Fort Bragg Soldier commits suicide - What can we do to prevent more of this?

2014-11-12T20:53:34-05:00

http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2014/11/12/kathijah-badrulhaimi-suicide-bragg/18922629/?sf33618618=1

Folks: Please, if you are feeling down, PLEASE call someone. Talk to someone. Call two or three people. Do NOT let a temporary problem lead you to make a decision that you can NEVER take back!

Everyone of you, no matter who you are, is worth more than money itself, not matter what you think you may have done, or what you think you may have lost!

Take the time to call, reach out, talk with, be mentored by, and seek advice from someone else. No matter what, I guarantee you, someone, somewhere, has been in a worse situation, and has managed to pull themselves out of it, so if they can, you can too!

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 12 at 2014 10:31 PM

2014-11-12T22:31:17-05:00

SFC Private RallyPoint Member Such a loss. It pains me that our Troops see suicide as the only option. We are supposed to have each others backs, but we don't. No member of the military should ever feel alone.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 13 at 2014 12:02 AM

2014-11-13T00:02:14-05:00

SFC Private RallyPoint Member That is so sad. Too many times the VA Hospital makes it hard on someone considering suicide because if you do admit to it, they take away your clothes and puts you into a gown and armed guards stand around you. I know because it happened to me, only the doctor said to them that it was not necessary. I have a friend who was a Vietnam-vet who told me that this was the case and I kind of blew it off. It is possible that this young soldier may have felt abused and afraid of a system that in many cases wants to blow you off.

Not the doctors either but this need to impose that kind of pressure to a veteran already breaking at the seams. I will not even speculate as to the nature of this young soldier's issue and this has to come as a shock to many who cared about her.

So if people are listening and they feel real sad, it is not cowardly or unmanly to have feelings you cannot deal with. If you need an advocate find one and use them as a go-between so that you are not feeling threatened by the very system that is supposed to help you.

Response by SGT Kristin Wiley made Nov 13 at 2014 2:00 PM

2014-11-13T14:00:57-05:00

I agree with SSgt Private RallyPoint Member , the system punishes soldiers seeking help more then it helps them. I took a soldier to behavior health on Fort Bragg, and they told him he couldn't go home and that he would have to stay in an empty barracks room with an NCO sleeping in his room for 'suicide watch'. They took him out of his comfort zone (his home), forced him into isolation, and took away his privacy by making NCOs from his company stand watch over him. The barracks room had nothing in it, and he wasn't allowed to go get anything from his house because he admitted to owning firearms. No phone, no tv, no nothing. Being alone with nothing but your thoughts is not the way to help someone considering suicide. All he wanted when he walked into the clinic is someone to talk to, instead we treat him like a criminal and they never gave him the one thing he asked for.

When a soldier in my command committed suicide in Iraq, I believe it was the direct fault of his NCOs. They were aware that he was having family issues, his girlfriend has just broken up with him, and they sent him back to his room by himself so he could deal with his problems. As an individual who has dealt first hand with suicide, I know the affects that being left alone can have on a depressed person. Negative thoughts are toxic to the mind.

Another soldier up at Schofield lost two of his battle buddies to suicide in the same week. His command continued to be hard on the unit, did not encourage grief counseling, or personally go check on the soldiers who would be affected the most by these losses. He was so overcome with grief that he was considering suicide himself. I barely knew the soldier, but he reached out to me and since I was unable to get to him where he was stationed I called the base MPs and asked them to go find him. I did not know his unit, he would not give me any information, but I was able to work with the MPs with the information I had to located the soldier and get him help. The MPs woke up his CSM and the Chaplain to go speak with him and get him the help he needed. This soldier thanked me for calling the MPs on him because it saved his life!

Everytime I see another soldier die from suicide, all I can think about it how our leaders are failing our soldiers. If you are there for your soldiers when they need you, I believe we are entirely capable of preventing suicide. There is a great book called “13 Reasons Why,” which goes into detail about 13 people who were not there for a girl and led her to commit suicide. This book explains how if just ONE of those people were there for her when she needed them to be, she would still be alive.

There is no excuse for this failure, and if you need reminded of your responsibilities please refer to the second paragraph of the NCO Creed:
“Competence is my watchword. My two basic responsibilities will always be uppermost in my mind—accomplishment of my mission AND THE WELFARE OF MY SOLDIERS. I will strive to remain technically and tactically proficient. I am aware of my role as a noncommissioned officer. I will fulfill my responsibilities inherent in that role. ALL SOLDIERS ARE ENTITLED TO OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP; I WILL PROVIDE THAT LEADERSHIP. I KNOW MY SOLDIERS AND I WILL ALWAYS PLACE THEIR NEEDS ABOVE MY OWN. I will communicate consistently with my Soldiers and never leave them uninformed. I will be fair and impartial when recommending both rewards and punishment.”

Response by SGT Craig Northacker made Nov 14 at 2014 12:31 PM

2014-11-14T12:31:50-05:00

Great points - and another one is what are you leaving your family to deal with? There are a lot of other folks who have had those thoughts - call someone - there are plenty of resources, and they do not need to be military.

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Nov 14 at 2014 12:30 PM

2014-11-14T12:30:58-05:00

I wish I had answers. I don't. Whatever we're doing to help obviously isn't working. It must be time to think outside the box.

Suicide is irrational - a permanent solution to a temporary problem, some have quipped. So what? Human beings are neither wholly rational nor emotional creatures. Our actions are the result of a complex interplay of the rational and the irrational.

What is known? I believe I've heard it said that most suicides are preceded by warning signs, calls for help. Are we not recognizing them? Do we deny the evidence before us because suicide seems too horrific or too insane to be considered possible? Maybe it would help if we simply believed people and accepted what they are telling us no matter how fanciful it seems. If someone tells you they are unhappy, does it help to tell them they shouldn't be? If someone says they're contemplating suicide, does it help to tell them it's silly/illogical/won't help?

Remember your training. We were all placed under increasing levels of stress as a group to teach us how to depend upon one another when the going got tough. We learned that our chances of survival were greater if we could depend on one another.

Maybe, just maybe, suicides are happening because we don't have our buddies back...

Response by SPC Tyler Schmier made Nov 14 at 2014 1:01 PM

2014-11-14T13:01:02-05:00

What if the system asked the soldiers what was wrong? I have seen it before where people go for help and they have a drop down box of items they can choose from as their problem. I'm sorry, but no drop down menu or list of boxes has every single problem of any soldier. It is nearly impossible to receive help for your issues when the counsellors and leadership put words in your mouth. I have been to behavioral health and it was pretty abundantly clear from both my chain of command and my counsellor there, that this was just a formality and a box to check to cover the unit, commander, post, and big Army's a**. You want to help soldiers? Try actually caring for other reasons than your career and the Army's image.

Response by LCDR Gordon Brown made Nov 14 at 2014 2:01 PM

2014-11-14T14:01:37-05:00

Suicide Never relieves the PAIN it only transfers that Pain to many other people AND removes the possibility of things ever getting better.

Response by LCDR Gordon Brown made Nov 14 at 2014 2:47 PM

2014-11-14T14:47:54-05:00

As a former suicide prevention officer at the Naval Drug Rehabilitation Center back in the late 70s early 80s I was involved in the prevention of many suicides and regrettably the aftermath of many successful suicides. Suicide prevention has to do with being lucky enough to physically be there, or correctly reading and responding to the Red Flags of suicide. The following are just a few of the more obvious Red Flags to look for and when you see them work a Buddy-Up program do NOT ignore the signs. Reach out to the person and get a Buddy-Up team to continue the follow-ups and make sure you let them know you actually do care. I am the founder of Team Veteran and suicide awareness and prevention is a critical part of our mission.

On this page you will see three transition videos about a young Army Veteran blinded through combat (who was on 14 medications daily, compliments of the VA). He was extremely suicidal because of the meds and now he is on 0 drugs, loving and extremely involved in life especially since he has his sight back through a black Lab named VALOR. http://teamveteran.org/videos

RED FLAG WARNING SIGNS-
* A previously depressed person who is suddenly happy. This often means they’ve come to a decision to end their life.
* Actions that signal they are planning for death:
* Giving away their possessions, particularly favorite things or things with sentimental value.
* Making out wills.
* Arranging for the care of pets.
* Extravagant spending or paying off debts.

Take the time to also watch Dr Bart Billings video at the bottom of the above video page entitled Stop Labeling & Drugging Our Troops.
So many suicides can be related to PTS, TBI and MST (Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury and Military Sexual Trauma) and the protocol from the VA and the DOD is to treat these injuries with psychotropic drugs INSTEAD of alternative treatments that actually work, such as Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy aka HBOT.

Response by CPT Joseph K Murdock made Jun 5 at 2016 6:39 PM

2016-06-05T18:39:06-04:00

Ask for help and believe that you can be aided. If you have an addiction there is help as well.

Response by MSgt Michael Smith made Jun 7 at 2016 8:59 AM

2016-06-07T08:59:41-04:00

It is a very sad situation, and I am not certain that there is anything else the services as a whole can do. We sowed this seed with a decade of horrible war, horrible not just for the violence, but for the complete uncertainty that is brought. Years of deployments, stress, etc. The sad truth is that we are seeing these suicides now as a direct result of the scars from those years. Besides being there for your fellow soldiers and reaching out the those in pain, I am not sure that there is anything else we can do. PTSD is terrible, and often, treatment does not help. It leads to substance abuse, depression , hopelessness, etc. It is very sad, but these are the effects that wars have on people. Politicians need to think long and hard before they send troops into combat.