What has been the impact of suicide on soldier and unit morale?

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SMSgt Lawrence McCarter LT Brad McInnis PO3 Bob McCord CW3 Dick McManus SGT John " Mac " McConnell CWO3 Dennis M. MSgt Stephen Council LTC (Join to see) LTC Stephan PorterLTC Stephen C. LTC Greg Henning SGT Gregory Lawritson Maj William W. 'Bill' Price Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SGT Jim Arnold Maj Robert Thornton SFC Francisco Rosario LTC (Join to see) Sgt Jackie Julius Col Carl Whicker

I was a NG BN CDR from 9/2011 to 10/2014. In that time the BN suffered 2 suicides.

The first was an E4 who had left Active Duty about 4-5 months prior, entering the NG while attending college. After an evening of heavy drinking, he took his own life with a hand gun. Unknown to the Command at every level, until after his death, was that he was under VA care for PTSD and supposed to be on medication for depression and had stopped taking his medication. His family knew. The Soldier knew. The VA knew. Yet that information was never shared with us as the gaining unit or NG medical providers. At that time, and maybe to this day, because of HIPAA rules, information wasn’t transmitted to the NG and the Soldier failed disclose his condition, no one had any awareness of his struggles until the investigation after his death. His battery was very solemn for a short while afterward, but recovered as time passed. I hope the VA changes it rules to share medical information with NG providers.

The 2nd was a long serving E6 who was a very good cannon Section Chief and well respected by leaders and Soldiers. The day he died he had done PT that morning with the Readiness NCO and even spoke forward thinking thoughts about the upcoming drill. Unknown to the chain of command, he was in severe financial distress for his family. He took his own life with a hand gun about 4 hours later. The investigation revealed he took his own life for the SGLI so his wife could payoff debt. Again, he did not seek out help or notify his chain that he needed help. His battery’s morale was affected much longer largely because he had served years with the same unit.

Bottom line, in both of these cases, these soldiers were veterans of OIF or OEF, had personal issues of which the chain had no awareness prior to their deaths and they never shared their struggles with people who could have intervened.

2 of the toughest funerals I ever attended and the most needless.

We’d had all the required suicide prevention training. Those around them knew the signs to look for, yet, no one saw them. The Soldiers never shared.

In my opinion, pride kept these Soldiers from seeking assistance. It hurt more, because resources were (and are) available to help each. I still am challenged by their loss to this day.

I was in '04-'08.
We had a soldier in my squad commit suicide after re-deployment.
There were no signs he showed to anyone. He was outgoing, positive, great moral booster, and an overall great soldier who talked about reenlistment. He was a good friend who I miss to this day.
When SPC J committed suicide it was a shock to everyone. The Battalion chaplain had a meeting with our company to tell us what happened. We were all up in the conference joking around and discussing what we were doing later before he came in. As soon as he started to speak his voice was cracking. He didn't get past "SPC J" before he burst into tears. The entire room was silent as he spoke. When he finished "died last night..." there were multiple people crying. The 1SG, commander, PSGs, and LTs all stood there and talked to us. They hugged us as we left. Throughout the next few days, before the funeral, the entire company was quiet. Nobody was in their 'normal' happy joking mood. Morning formation had a somber tone. Sadness was everywhere. We had a ruck march about 3 days after the funeral to boost moral. The Chaplain was with us on that march and when we got to our destination we sat for about 3 hours and discussed what was going on.
I PCSd about 4 months later. Leading up to that PCS moral never really went back to what it was. We sort of "got used" to what had happened. We started joking around again and joking, but it was never quite the same.
The entire atmosphere changed and never returned to normal. I miss Jornales. He was closer than a friend. I deployed with him. I grew with him. He was my brother and I'll never see him again.