What are some ways that we can reduce veteran suicides?

Great questions. We need to de-stigmatize mental health concerns. We never question a soldier who is physically injured or wounded. We can understand that. However, a soldier who seeks help for his/ her mental health is considered, unfortunately, weak and not tough enough to handle some of those mental health concerns. That needs to change.

COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen F. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen SPC Woody Bullard CPL Dave Hoover CW5 Jack Cardwell Lt Col Charlie Brown Col Carl Whicker SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SPC Margaret Higgins Maj Marty Hogan LTC Greg Henning Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT John " Mac " McConnell LTC Wayne Brandon PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Douglas Bolton PVT Mark Zehner

For starters, I think one thing we're doing right is breaking that stigma around mental health among the services. It took me getting ready to transition out of AD before I started to seek BH help.

Leaders at all levels must ensure they not only make it clear to their soldiers that there's nothing wrong with getting BH/MH help and provide better awareness training other than just watching those power points and videos. Do practical scenario type training and invite BH specialists to join training, when possible.

As far as what we're doing wrong. I think leaders, especially TLs through company CDRs, need to convey that they actually care when speaking on the topic with soldiers. The sentence "if you guys have any problems, or just need to talk to me offline, I'm available" can be taken vastly differently depending on the tone and attitude the leader saying this expresses.

I don't think we'll ever fully prevent this from occuring in the military, but by actually fostering that healthy work environment where yes, there's a CoC, but it feels like family will go along ways in helping SMs open up and get the help they need.

The initial responsibility for the soldier would fall to whomever they would first disclose thier intentions to. Get them to the ER and keep the CoC informed as the situation develops. Being in the military is one of the most stressful job in the U.S. That being said just because a SM is having these types of issues doesn't mean that at the end of the day it is necessarily anyones "fault".

As the SIO you can make reccomendations to the commander that may help improve the moral of the soldiers in your unit. Creative and fun "team building" events can be benificial and foster a closer sense of belonging in the unit and improve camaraderie between soldiers. The closer everyone is to each other the more likely they are to notice when something isn't right with someone. Just dont do mandatory fun time type crap. Get Creative. For example find an escape room and have a competition to see which PLT can complete it the fastest then go out to lunch together as a company. You are in a position to positively effect your unit. Take that chance and do the best you can with it.