know.



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