Sailor Assistance and Intercept for Life

And what exactly happened to all the other programs that we were told would work but didn't?

Navy launches new suicide prevention program for all sailors
SAIL now available at all Fleet and Family Support Center locations
News 4 Jax
By Jodi Mohrmann - Managing Editor of special projects
February 06, 2017

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Navy announced Monday that a pilot program to prevent suicide is now available to all sailors.

SAIL, which stands for Sailor Assistance and Intercept for Life, is designed to provide rapid assistance, on-going risk assessment and support for sailors who have exhibited suicide-related behavior. It is aimed at supplementing existing mental health treatment by providing continual support through the first 90 days after suicide-related behavior.

"We are excited that we are able to bring this important program to the fleet ahead of schedule," said Capt. Michael Fisher, Director, Navy Suicide Prevention Branch. "Having SAIL available across the Navy is a great addition to the ongoing work that commands are doing to promote help-seeking behavior, self-care, and support for our Sailors who reach out for assistance. Instilling hope is the hallmark of SAIL and we believe those Sailors who take advantage of this terrific program will see its benefit."
read more here

Another Suicide Prevention Bill, Just More of the Same

This may sound good to you,

SPEAKER RYAN SIGNS BILL TO HELP VETERANS IN CRISIS
The Scoop
Speaker Ryan Press Office
November 18, 2016
Yesterday, Speaker Ryan signed H.R. 5392, the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act—legislation introduced by Rep. David Young (R-IA) to assure veterans’ needs are prioritized. Prior to signing the bill, Speaker Ryan discussed its significance during his weekly press briefing:

“This week, Congress gave final approval to legislation that will help veterans in need. H.R. 5392 requires the VA [to] respond to calls to its crisis hotlines in a timely manner.

“This is one of those bills that should not even be necessary, but sadly—and tragically—it is. read more here

In June of this year, a veteran called the Crisis Hotline and WTVM News reported,

"I called back the next day which was past the 24 hours they said they would call back,” said Burks. “And,I waited another 24 hours and they did call.” 

Burks worries the long wait time could be devastating for someone suffering from P.T.S.D. 

But a Bill to prevent suicides sounded good before. Actually, scratch that. Make it many, many times before.

May 2, 2015 Military Times reported this.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., recently sent a letter to VA Secretary Bob McDonald asking for data on the Crisis Line's call volume, hold times, and average wait times between when a call is made and the caller can see a VA therapist or counselor, or a community provider, in person.

Nelson's request was made in response to a news report by Tampa television station WFTS that Air Force veteran Ted Koran was placed on hold repeatedly for up to 10 minutes at a time as he fought off suicidal thoughts.

According to the report, Koran's wife died of cancer last year and he was despondent the day he made the call.

But when he dialed, he was placed on hold numerous times. After he reached a counselor, he said he did not feel comforted, according to the report.

"They had me on the [verge] of saying to hell with it," he said, according to WFTS.

Makes sense that Florida Senator would be paying attention considering it turns out that in 2014 the number of veterans in Florida committing suicide was called a "staggering" number when between 1999 and 2011 there were 31,885 reported suicides.

April 13, 2015 ABC News reported this

Ted Koran was thinking about committing suicide Saturday night.

He reached out to the VA and the Veterans Suicide Hotline for help, but said he couldn't get any until after he was repeatedly put on hold for up to 10 minutes at time.

Veterans in Crisis: Vets put on hold for 36 minutes His case is just the latest the I-Team has been exposing for months now.

When the Veterans Crisis Hotline was first set up by the VA in 2007, it averaged 60 calls a day on four manned phone lines.

Now, 52 operators at a time field about a thousand calls a day, and that's not always even enough to keep some veterans on the verge of suicide from being placed on hold.

February 23, 2015 KJRH News reported this.

Hughes decided that night to turn to the national Veterans Crisis Line, a 24-hour, seven-day-a week service that promises an immediate, open line to professional help. But when Hughes phoned, she said, her call went straight to hold. After several minutes, she became frustrated and hung up. “I would never call the hotline again,” said Hughes. She said she needed to quickly get to someone that night who could give her help and reassurance.

Does it sound bad now? Wait because this was reported on Army Times July 14, 2010. The link no longer works but it is still alive on Wounded Times

Even as Veterans Affairs Department officials offered testimony that 10,000 people have been saved by VA’s suicide hotline, veterans themselves said help should come long before a person needs to make that call. “The suicide hotline is too much of a last alternative,” said Melvin Cintron, an Army veteran who served as a flight medic in Desert Storm and in aviation maintenance in the current war in Iraq. “Either you don’t have enough of a problem and you can wait for weeks for an appointment, or you have to be suicidal.”

Cintron spoke Wednesday before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s oversight and investigations panel.

A lot of things may sound good, but you have to look back to see if what sounded good produced good results. The fact is, there have been some veterans rescued by the Crisis Hotline. It is also a fact that it began back in 2007 with The Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act. It is also a fact that considering we have over 5 million less veterans than we did in 1999, the VA has reported the same, stunning number, of veterans committing suicide at 20 per day.

BOHICA Suicide Prevention Bill

I'm going to keep this short but far from sweet. There is yet another suicide prevention bill out of congress. Yep, those guys who did such marvelous work on all the others they decided to just do more of them.  As if that makes sense to anyone.

"According to Brown's office, an average of 18 to 22 veterans take their lives each day — a statistic that has largely remained unchanged for more than a decade."

If he's quoting those numbers while writing a bill for female veteran suicide prevention, we're all screwed! This one is out of Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown on the Veterans Affairs Committee. If he doesn't know where those numbers came from or what the real ones are, pretty much sums up lack of attention to all the hearings they've held IN THE LAST DECADE!

Replace Wanting to Die with Reason to Live

Dancing with the shadows
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 2, 2016

If you read Wounded Times with any regularity at all, it is no secret I am a PTSD geek. Can't help it because of my own life as well as my husband suffering PTSD because of Vietnam. For me, I faced death for more years and a lot more times, yet didn't end up with PTSD. The reason has been clear for decades. It was never about what was done to me but more about what was done for me afterwards.

Well, it looks like researchers have taken a look back to discover what was known decades ago.

If you want to prevent suicides, you better give someone a reason to live.

I read a lot of reports on PTSD and suicides, not just caused by combat, but by facing death as a regular person with very unregular events.

I've thought about suicide but even worse, I actually prayed to die. Why? Because I lost all hope that the next day would be any better than the one I hoped would be my last.

After our daughter was born, my body didn't tell me I was in deep trouble. I walked around with an infection for 8 months. My doctor said the bacteria count was higher than he'd ever seen in a live patient.

Some may have thought the fever caused the hopelessness but honestly, it had gone on a lot longer than the stay in the hospital. I heard a nurse say "she's fighting for her life" but that wasn't true. Maybe my body was fighting off the infection but I wasn't trying to do anything but let go of the life I was living.

My husband saved my life when he forced me to go to the doctor. I was burning up with a fever of 104. By the time I got to the hospital it was 105. Instead of being grateful he save me, all I could think about was how miserable he made my life by his own suffering.

I had been studying PTSD for six years, getting his friends to go for help but he wouldn't listen. I didn't really try to force it in the beginning because he wasn't doing anything I couldn't deal with. PTSD was something he lived with for over a decade at that point and managed pretty well. 

Nightmares, flashbacks, mood-swings with bad days and the rest of what it was doing to him did not get out of control until I miscarried twins. He saw me hemorrhaging and that sent mild PTSD into overdrive. It had been the worst hell imaginable for both of us.

I thought once our daughter was born, he'd go back to the way he was before, but that didn't happen. My family couldn't understand, so they did the fix-it response with "get a divorce" and my friends were too busy with their own problems. I had no one to talk to.

Then in the hospital, no hope left in me, I prayed to die harder than I prayed for anything before. The next day my husband brought our daughter to see me and then I had a reason to live. All I could do was think about her and how she'd never know how much I love her unless I lived to prove it to her.

I had a reason to fight to live again. My mental health was challenged by events but my spiritual challenges were caused by how I viewed surviving them.

As suicide rates rise, researchers separate thoughts from actions
Science News
BY BRUCE BOWER
DECEMBER 29, 2015

Better understanding of risk factors could help those contemplating taking their own lives

Between 1986 and 2000, U.S. suicide rates dropped from 12.5 to 10.4 deaths for every 100,000 people. But since then, the suicide rate has climbed steadily, reaching 12.6 deaths per 100,000 people, or more than 41,000 deaths, in 2013. That continuous rise — and the lack of effective counter-measures — has prompted researchers to revisit the suicide theories found in textbooks.

Klonsky and May conducted an online survey of 910 U.S. adults, ages 18 to 70, that supports the three-step theory. Participants who reported having contemplated or planned a suicide — 27 percent of the sample — described especially high levels of preexisting pain or hopelessness, the researchers report in their June paper. Those who said they had never considered suicide, even if they had experienced pain and hopelessness, reported having close friends and relatives and usually were involved in activities they found meaningful. read the rest of the report here

Most of the time I faced death, some did something to me but other people showed up to help me when they knew I was in need.  That restored my sense of worth in this world.

We should all find it perplexing how a veteran can do everything possible to survive all the hardships of combat but find it harsher to be back home. Most suicide happen after they come home needing help the most but finding it harder to find. Why after all these years of research on PTSD would they lack anything?

We learned about the suffering from all causes of PTSD because Vietnam veterans forced the government to find out what combat did to them and that caused researchers to better understand what trauma did to all humans. What caused some to develop PTSD while others did not? What caused some of them to become so hopeless that surviving the events no longer mattered enough they would want to survive life afterwards?

Simple really. In combat they survived for those they were with and they were among others willing to die for their sake as well. They risked their lives for each other. That was a reason to live. Back home, they were supposed to be past dangers, thought of themselves as being weak needing help because they couldn't handle a simpler life with the average citizens. That notion was fed to them by the military.

In my case, facing death for most of my life, I was seen as an unshakeable rock because no one saw the price I was paying inside. First to help others, no one suspected I needed help and I, well, me being me, found it close to impossible to ask for help or even a shoulder to cry on after the limitations of time close to the events.

I was dragging the shadows of death around with me so long I forgot how to dance to my own beat.

If you want to prevent suicides, then show up before there is a funeral and everyone is supporting each other, crying for the loss. Show up when they are alive and let them know they matter enough that you will listen to them. Help them understand that their last day was actually easier than the event they survived and the next will be better because you cared enough to acknowledge they live.

Dancing With Shadows
Kathie Costos

Sunset

Who would have thought I'd be dancing
with the simple joy of living
and more time to spend sharing and giving
instead of pushing away and grieving?

Everywhere I looked the shadow was on the ground
and I got worn our dragging it around
as if my life was extra time lent.
The damn thing followed everywhere I went
whispering two cents of doubt in my head
making me think I'd be better off dead.

So I struggled each day to just make it through
remembers stuff I did and still had yet to do.
Then one day I looked back and it wasn't there.
The light hit me just right and all I could do was stare
it was right by my side moving with me
and suddenly the shadow of what was kept me company.

Then I picked my foot up and moved it around
humming a tune laughing at the sound
and then all I could do was dance
knowing lent time was really a second chance.

More time to live this life
feeling joy as much as strife
giving what I could for good
and laughing at what I misunderstood
that living this life comes with feeling it all more
and I wouldn't trade feeling for numb that's for sure.

I can feel the sunrise in the morning sky and find hope
that no matter what comes each day I can cope
because I already lived though what was a lot worse
and everyday extra is not a curse
when I can dance with the shadows of death that lost
because this life I live now is worthy of the cost.

They Finally Figured Out Pentagon Suicide Prevention Office in Disarray

Report: Pentagon suicide prevention office in disarray
Military Times
By Patricia Kime, Staff writer
October 2, 2015

The Pentagon’s suicide prevention office lacks clear guidance and authority to develop and execute effective programs, leaving a vacuum that the military services filled with their own, often inconsistent programs, a new Defense Department Inspector General report says.

Defense Suicide Prevention Office logo

(Photo: Defense Department)

The Defense Suicide Prevention Office, or DSPO, was established in 2011 to develop and implement suicide prevention policies, programs and surveillance across the force, with any eye toward promoting resilience, mental fitness and suicide awareness and prevention.

But from its inception, the office had a confusing governing structure and alignment of responsibilities under different committees within the office of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, resulting in “less than effective DoD strategic oversight" that hampered implementation of suicide prevention programs, according to the report released Wednesday.

According to Pentagon data, 130 active-duty troops died by suicide from January through June this year, along with 89 reserve members and 56 National Guard members.

Last year, 273 active-duty personnel, 170 reservists and 91 Guardsmen took their own lives.

Military suicides rose steadily from 2006 to 2009 before leveling off for two years. They then increased sharply in 2012, peaking at a high of 321 active-duty, 192 reserve and 130 Guard deaths.
read more here

Military suicides remain constant despite Pentagon efforts
Stars and Stripes
By Heath Druzin
Published: October 2, 2015

WASHINGTON — Despite an ongoing Pentagon campaign to combat suicide, the numbers of troops who killed themselves held steady in the first half of 2015, with active duty numbers down and reserve numbers up over the same period last year, according to the most recent Department of Defense statistics.

The Defense Department quarterly statistics, released Wednesday, show 219 troops took their lives in the first half of this year, as compared to 223 in the first half of 2014. Military suicides are down 8 percent from the first half of 2013, when there were 238.

For this year, the number of suicides breaks down to 130 among active duty troops and 89 among the Reserves and National Guard. That represents a 9 percent drop for active duty troops and a 10 percent rise for reserve troops over the same period last year.
read more here

I left this comment

Why? How about you start with Comprehensive Soldier Fitness? Suicides went up after this started. How did they expect telling soldiers they could train their brains to be mentally tough would work when that meant they were weak if they suffered? It fed the stigma. Plus add in another fact that there are less serving since 2012 and you'll begin to understand how huge this issue is. Veteran suicides went up for OEF and OIF generation as well. They are triple their civilian peer rate. They were trained to suffer in silence too!

Nitty-Gritty Reality of PTSD Awareness and Suicide Prevention

Brutal Honesty, We Suck At Being Aware
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 30, 2015

If we are ever going to change a thing on suicides tied to military service, then it is about time for some brutal honesty regarding the nitty-gritty reality of how much we suck at it.

It is long past the time when PTSD Awareness should have been replaced with Healing Awareness. How many more years do we keep repeated the same failed attempts? Frankly it hasn't done anything in all these years. Veterans are still suffering instead of healing.

The National Center for PTSD promotes awareness of PTSD and effective treatments throughout the year. Starting in 2010, Congress named June 27th PTSD Awareness Day (S. Res. 455). For the second consecutive year in 2014, the Senate designated the full month of June for National PTSD Awareness (S. Res. 481). Efforts are underway to continue this designation in 2015.

Five years later and families are still suffering without knowing anything about what PTSD is or what they can do to actually help someone they love anymore than they know how they can make their lives better. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

What good did it do? What good did all the "efforts" to raise awareness do when the numbers show nothing has changed? The men and women suffering Combat PTSD managed to do everything humanly possible to survived combat while still being willing to sacrifice their own lives to save someone else. Yet these same service members struggle to find a reason to stay alive back home where they are supposed to be out of danger. Top all that off with the fact that there are billions of dollars spent every year on PTSD.

We had excuses before the 80's when researchers knew what PTSD but average folks were not clued in. I had no idea back in 82 when my Dad was using "shell shock" to explain it to me when I met a Vietnam veteran. I had to go to the library to learn about it from clinical books and a dictionary because of all the words I didn't understand. That research started me on this odyssey lasting over half my life. I ended up marrying that Vietnam veteran over 30 years ago. We're still together and past most of the anguishing years into the healing years when what is normal for us is far from normal to the civilian world.

What I learned saved lives and helped families just like mine. I still have to accept responsibility for what I failed to do that ended up costing my husband's nephew his life. I knew it all. Knew all the right things to say to help him. I had all the facts and understood what was needed. What I didn't know was how to get him to listen and hear me. His suicide haunts me every time I read about another veteran becoming so hopeless and lost the only way they see to end their suffering is to end their own lives.

Outreach work has supported generations of veterans to seek help. As a matter of fact this report came out in October of 2008

In the past 18 months, 148,000 Vietnam veterans have gone to VA centers reporting symptoms of PTSD "30 years after the war," said Brig. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, deputy commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He recently visited El Paso.

But that came along with being sent to the back of the line almost as if they were not really worthy.

Vice Adm. Daniel L. Cooper, undersecretary for benefits in the Department of Veterans Affairs -- in a memo obtained by the El Paso Times -- instructs the department's employees to put Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans at the head of the line when processing claims for medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation, employment and education benefits...

The rest of the country decided that they were going to do the same thing and started charities just for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. It didn't matter that Gulf War veterans, Vietnam veterans, Korean War veterans and WWII veterans waited even longer to have their wounds treated and be reassured they mattered as well.

Most of the "awareness" advocates are not aware of the simple fact most of the suicides, 78% of them are those older veterans they pushed to the back of the line.

Veteran suicide numbers have gone up in recent years with much of the attention focused on veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan killing themselves. However, almost seven out of 10 veterans who have committed suicide were over the age of 50, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study.

Veterans over the age of 50 who had entered the VA healthcare system made up about 78 percent of the total number of veterans who committed suicide - 9 percentage points higher than the general pool.

But it is easier to just go with the flow and talk about what is popular like repeating the number "22" as if it was based on facts and then dismissing the fact that number is being presented pertaining to just Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Easier to avoid mentioning that after all these years of everyone doing everything, or claiming to, more are dead today than alive and healing.

"After two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps Reserve, Steven Vickerman tried to resume a normal life at home with his wife, but he could not shake a feeling of despair.

His parents, Richard and Carole Vickerman of Palisades, went to visit him at a veterans hospital after he suffered a mental breakdown; they were in disbelief. The funny and adventurous baby brother had become sullen, withdrawn and full of anxiety. Vickerman, who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, killed himself Feb. 19."

His suicide didn't happen this year. It didn't happen last year. His family buried him in 2008.

"Families like the Vickermans often feel overwhelmed by the guilt and helplessness that surrounds post-traumatic stress disorder. The Vickermans wanted to help their son but did not know where to look for support services or how to deal with the effects of the illness.

The VA, they believed, had failed their son. The services available, they said, were insufficient, and the government should do more to address the issue for returning war vets.

"There should be something that can be done, not only for the proud soldiers but also for their families," Carole Vickerman said. "When you hear the word 'stress,' it sounds so innocuous. It's not stress; it's a killer.""

Families still don't know what to do anymore than they understand what PTSD is, what it does, why it does it or what they can do to make it better by not making mistakes to make it worse.

What good did PTSD Awareness really do? Not much at all other than to raise a lot of money doing Lord knows what for who other than fundraisers. It is still extremely hard to understand what they are trying to actually raise awareness of and who they are trying to inform when they cannot even answer basic questions.

It all sounds great until you actually listen to what they don't say. You never really hear anything helpful or, for the most part, factual.

The first fact they need to know is they are not stuck! They can change again and heal to live better lives but that won't happen as long as folks are still stuck on letting others know how much they really don't know about PTSD and suicides.

You are not alone. There is support.

The Defense Department takes the issue of suicide very seriously and is actively working to reduce the number of suicides.

Defense Suicide Prevention Office serves as the government oversight authority for the strategic development, implementation, centralization, standardization, communication and evaluation of Defense Department suicide and risk reduction programs, policies and surveillance activities to reduce the impact of suicide on service members and their families.

Everyone can help prevent suicide. Know how to recognize common risk factors including chronic pain; feelings of guilt, anger, or shame; exposure to trauma; a sense of hopelessness; relationship problems; and posttraumatic stress disorder. If you are experiencing any of these behaviors or notice them in friends and family who have served in the military, encourage them to seek help right away.

Service members in crisis should seek help immediately by contacting the Military Crisis Line. Dial 800-273-8255 (press 1 for military) for 24/7 crisis support. The crisis line, found at http://militarycrisisline.net, also provides a chat and text service.

The problem with that is, again, simple. Facts show what they have been doing does not work If it had, then the number of current military suicides would have been reduced to the point where they would be historically low. They are not. They remain high. What makes that worse is the other simple fact on suicides among the OEF and OIF veterans committing suicide. Compared to their peers, they are triple the civilian rate.

Former troops in that high-risk age group — who were also enrolled for care at veterans' hospitals — posted a suicide rate of 79.1 per 100,000 during 2011, the latest data available. In contrast, the annual suicide rate for all American males has recently averaged about 25 per 100,000, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports.

During 2009, the suicide rate for veterans 24 and younger was 46.1 per 100,000 — meaning the deadly pace increased by 79 percent during that two-year span.

For female veterans it is even worse.

The rates are highest among young veterans, the VA found in new research compiling 11 years of data. For women ages 18 to 29, veterans kill themselves at nearly 12 times the rate of nonveterans.

The awareness most folks are claiming to raise is different from our reality. If you really want to raise meaningful awareness, then start with the truth, that isn't pretty, isn't popular or lucrative but is vital if we are ever going to stop sucking at what we do for them. Before Congress passes another prevention bill we have to prevent them from doing more harm than good.

Are Military Suicides Higher Because They Outsourced Care?

This leaves a lot of questions. "Why did the DOD fund a college for current military members? What about all the money they received from Congress to reduce military suicides? Why would they do this when they have 900 other programs?

Veterans Hotline Tries to Survive Without Pentagon Funds
New York Times
By DAVE PHILIPPS
JULY 4, 2015

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — In a row of beige cubicles in a suburban office park, a hulking former Army sergeant hunched over his phone next to a photo taken in Afghanistan, a few days before he was hurt by a roadside bomb.

“Look, man, sometimes you’re dealt a raw deal and you’ve got to play it,” the former sergeant, Adriel Gonzalez, said into his headset. Big as a bouncer, he wielded his gruff voice tenderly. “I’ve known you long enough that you’re ready to hear this: It’s not going to be all sunshine and rainbows. You might be in for a lifelong struggle, but it is a doable one. This I can tell you, my friend.”

The idea of using veterans to help peers grew out of a hotline set up by the State of New Jersey in 1999 to make retired police officers available to offer anonymous support to other officers, said Christopher Kosseff, the president of Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, which hosts the police peer line and Vets4Warriors.

Today, the 40 peers at Vets4Warriors come from all branches. A bank of clocks on the wall showing the time in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea and Germany serves as a reminder of the array of troops who seek help. A recent call came from a ship in the Persian Gulf, where a young sailor had concerns about finding a job after leaving the Navy.
read more here

Vets4Warriors

Since 2010, thousands of Service members have found confidential assistance using our Peer Support Line. Who better to understand the challenges of military life than someone who has lived it? Veterans provide support to military members, engaging them in a personal, non-threatening way. Our peer support network is confidential and caller information will not be shared with the military or the VA. Sometimes, the issues will require specific expertise, such as financial resources, legal advice or medical services. Our Veteran Peers will work to find the best options for the caller and help make the connection in their local communities.

The Vets4Warriors Peer Support Line is staffed entirely by Veterans with funding from the Defense Suicide Prevention Office.

This is from RAND Corp Study.

We found that DoD is the largest funder of suicide prevention research having recently funded 61 studies at the cost of more than $100 million. This figure does not include the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (known as Army STARRS), a $65 million study funded jointly by the U.S. Army and the National Institute of Mental Health.

It doesn't matter how much money they spent or how many years they have been spending it since the numbers kept going up even as the number of military service members were reduced.

UPDATE ON MILITARY SUICIDE PREVENTION PROGRAMS HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY PERSONNEL OF THE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION HEARING HELD MARCH 21, 2013

DSPO [Defense Suicide Prevention Office] program evaluation approach tracks requirements, funding, and will unite efficiency measures with effectiveness for continuous process improvement reporting on shortfalls and duplications. We are evaluating training to develop core competencies for peer, command, clinical, and pastoral requirements.

A critical aspect of preventing suicide is eliminating stigma that prevents service members or families from seeking help. DOD and V.A. are implementing President Obama’s executive order and have a 12-month help-seeking ‘‘Stand By Them’’ campaign to encourage servicemembers, veterans, and their families to contact the military crisis line by phone or online.

We are expanding it in Europe and we are expanding it to Japan and Korea. It is at larger bases in Afghanistan, and where it is not available we have trained medics to initiate a peer support call line, similar to the Guard’s Vets4Warriors program.

I am not about to release a single tear over Rutgers losing funding for this from the DOD. I am sure they'll find money elsewhere however, the lives lost while the DOD refused to stop outsourcing care of the troops, they also failed to hold anyone accountable for the rise in the number of lives lost.

That is part of the problem with all this suicide awareness running amok across the country. No one is ever held accountable for what they do or do not do.

Suicide Prevention Mission Impossible Unless We Change

Preventing Veteran Suicides Mission Impossible With Same Weapons
Wounded Times
Katie Costos
February 1, 2015

We need to take a trip back in time to discover how we got to where we are on suicides tied to military service. Everyone seems to want to do something to save the lives of our troops and veterans but frankly, "You can't get there from here" unless you know how we got here.

At a family forum during the 2006 Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting, Col. Charles S. Milliken, MD, a research psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research-Psychiatry and Neuroscience, explained how “Battlemind”training addresses the stigma of PTSD and other combat-stress related symptoms. The 45-minute training program is part of a larger, comprehensive Post Deployment Health Assessment and Reassessment program that screens Soldiers for PTSD and other related mental health conditions twice after deployment.

We need to jump to 2007 when then Senator Obama was on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. He introduced bills back then addressing PTSD and military suicides. S.117 -- Lane Evans Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement Act of 2007 In the bill he had everything that folks said was necessary to honor the service and tend to those suffering for it.

(F) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), a veteran who served on active duty as described in subparagraph (D) during a period of war, or after the date, specified in that subparagraph is also eligible for-- `(i) a mental health evaluation to be provided by the Secretary not later than 30 days after the date of the request of the veteran for such evaluation; and `(ii) hospital care, medical services, nursing home care, and family and marital counseling for any mental health condition identified pursuant to such evaluation, notwithstanding that there is insufficient medical evidence to conclude that such condition is attributable to such service.'.

SEC. 102. POSTDEPLOYMENT MEDICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH SCREENINGS FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

`(2) The postdeployment examination shall be conducted not later than 30 days after the date of the return of a member to the United States from a deployment as described in subsection (a). The examination shall include a comprehensive medical and mental health assessment conducted on an individualized basis by personnel qualified to conduct such examinations.'.

"SEC. 104. ENHANCED OUTREACH TO MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVE ON AVAILABLE BENEFITS AND SERVICES" and the rest you can read from the above link

As Senator, Obama tackled a lot of the issues. Discharges for Personality Disorders among a long list of other issues and we were told the military was paying attention as well.

‘Battlemind’ Prepares Soldiers for Combat, Returning Home Jan. 3, 2008 – Every soldier headed to Iraq and Afghanistan receives “Battlemind” training designed to help them deal with combat experiences, but few know the science behind the program.

Consequently, Dr. Amy Adler, a senior research psychologist with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research’s U.S. Army Medical Research Unit Europe, in Heidelberg, Germany, visited Patch Barracks here, breaking down the program, which is a system of support and intervention.

The Battlemind system includes separate pre-deployment training modules for soldiers, unit leaders, health care providers and spouses. Psychological debriefings are given in theater and upon redeployment. There are also a post-deployment module for spouses and several post-deployment modules for soldiers.

Army studies show the greater the combat exposure a soldier encounters, the greater the risk for mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anger and relationship problems. When soldiers first return home, they may not notice any problems; sometimes it takes a few months for problems to develop.

With running for Commander-in-Chief Obama took some time away from major media reporters and met with the step-brother of a young National Guardsman from Montana. Chris Dana couldn't speak for himself because he committed suicide.

Montana National Guard Spec. Chris Dana will never know the impact his life and ultimately his death may someday have on the lives of veterans nationwide.

Dana took his life in March 2007, less than two years after returning from a tour in Iraq. His family believes he was a victim of post traumatic stress disorder, brought on by his combat experience.

Since Dana’s death, his stepbrother Matt Kuntz has campaigned for more awareness of the costs of untreated post traumatic stress syndrome in Iraq war veterans. Wednesday, he was invited to meet with Sen. Barack Obama to share the message he’s been spreading statewide for more than a year. At a quiet picnic table at Riverfront Park Obama sat across from Kuntz, his wife Sandy and their infant daughter Fiona.

Kuntz was heavy with emotion, but hopeful and eager to share Dana’s story, and tell the senator about his work to ensure other Montana veterans aren’t suffering from the same condition that made his step-brother take his life.

The new Mental Health Advisory Team (MHAT 6) report, a "snapshot" of the morale and behavioral health of Soldiers deployed last spring and early summer in Iraq and Afghanistan, found the mental health of Soldiers in Iraq improved since the first survey in 2004, but several morale and mental health problems had increased in Afghanistan since the 2005 survey. Officials surveyed said that Battlemind Training has helped to improve coping skills.

By 2009 Associated Press was reporting Army suicides had reached a 3 decade high of 128 soldier suicides for 2008. The U.S. Marine Corps reports that a service member dies by suicide every two days, and one attempts suicide every two hours. Those reports came out in February but by March, the numbers were revised.

In calendar year 2008, the Army reported 140 confirmed or suspected suicides. That’s 20.2 suicides per 100,000 troops — an all-time high that is nearly twice the national average of 11.0 suicides per 100,000. The service’s suicide rate has more than doubled since 2004.

The Navy reported 41 suicides in 2008, a rate of 11.6 per 100,000. The Marine Corps lost 41 Marines last year to confirmed or suspected suicides — up from 25 two years earlier — a rate of 19.0 suicides per 100,000. The Air Force lost 38 airmen in 2008, a rate of 11.5 suicides per 100,000.

More ominously, 780 callers to a national Veterans Affairs suicide prevention hotline in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2008, identified themselves as active-duty troops, said Kathryn Power, director of the Center for Mental Health Services in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Law enforcement was already saying they had increased issues with veterans needing help struggling to adjust.

Due to the rates of mental health problems experienced by Iraq war veterans, experts say it isn't the last time a soldier will barricade himself in a house, forcing a police response that in the mind of someone suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury could seem like a battle zone.

"We are training these people to be unconsciously competent at defending themselves," said Eleanor Alden, a clinical social worker in Denver who treats PTSD in private practice. "They just do it. And then they came back and we put them in a different situation, but the same triggers will have the same kind of response. Then they end up in some sort of fugue state where they are responding the way they are trained to respond but in the wrong situation."

For local law enforcement agencies, standoffs with the suicidal or people involved in domestic disputes are intense situations, often with multiple X factors. Adding in somewhat unpredictable behavior of someone suffering from mental and physical wounds of war can heighten the situation.

After Battlemind was followed up by Comprehensive Soldier Fitness and billions of dollars spent the result has been deadly both in and out of the military.

Year after year, members of Congress have written bill after bill, spent billions and there have been more suicides in the military, more suicides as veteran, more standoffs with law enforcement and while the "solutions" they pushed wasted time, they delayed proper efforts to actually do something that would work.

All these years later, advocates have actually lost count on how many were lost to suicide. The rate of veterans committing suicide is double the civilian population and younger veterans are triple the rate of their peers. These folks managed to survive deployments into combat but not being back home? Yet it was a news story back in 2007 that actually sums up the abyss we allowed to grow.

Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans
They survived the hell that's Iraq and then they come home only to lose their life.

The latest "solution" of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act with absolutely nothing new in it. Clay Hunt was a Marine. He committed suicide in 2011.

His suicide has shaken many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans; 'he led an exemplary life,' says his father

The 28-year-old former Marine corporal earned a Purple Heart after taking a sniper's bullet in his left wrist. He returned to combat in Afghanistan. Upon his return home, he lobbied for veterans on Capitol Hill, road-biked with wounded veterans and performed humanitarian work in Haiti and Chile. Then, on March 31, Hunt bolted himself in his Houston apartment and shot himself.

Hunt's suicide came after everything else had been done and redone included in the bill that has his name attached to it. The trouble is, if they really want to prevent more suicides, they can't get there driving in circles. They need to stop and actually ask for directions instead of running over the veterans they claim to be helping.

UPDATE Article on Business Insider takes a look at suicide.

Military veterans are especially prone to suicide. Data from 48 states suggest that 30 out of 100,000 veterans kill themselves each year — a rate far higher than among civilians. Many find it hard to overcome the trauma of combat, or to adjust to civilian life.

Military Suicides: What Good Did It Do To Be Right?

I am drained. I can't possibly be the only person in this country wondering why the hell this latest bill out of congress deserves supporting. Then again, considering my email box is usually full of reasons why it should be supported, it is very lonely from where I sit.

Senate panel OKs bill to lower veteran suicide rate
The Associated Press
By Matthew Daly
January 21, 2015

WASHINGTON — A bill aimed at reducing a suicide epidemic among military veterans cleared a Senate committee on Wednesday, as lawmakers vowed quick action on a measure that was blocked in the last session of Congress.

The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee unanimously approved a bill named for Clay Hunt, a 26-year-old veteran who killed himself in 2011. The bill is aimed at reducing a suicide epidemic that claims the lives of 22 military veterans every day.

Aimed at reducing? Ok then what about all the other bills? Anyone figure out how to aim the right weapon to accomplish that? Nope! So far the only aiming is being done by a veteran with the gun in his hand and they usually don't miss.

Click the link to read the rest of the article if you can stand it. I can't. I had to leave this comment.

When will this ever end? How many more years of bills being passed while veterans pay for the failures of congress with their lives? How many more have to die before they figure out they had it wrong since the first bill in 2007 and then only reprinted more of the same?

HBO did a documentary back in 2013.

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Since 2001, more veterans have died by their own hand than in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, one veteran dies by suicide in America every 80 minutes. While only 1% of Americans has served in the military, former service members account for 20% of all suicides in the U.S.

Based in Canandaigua, NY and open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the Veterans Crisis Line receives more than 22,000 calls each month from veterans of all conflicts who are struggling or contemplating suicide due to the psychological wounds of war and the challenges of returning to civilian life.

The timely documentary CRISIS HOTLINE: VETERANS PRESS 1 spotlights the traumas endured by America’s veterans, as seen through the work of the hotline’s trained responders, who provide immediate intervention and support in hopes of saving the lives of service members.

After serving their country overseas, many military veterans struggle with post-traumatic stress, depression and addiction. Since 2007, the Veterans Crisis Line has answered about 900,000 calls. CRISIS HOTLINE highlights how its dedicated responders react to a variety of complex calls and handle the emotional aftermath of what can be life-and-death conversations. The film captures these extremely private moments, where the professionals, many of whom are themselves veterans or veterans’ spouses, can often interrupt the thoughts and plans of suicidal callers to steer them out of crisis. Hotline workers sometimes intervene successfully by seizing on the caller's ambivalence and illuminating his or her reasons for living.
read more here

Since its launch in 2007, the Veterans Crisis Line has answered more than 1.35 million calls and made more than 42,000 lifesaving rescues. In 2009, the Veterans Crisis Line added an anonymous online chat service and has engaged in more than 192,000 chats. In November 2011, the Veterans Crisis Line introduced a text-messaging service to provide another way for Veterans to connect with confidential, round-the-clock support, and since then has responded to more than 28,000 texts.

This means as bad as the numbers are with young veterans committing suicide triple their civilian peers and veterans in general double the civilian rate, it would be worse without this crisis line. But hey, why talk about this? It is a lot easier to just follow along and push to have another bill passed. 

Why come up with the change veterans have been waiting for? Why do something different since they have been paying for these failures with their lives?

The granddaddy of all these bills was the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention act passed by the Congress in 2007 and signed by President Bush in 2008.

This was part of it.

`(h) Hotline- In carrying out the comprehensive program, the Secretary may provide for a toll-free hotline for veterans to be staffed by appropriately trained mental health personnel and available at all times.

You can read everything else in the bill but you can find more of the same in every other bill they have pushed, passed, signed and funded.

Hint, these bills were in place before Clay Hunt and thousands of others committed suicide.

While we're on the subject, why would we want to talk about veterans facing off with police officers or committing suicide by cop? Or why talk about them still asking for help like Clay did only to discover the help he needed was not what he got? Why talk about the fact that no one has been held accountable for all the failures this far? Why talk about Congress listening to family members after someone they love made it back from combat but ended their pain the only way they could think of?

Why talk about the fucking fact that none of this is new?

If you want to keep spreading the message that this will do anything tomorrow, show up at your local cemetery because they'll be needing more graves for veterans.

Think I'm wrong? Well they thought I was wrong back in 2009 too when I said if the Army pushed Comprehensive Soldier Fitness they would see suicides increase and they did. Maybe you can tell me what good did it do to be right if they died faster?

UPDATE Add this to the above

CBS News: VA Patient Data Reveals Growing Number Of Suicide Attempts By Veterans 2008
"When you go through war, you're going to change permanently and totally for the rest of your life," said veteran Harold Pendergrass.

Pendergrass knows firsthand the hidden wounds of war. He served two tours in Vietnam.

"I carried a suicide note in my pocket for years," he said.

At 57, the former Army soldier has tried to take his own life three times, constantly wrestling with thoughts of killing himself.

"I sat around numerous times with a .44 in my mouth," he said. "But for some reason, I just couldn't pull the trigger. I don't know why."

Now, CBS News has obtained never-before seen patient data from the Department of Veterans Affairs, detailing the growing number of suicide attempts among vets recently treated by the VA.

The data reveals a marked overall increase - from 462 attempts in 2000 to 790 in 2007.

"This is highly statistically significant," said Dr. Bruce Levin, head of the biostatistics department at Columbia University. Levin is one of three experts who analyzed the data for CBS News.

"I'd characterize it as something that deserves further attention," Levin said. "Overall the data suggests about a 44 percent increase and that is not due to chance."

According to the experts, two age groups stood out between 2000 and 2007. First, ages 20-24 - those likely to have served during the Iraq-Afghan wars. Suicide attempts rose from 11 to 47.

And for vets ages 55 to 59, suicide attempts jumped from 19 to 117.

In both age groups, the attempted suicides grew at a rate much faster than the VA patient population as a whole.

In addition, this VA study, also obtained exclusively by CBS News, reveals the increasing number of veterans who recently received VA services ... and still succeeded in committing suicide: rising from 1,403 suicides in 2001 to 1,784 in 2005 - figures the VA has never made public.

And add this to that from today

A new study suggests that the suicide risk for Eldridge and other veterans who served in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is significantly higher – 41 to 61 percent higher -- than for the general population. The study, led by Department of Veterans Affairs and Army researchers, is the most comprehensive look to date at the suicide risk for veterans who were on active duty during the recent wars.

Is what we read on veterans suicides reliable?

Is the 22-Veterans-Per-Day Suicide Rate Reliable? on Huffington Post by Dustin DeMoss left me wondering if what we read is reliable or not. There is so much that we don't talk about and until we do, we will keep repeating the past.

Wounded Times · Top Commenter · Editor, Publisher and Videographer at Wounded Times Blog

Seriously? Think about what you just wrote. Then think of all the other bills coming out of congress since the granddaddy Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention bill in 2007- signed by President Bush in 2008. Boat loads of bills passed since then, billions a year spent by the DOD, VA and other departments yet the suicide rate remained unchanged. State after state are still reporting that veterans committing suicide are twice the civilian rate. Same as back in 2008 after years of listening to families begging congress to make a difference. More charities popping up plus the suicide prevention/crisis hotline, more outreach and more families still having to bury a veteran.

I'd love to take the easy way out and jump into the ever growing number of voices to pass the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act but after years of tracking all of this and having to explain to the families why their veteran lost all hope, I'd prefer to stay honest and tell the truth.

Here's so links to post on Wounded Times in case you missed them.

A 24-hour confidential Veteran’s Crisis Line first established in 2007 for veterans, their families and friends fielded about 287,000 calls, 54,800 online chats, and 11,300 text messages in fiscal year 2013, the report says.

Do you care twice as many veterans commit suicide than civilians do?

Reducing Military Suicides Impossible Dream with These Folks in Charge

After we get through all of that then maybe we can talk about the other really important fact and that is the majority of veterans committing suicide are 50 and over.

"Veterans over the age of 50 who had entered the VA healthcare system made up about 78 percent of the total number of veterans who committed suicide"

General Amos has a lot to answer for

General Amos has a lot more to answer for than just skipping training. Amos talks a lot about Marines committing suicide however, he keeps talking about them happening even though there has never been a time when more had been done to prevent them.

Amos says that most suicides happen because of "relationship" problems. Ok, then since the military has psychological testing before recruits enter the military, why didn't those test find Marines at risk for suicides? Why didn't the testing discover psychological issues like depression?

As for the "resilience" training generals keep talking about, why isn't it good enough to train the non-deployed to be resilient while they expect it to make the deployed resilient? Doesn't make sense to the rest of us but makes perfect sense to Amos no matter how the number of enlisted Marines were reduced even as the number of suicides went up. The generals never seem to be able to explain any of that.

This is from 2009 just when they started to push Comprehensive Soldier Fitness. The rate of suicides going up tied to this "training" was predicted the same year but those in charge didn't care.

Marine commandant faces new questions
Marine Corps Times
Lance M. Bacon
October 10, 2014

Gen. Jim Amos' critics are not letting him quietly retire as commandant of the Marine Corps, raising fresh allegations of wrongdoing even as he prepares to end his tenure on Oct. 17.

At issue is whether Amos attended basic Marine officer training in 1972 as he said in the career service record he provided Congress four years ago during his confirmation as the service's 35th commandant.

Amos was a Navy pilot and lieutenant junior grade who transferred to Marine Corps aviation and bypassed The Basic School, a rite of passage for all Marine officers. The Corps says Amos did complete the school — five years later than claimed and via correspondence course.

A spokesman for Marine Corps headquarters said it could not provide documentation late Friday afternoon. Marine Corps Times had sought details on Amos' Basic School history since Wednesday.
read more here

New Veteran Suicide Prevention Bill, $20 million for another failure

New Veteran Suicide Prevention Bill, $20 million for another failure
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
June 6, 2013

I keep a lot of their secrets. It comes with this job. I talk them off the ledge when everything else they tried failed. I listen to them when their families are pushing them away. I listen to the families when it is too late to save their lives and their ended their pain with a bullet or at the end of a rope.

There was a time when I could honestly tell them that the military and the VA were taking action to get all of them the help they needed. That ended in 2008 when I understood the "efforts" were actually doing more harm than good. I also lost hope when I, as an average person, figured it out when these highly educated people had no clue. They didn't understand the harm being done because they didn't understand the men and women they are trying to help.

If you doubt that, just read some of the Suicide news reports when they interview military brass and you'll hear how little they understand the men and women they have control over. They make ridiculous statements like "the majority of them have not been deployed" followed up by "civilian suicides have gone up too" but never seem to mention the fact that veterans are 7% of the population but over 20% of the suicides. As for "non-deployed" they never really explain what they mean by that. Considering training is a process when they are trained to use weapons while undergoing psychological games to break them down so they will follow orders topped off with the fact that most are teenagers thinking combat is like the computer game with unrealistic thoughts about what they are getting into.

They don't mention how when these young kids discover they made a mistake and joined without thinking about the commitment, they can't just walk away and the psychological screening missed signs they shouldn't have been able to enlist in the first place. They also seem unable to mention that when they use the term "active military" they are avoiding any numbers associated with National Guards and Reservists. Nice little word game they play.

What is even more infuriating is after all these years (going back to the 70's in case you didn't know) they still come out with "we don't know why" when asked about all of this. Just goes to show they don't have a clue but still come out with stuff that repeats what has already failed. There are over 900 suicide prevention programs.

This is one more part of the PR campaign to shut advocates up for a while.

Crisis of Veteran Suicide Prevention: Holt, Runyan Applaud Continued Funding
WEDNESDAY, 05 JUNE 2013
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, June 4, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2216, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2014. The legislation includes $20 million in additional funding for veteran suicide prevention sought by U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ-12) and U.S. Rep. Jon Runyan (R-NJ-03).

Holt and Runyan previously worked together to secure $20 million in veteran suicide prevention funding in the 2012 and 2013 fiscal year Veterans Affairs budgets. Earlier this year, Holt and Runyan led a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations urging that the funding be continued in fiscal year 2014. Their letter, which was cosigned by 99 members of Congress, is attached.

“Over the past few years, Congress has finally started to take seriously the crisis of military suicide,” Holt said. “This continued funding sends a clear message to our soldiers and veterans: Your country is committed to helping you with the strains of your service, and we will do everything possible to keep you safe.”
read more here

They also plan on spending $40 million more on military suicide prevention. on military suicides.

This isn't anything new. When I wrote THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR, my heartbreak turned into pure anger.

Military and veteran suicides are higher even though billions are spent every year trying to prevent them. After years of research most can be connected to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD has been researched for 40 years yet most of what was known has been forgotten. Families are left blaming themselves for what they were never told.

Reporters have failed to research. Congress failed at holding people accountable. The military failed at giving them the help they need. We failed to pay attention.

This leaves us with a growing number of military men and women finding rest in a cemetery instead of finding help they need to stay here after their service.

Is anyone paying attention to all of this? Is there anyone demanding accountability instead of acceptability? When did it become ok to let the government do whatever it wanted and not have to account for anything? Congress keeps funding these Bills and we keep seeing the deadly results. What does Congress do? They fund more of the same programs that have already failed!

If reporters think this Bill will do anything real to save their lives, they haven't been paying attention to what has been going on. They have not taken a hard look at what been doing the most damage. It began with Battlemind and moved into "resilience training" even though honest research has shown these programs did more harm than good.

Families are left wondering if anyone really cares. Do they? Do they really care when everyday there is a headline in one part of the country about another grieving family?

Suicidal Vet "So I can’t kill myself until Monday?"

Editor's note: If you ever feel suicidal and get this kind of response, which happens far too often, call 911 and don't wait! There is no excuse for this after billions of dollars have been spent and 40 years of research done in your name!

Suicide by Appointment
by RICHARD BAKER
Source: In These Times
Published: Wednesday 27 March, 2013

In 1966 and 1967, I served in Vietnam as a point man for the 4th Infantry Division outside Pleiku. Since then I have been hospitalized in Veterans Administration (VA) psychiatric institutions for suicidal depression two times—once about four years ago after I tried to bleed out by cutting off my hand. I call PTSD an injury, not an illness, because it is an injury to the brain, to your emotional and psychological well-being.

The current practice is to treat the injury, not prevent it. Preventing PTSD would be simple: Don’t send people to war. Treating the injury is more difficult, and currently, the VA’s efforts are a failure.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, each day 22 soldiers from America’s present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan commit suicide. There are no such statistics for Vietnam veterans, although estimates from prominent doctors and organizations range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

By the next day, I was creeping close to the edge: I could not shake the nightmares and the flashbacks to the jungle and cradling that young man. Dying seemed preferable to living, which is what suicide is all about. I finally called the VA to explain my situation and to make an appointment with the mental health clinic. The conversation went like this:

Me: I feel very suicidal and would like to make an appointment to see a doctor.

VA: I’m sorry, we can’t make an appointment for you.

Me: I have a very serious case of PTSD. I have been seeing doctors for 40 years. All I need is an appointment.

VA: Our policy has changed. Before you can get an appointment you must come in and be evaluated for suicide.

Me: How do I do that?

VA: Go to Building 61 and tell them that you are suicidal. Someone will see you and decide if you can get an appointment.

Me: OK. I will go out there now.

VA: I’m sorry, you can’t go now. It’s Friday, too late in the day, and they usually leave early. You’ll never get there in time.

Me: You don’t get it. I’m suicidal now. I need to see someone.

VA: You’ll just have to put that off until Monday.

Me: So I can’t kill myself until Monday?

VA: If you wait until Monday, maybe we can help. Just don’t show up between noon and one. Everyone is at lunch.
read more here

Air Force spending on Resiliency Training and Chaplains

Air Force Posture Statement 2012
Michael B. Donley, Secretary of the Air Force
General Norton A. Schwartz Chief of Staff
$31.0 Billion Agile Combat Support but does not break it down the way it was in prior year.

Air Force Posture Statement 2011
THE HONORABLE MICHAEL B. DONLEY
SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE
GENERAL NORTON A. SCHWARTZ
CHIEF OF STAFF, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
AGILE COMBAT SUPPORT
Underpinning the work of all Air Force Core Functions are the capabilities included in agile combat support (ACS). ACS is the ability to create, protect, and sustain air and space forces across the full spectrum of military operations and spans a diverse set of Air Force functional capabilities. The FY12 budget request of $33.8 billion for ACS accounts for efforts affecting our entire Air Force—from the development and training of our Airmen to regaining acquisition excellence.

Airmen and Families. The Air Force is proud of its commitment to supporting its Airmen and families. The nearly two decades of sustained combat operations has imposed extraordinary demands on them and underscores the need to remain focused on sustaining quality of life and supporting programs as a top priority. To help address the demands, in 2010 the Air Force executed the Year of the Air Force Family and highlighted support programs focused on three outcomes: Fostering a Strong Air Force Community; Strengthening an Airman's Sense of Belonging; and Improving Airman and Family Resiliency.

The Year of the Air Force Family deepened leadership’s understanding of current support services and capabilities and what needs to be done in the future to maintain and improve outcomes in the three primary focus areas.

First, the Air Force will maintain an enduring emphasis on Airmen and families by actively engaging the entire Air Force Community: Total Force Airmen, Department of the Air Force civilians, single and married personnel, primary and extended family members, retirees, and on and off-base community partners. The Air Force will maintain an atmosphere that is supportive, team-oriented, and inclusive, but diverse enough to meet the current and emerging needs of the entire Air Force Community. Policy and process priorities have been translated into actions and tasks that will be accomplished over the next few years, perpetuating the Air Force’s commitment to strengthening our ties to one another, improving our operational abilities and ensuring our Air Force Community is best positioned to meet future commitments and requirements.

Second, we continue to strengthen our Air Force Community by expanding child care through different programs such as the Extended Duty Program, Home Community Care, Missile Care, and the new Supplemental Child Care initiative to provide flexibility in meeting child care needs. In FY11, the Air Force will continue to demonstrate our commitment to military child education, funding full time School Liaison Officers (SLO) Air Force-wide. SLOs and our new Air Force Exceptional Family Member Program Coordinators will work in close collaboration to address educational and other assistance for families with special needs. The Air Force FY12 budget request includes $4 million to assist with respite child care for military family members with special needs children.

Third, the budget reflects a $4.4 million increase to our Air Force Mortuary Affairs program, supporting travel for family members from home of record to Dover Port Mortuary to receive and honor fallen loved ones. Increases also reflect our commitment to maintaining the Port Mortuary's Center for the Families of the Fallen, used as the reception facility and host site for visiting family members at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

Airman dining facilities remain an important commitment of the Air Force as we plan to increase funding for dining facilities at basic military training and technical training bases by $14.9 million in FY12. In FY11, we launched the Food Transformation Initiative (FTI) to address Airmen’s concerns with dining facility closings, lack of healthy food options, and insufficient hours of operation. FTI is designed to enhance food quality, variety and availability while maintaining home base and warfighting capabilities. The Air Force continues to expand our efforts to improve resiliency of Airmen and their families before, during, and after deployments and has significantly expanded capabilities to ensure support and reintegration of our Total Force. In continuing its efforts to improve the resiliency of Airmen and their families, the Air Force moved forward with several initiatives in 2010.

We established a new Resiliency Division at the Air Force level to take the lead and develop an overarching Air Force Resiliency Roadmap. The Deployment Transition Center (DTC) was established at Ramstein Air Base, Germany on July 1, 2010. The DTC and Chaplain Corps Care for the Caregiver programs provide valuable decompression, reintegration and resiliency training for those exposed to significant danger and stress in combat zones. To support these efforts, the Air Force FY12 budget request includes $8 million for the Air Force Resiliency Program for research, curriculum development, materials and intervention training for the DTC. We will continue to develop our Airman Resiliency Program by identifying needs, researching best practices, partnering with internal and external organizations, and developing targeted and tiered training that is integrated into an Airman's career to allow a building block approach that leads to life-long resiliency that benefits both Airmen and their families. We are also requesting an increase in the Chaplain Recruitment program by $1.5 million in FY12 to better provide for religious accommodation and support of Airmen. This includes chaplain-led MarriageCare Retreats, that help heal and save marriages, and deployment reintegration programs expanded to meet the needs of redeploying Airmen.

The Air Force is highly committed to the Wounded Warrior Program that ensures access to medical and rehabilitation treatments for the ill and wounded. The Air Force Warrior and Survivor Care Division is dedicated to building a culture of understanding and concern for wounded, ill and injured Airmen. The Air Force has hired 33 Recovery Care Coordinators and a Program Manager to support 31 locations across the Air Force. Recovery Care Coordinators serve as the focal point for non-clinical case management, development of comprehensive recovery plans and creation of timelines for personal and career accomplishments. Additionally, the Air Force has implemented new personnel policies regarding retention, retraining, promotions, assignments and evaluation of Wounded Warriors. In FY12, the Air Force is requesting $2.8 million for additional case workers and program managers to provide non-clinical case management services to meet the growing demands of the Wounded Warrior population.

Suicides. Air Force suicide rates have been on the rise since 2007, although primary risk factors for suicide among Airmen remain the same. The most commonly identified stressors and risk factors have remained the same over the last ten years: relationships, financial problems and legal problems. Although deployments can stress Airmen and their families, deployment does not seem to be an individual risk factor for Airmen—many Airmen who have committed suicide have never deployed. The Air Force is providing additional support to our most at-risk Airmen by providing additional frontline supervisor suicide prevention training to all supervisors in career fields with elevated suicide rates. In addition, mental health providers are based in primary care clinics across the Air Force to counsel patients who may not otherwise seek care in a mental health clinic because of the perceived stigma. The Air Force has significantly expanded counseling services in addition to those available through the chaplains or the mental health clinic. Other helpful programs that provide non-medical counseling include Military Family Life Consultants, which can see individuals or couples, and Military OneSource, which provides sessions for active duty for up to twelve off-base sessions.

Fort Hood. In the wake of the Fort Hood shooting, the Secretary of Defense directed the Air Force to conduct a follow-on review to identify ways to better protect Airmen and families. Our review yielded 118 findings and 151 recommendations. The key revelation of the study is that we must do a better job of preventing and responding to violence. Specifically, we must improve our ability to identify indicators of potential violence and share that information with those who are best positioned to prevent a violent outcome. This will require improved understanding, education, processes and training, as well as more integrated processes at both the installation and interagency levels. To undertake these efforts, the FY12 budget request includes $37 million across the FYDP. We anticipate that our resource requirements will increase as we refine the implementation of our recommendations. We are confident that the resources Congress provides, coupled with our sustained effort, will help the Air Force reduce the likelihood of tragedies like Fort Hood and position us to respond more effectively should prevention fail.

Camp Pendleton "new suicide prevention" program?

I guess 900 programs is just not enough.

New suicide prevention training
By Cpl. Derrick Irions
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton
March 25, 2013
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.

In accordance with Marine Corps Order 1720.2, a recently released MarineNet activation announcement, indicates every Marine Corps battalion and squadron must appoint a Suicide Prevention Program Officer (SPPO).

Each SPPO is required to complete MarineNet course MFCSPPO001.

The MairneNet course will educate SPPOs in prevention, intervention, reporting and response for suicide related incidents within their commands.

The course’s USMC SPPO Distance Learning Module includes the USMC Suicide Prevention Program and Suicide Prevention Program Officer Responsibilities.

Army Recruiter Helps Stop Suicide Attempt

Army Recruiter Helps Stop Suicide Attempt
Mar 19, 2013
Army.mil/News
by Gabriel Morse

GREENVILLE, Mich. -- "Sir, I need help, please. I've been sitting here with a gun in my hand and I want to end my life. I don't know what to do. I feel [like] hopeless, helpless, worthless scum. I want to end it all. Please sir, help me. Nobody cares, and I'm about ready to snap. I can't take it."

These were the frightening words Staff Sgt. Jason DeRosa received Dec. 14, 2012, via Facebook from a high school student he'd previously spoken to about Army opportunities. The 29-year-old recruiter regularly uses Facebook to reach out to students in his high schools; he said it's faster and easier. In his wildest dreams, however, he said he'd never imagined receiving a message like this.

"We'd been sending messages back and forth for a while by the time she started telling me she was in her bedroom holding her father's handgun and thinking of hurting herself," said DeRosa, from Great Lakes Army Recruiting Battalion's Greenville Center.

At first DeRosa wasn't sure if it was a prank, but knew he had to take it seriously without scaring her away. As Facebook was their only link, and not knowing how desperate she really was, he had to be careful about pushing her. Knowing she had recently moved due to her parents' divorce, he felt it was imperative he continue talking to her and find out what was going on so he could get her the proper help. Believing the student was serious about taking her life, DeRosa knew he was her only lifeline at that moment.

"I've taken the Army suicide prevention classes and knew I didn't want to leave a lull in the conversation where something bad could happen," said the nine-year veteran with two combat tours. "She'd asked for help and support before and felt she wasn't receiving it."
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John McCain slams Chuck Hagel

UPDATE
I totally forgot about this part. McCain wanted Hagel when McCain wanted to be President and Hagel backed him up. What did McCain want Hagel for? Secretary of Defense! That's right and here it is out of McCain's own mouth.

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Too many people think Senator John McCain as a hero. While that was true a long time ago when he was captured and held as a POW in Vietnam, while serving in the Senate, his record has been one of voting against the best interests of the troops and our veterans.

Looking up his voting record has left many in shock. He has voted against Bills that passed and then accepted credit for them. The biggest one was the GI Bill. McCain and President Bush were against this Bill. McCain said it was "too generous" and "too expensive" but after President signed it, he gave credit to McCain among others.

That is why Senators Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel proposed the new GI Bill, which would bring back WWII-style standards of providing vets with full tuition, room and board. And that is why 51 senators have signed on, including 9 Republicans like John Warner, giving this GI Bill tremendous bi-partisan support.

In 2010 he called the "Suicide Prevention Bill overreach" and blocked the Bill. He said this even though there was a report that in Portland Oregon Suicide Prevention hotline had rescued 5 veterans in a two hour period.

Now he is slamming Chuck Hagel even though, as history has proven, Hagel was right about Iraq. Hagel was part of McCain's campaign for the Presidency in 2008 but now he is not good enough for McCain. Chuck Hagel was not just a Senator, he is also another Vietnam veteran.

Hegal volunteered to join the Army and ended up serving a yearlong tour in 1968 during the Tet Offensive, considered the most violent period in that war. Because of a clerical error, he served side by side with his younger brother.

He earned two Purple Hearts, one of which was for saving his brother's life. The second Purple Heart was for shrapnel he took in the chest while on patrol with his brother; his brother saved his life by patching up the wound.