Can a commander put an administrative order on a soldier for suicide and label it as a misconduct?

PFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 10:37:30 -0400

Response by PFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 7 at 2017 10:38 AM

PFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 10:38:46 -0400

Not necessarily a suicide but suicide attempt. How are they actually supposed to support their soldier? Any regulations?

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 7 at 2017 11:14 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 11:14:13 -0400

SSG Derrick L. Lewis MBA, C-HRM and SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4", yall got anything for this?

Response by SGT Tony Clifford made Jul 7 at 2017 11:37 AM

SGT Tony Clifford — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 11:37:39 -0400

I suggest that you contact your local JAG/TDS.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Jul 7 at 2017 11:59 AM

CAPT Kevin B. — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 11:59:19 -0400

Interesting question. I'm a bit dated as I punched out in '03. A suicide attempt can certainly be "misconduct" in a technical sense. The real issue is does it make sense? Misconduct which affects mission performance, redirects valuable resources, blah, blah, blah, and you can create a logic train that can go somewhere, nowhere, or down the sewer. From a command perspective, a suicide attempt is just like any other problem. You look to isolate it, reduce the blast perimeter, minimize ancillary impacts to the Command, and move on. People tend to confuse the caring aspect with the business decision aspect. In our culture, we tend to find it's better to care about our people and it tends to support a better business outcome. But caring for an individual is pretty short term when bounced up against caring for everyone in the Command overall in a long term sense.

Bottom line, the path of least resistance, i.e. don't create nonuseful administrative burden, is typically what you'll see. There's a lot of stuff out there that the JAG will say, it's not worth it. Nothing like being the test case that the Washington Post puts on the front page.

Response by LtCol Robert Quinter made Jul 7 at 2017 10:19 PM

LtCol Robert Quinter — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 22:19:54 -0400

Serviceman should be referred to medical treatment and determination of fitness for continued service.

Response by SSG Robert Perrotto made Jul 18 at 2017 8:55 PM

SSG Robert Perrotto — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 20:55:08 -0400

can he flag or bar - for the duration of the person not being fit for duty - I would say yes - remember, until the person is cleared bt the appropriate medical professionals, this person will not be able to carry, handle any fire arms or weapons - this does effect unit readiness. Naturally, the first concern would be getting the soldier the help they need in order to ensure they are no longer a threat to themselves or others. after that, the Commander must concern themselves with unit readiness and how the person will re intergrate with the unit.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 19 at 2017 9:18 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 21:18:18 -0400

I remember Article 15s for sunburns which affected duty.....so I could see a suicide attempt being misconduct.