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.

Army Someone Else's Problem Protocol

Army Someone Else's Problem Protocol
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 18, 2014

The Army, along with every other branch of the military, faced a problem when they had to report suicides among personnel. There was press release after release, congressional hearing followed by many more as the years ticked away and billions spent "addressing" prevention.

Nice little trick especially when the facts proved as they did more, there were more suicides.

Behind the backs of the soldiers there was another game being played. As bad as things were, the Army decided, along with the other branches, to hide the problem they had.

According to a recent report on dishonorable discharges by Associated Press, it happened thousands of times last year alone.

The number of enlisted soldiers forced out for drugs, alcohol, crimes and other misconduct shot up from about 5,600 in 2007, as the Iraq war peaked, to more than 11,000 last year.

The report also pointed out that this was not just being done by the Army.

"The number of Marines who left after court-martial has dropped from more than 1,300 in 2007 to about 250 last year."

"The number of officers separated from service since 2000 due to a court-martial ranged from a low of 20 in 2001 to a high of 68 in 2007. For enlisted airmen, the number ranged from a high of nearly 4,500 in 2002 to a low of almost 2,900 in 2013

The Navy went through a similar process. When the decision was made to cut the size of the 370,000-strong naval force in 2004, the number of sailors who left due to misconduct and other behavior issues grew. In 2006, more than 8,400 sailors left due to conduct issues.

As the size of the Navy began to stabilize — it’s now at about 323,000 — the number of problem sailors leaving also began to decline steadily, dropping each successive year to a new low of about 3,700 in 2013. In nearly one-third of the cases each year over that period, the problems involved drug and alcohol use. More than 1,400 cases each year involved a “serious offense” or civil or criminal court case.

The Army created someone else's problem protocol making sure that "problem" soldiers were kicked out before they had to be counted. As with the rise in younger veterans committing suicide, the military no longer has to account for them or the veterans ending up in front of a judge facing criminal charges. All of their problems, problems created while in the military, we passed off to someone else to take care of.

This is a dishonorable way for the military to be off the hook leaving young men and women with absolutely nothing. No help for what happened to them while they were serving. Little hope of finding jobs to support themselves or their families and nothing in place to help them heal.

The military has claimed that most of the suicides occur without deployments but have not had to answer for the psychological testing done when they enlisted. For recruits to be trained, they would have to pass the test but the end result does not pass the smell test. Why isn't the press asking for accountability? Why aren't they asking for answers when so many have been discharged but the drop in suicides does not even come close to accounting for the lower numbers?

The Army reported there were 351 suicides in 2012, the record high but no one thought of all of the dishonorable discharges along with the reduction of the soldiers under honorable terms. In 2013 they claimed a reduction in suicides by 55 for a total of 296, yet had discharged 11,000 dishonorably.

Navy suicides were 59 in 2013 and 46 in 2013 but had dishonorably discharged 3,700. The Air Force had 59 suicides in 2012 followed by 55 in 2013 but discharged 2,900. It was the same story with the Marine Corps. They had 48 suicides in 2012 and 45 in 2013 but dishonorably discharged 250.

All of the branches were dishonorably discharging thousands every year as suicides went up but no one in the press thought to factor any of them in.

Left with nothing but a family distraught by changes in Jedadiah Zillmer, they had to bury him yesterday because he was one of the Army's Someone Else's Problem Protocol. Zillmer was the family's problem even though no one told them what to do. He was the VA's problem because he needed their help but he didn't get it and in the end he was a problem for police officers.

Afghanistan veteran shot and killed by police was Jedadiah Dean Zillmer.

"The Spokesman-Review said Zillmer left the Army in September 2012. A relative told the newspaper that family members suspected he might be suffering from post-traumatic stress but no diagnosis had been made.

Zillmer was shot in the foot during combat in Afghanistan in 2011 and lost part of a toe, the newspaper said.

He was among a group of soldiers who were denied disability benefits from the Army and sued, the newspaper said. A federal judge upheld the Army’s decision in September."

Jedadiah Dean "Jed" ZILLMER (04/22/1990 - 02/11/2014)
ZILLMER, Jedadiah Dean "Jed" (Age 23) Passed away February 11, 2014 in Spokane Valley. Jed was born April 22, 1990 in Spokane to Brian Ponder and Brandi Zillmer. He was a student at Spokane Falls Community College pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering and computer science.

He was a Purple Heart recipient that served in Afghanistan. He was an infantry sniper in C Troop 1/32 Cavalry 1st Brigade, with the 101st Airborne Division. Jed and Katie were married July 5, 2011 in Clarksville, TN.

He worked as a Veteran Resource Officer at SFCC. He had a lifelong dream to fix and renovate his own home.

He loved working on computers, cars and house projects. He spent much of his time outdoors hiking, adventuring, biking, running and exploring. Jed helped and inspired every person he ever met. Jedadiah was a loving and dedicated husband, son, brother and friend. He won a Chase Youth Award for helping fix and build computers for low income families.

Jed is survived by his wife Katie Zillmer; his parents; sister Jazmine Zillmer; brothers Jeremiah Zillmer and Ty Ford; grandparents Lorraine Pewitt, Roger Zillmer and Elaine Ponder; other family Christina, Derrick, Joshua, Justin and Jamie Brooks. Memorial Service 11AM, Monday, February 17, 2014 at Heritage Chapel. Memorial contributions may be made to assist with Jed's dream project to finish his house project Heritage Funeral Home. Private inurnment will be held at the WA State Veterans Cemetery with full military honors.

Zillmer was buried with "full military honors" but didn't have to happen if the full military actually honored the men and women risking their lives for the sake of others.

Australia: PTSD and Police

Police in trauma hot seat - officers leaving will illness
Nicole Cox, police reporter

May 08, 2009 10:00pm
THE trauma of police work in WA has forced hundreds of officers to quit with illnesses similar to soldiers serving in combat zones.

WA Police figures reveal that in the past decade 377 officers and staff have retired on grounds of ill-health after attending horrific homicides, suicides, road crashes and life-threatening situations.

Of those, 219 quit or were forced to retire because of psychological conditions including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, while 126 suffered physical injury.

WA Police would not reveal how many serving officers were now undergoing treatment for work-related post-traumatic stress.

Experts say the strain of relentless police work and exhausting hours has the same impact as working in a war zone.

Post-traumatic stress disorder expert David Mutton told The Sunday Times the psychological effects of policing were similar to those experienced by soldiers.

``The incidents that affect police are ones where they are put in a situation of extreme danger ... or ones that are overwhelmingly gruesome -- multiple fatalities and nasty homicides,'' Mr Mutton said.

``It's a combination of danger, stress, grief and the underlying desire by police to control situations.
go here for more
Police in trauma hot seat

Have you heard enough excuses for veterans killing themselves yet?

When will the VA and DOD admit the awful truth?

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 5, 2018

Yet again, a report came out about how bad it is for our veterans when they come home. Younger veterans are committing suicide in higher percentages, but the facts are missing.

The awful truth is they did not just fail this year, or last year, or five years ago, or even a decade ago. They failed for over 4 of them.

Billions spent every year and billions made by businesses and charities making a profit off of suicides. That should have been a clue but contracts continued to be written and paid for, along with funerals.

Police end up having to respond to someone finding a dead body, as well as respond when one of them is in a mental health crisis and someone called to get them help, only to have to draw their weapons against a veteran they came to help. That happened at least every week in 2017.

This year, there were 22 public suicides where veterans ended their private hell while making a point to let people be aware of what they had driven them to that point. Hoping like hell that someone would pay attention and do something before another veteran lost their life to suicide.

They saw more and more kicked out of the military. 2,300,000 at last count, right after more speeches about how the DOD claimed they were ready to help them heal.

Billions spent on "prevention training" that every member of the military had to take, yet every branch, every rank, every sex, every age group, lives though combat but dies afterwards by their own hands.

We see National Guards and Reservists, return home without a clue they can heal, so they lose hope before they even try to take control of their lives again.

How much are we willing to see while so many are oblivious to the charade? What expert has been fired for incompetence? What business has had to pay back the money they made off what they failed to deliver on? What charity has been held accountable for passing a slogan off as anything but something to benefit themselves?

It isn't as if they had no way of knowing.

Here is a direct quote from Wounded Times posted on May 29, 2009 about how it should have been known that if the DOD pushed resilience training, suicides would increase.

If you promote this program the way Battlemind was promoted, count on the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides to go up instead of down. It's just one more deadly mistake after another and just as dangerous as sending them into Iraq without the armor needed to protect them.

Yes, I predicted all this because I paid attention. I read reports and I listened to the veterans. No, I was not foolish enough to think the DOD or any of the "experts" would ever listen to someone like me, so not shocked this was ignored. The shocking thing is, they still have not figured it out!!!

It didn't matter that the experts over at RAND Corp investigated this "training" in 2013 and showed why it would not work. Not bad enough that in 2012, suicides hit over 500, or even bad enough they have remained an average of 500 a year since then. It was not even bad enough for them to grasp the concept these men and women were ready to die to save someone else, but did not seek help to save their own lives.

No, none of it was bad enough and today, we have a report where the VA and the DOD still say they have no clue!

Rising Suicide Rates Among Younger Veterans Trigger Alarm Bells at VA

Military.com
By Richard Sisk
December 4, 2018

Suicide rates among veterans 34 and younger have spiked in the last two years, leading the Department of Veterans Affairs to focus more on the 18-to-34-year-old age group than civilian programs for suicide prevention do, a top VA official said Tuesday.

She said another factor that has emerged in analyzing recent statistics has been the suicide rate among National Guard and Reserve veterans who never deployed to a combat zone.

Nearly four of the 20 veteran suicides a day were among National Guard and Reserve members who may have experienced trauma in national disaster duty, but were never in a combat zone, she added.

The number of suicides by veterans of all generations averages 22 each day. But "when we break down the numbers, the national numbers for veterans suicides, we're seeing an increased rate within 18-to-34-year-olds," said Dr. Keita Franklin, the VA's national director of suicide prevention.read the rest here

The thing to pay close attention to is this part

Franklin, who previously served as the Pentagon's Defense Suicide Prevention Office director, also noted that her civilian counterparts in suicide prevention are not facing the same rates of female suicides. "The fact that the female [veteran] rate is 1.8 times higher than their non-veteran counterpart is something we're concerned about."

I won a damn award back in 2008 for a video I did about National Guards and Reservists trying to deal with PTSD! So, if I knew, then why the hell didn't they know and do something about it? Like maybe what people like me had been doing for decades?

Did anyone ask her about how suicides increased within the military and in the veterans' community and they still do not know why? Did anyone ask how it is that after over a decade of "efforts" by the DOD and the VA, this is the outcome?

Notice the number of veterans living has dropped by over 4 million, but the rate went up? Now consider how many years, how many times we have heard "one too many" and how they were focused on doing something about it.

This is from the DOD up to June of this year.

And it is projected to remain about 500 for this year too when you look at the report, then factor in they have revised the numbers in the latest release.

Did anyone ask how it is there were thousands of "awareness raisers" running around the country collected over a billion per year and the suicides still happen even though the veterans are fully aware of all of it?

It is time for us to demand answers, since Congress won't and reporters will not. How much longer are we going to all all of this to go on? When do we actually stand up and fight for the men and women who fight all of our battles?

I am tired of having to try to explain all of this to families when it is too late to do them any good, and then have some "experts" say they still do not know what the hell to do!!! We've known for over 4 decades! When will they? They won't as long as we just let them get away with saying whatever they want.

HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE!

Servicemembers and veterans paid the price of these failures with their lives

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 13, 2015

These politicians got their name on a bill.

Mr. Harkin (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Rockefeller, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Smith, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Thune, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Schumer, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Reid, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Coleman, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Obama, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Dorgan, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Stevens, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Biden, and Mr. Enzi) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, July 23, 2007

It was the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act signed into law in 2008 by President Bush. If you sent me one of the petitions about supporting the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act, shame on you. Shame on you for not paying attention to any of this!

Why? Because most of what is in the new bill was in the bill passed back in 2007.  What good did it do? Did any of those politicians have to explain themselves when suicides went up? Did any of the groups pushing for passage of it have to face any of the families grieving later on? Did any of the people receiving funds year after year to reduce suicides have to pay back one single dime or pay for a funeral they were supposed to prevent?

You may have felt like you did something good but the truth is, you managed to just continue supporting failures. Year after year veterans and families have been told "this bill will work" followed by more suicides, more hearings, more whining about getting more money from charities and researchers, more families traveling to Washington to cry as they spoke about their pain.

Once these bills were passed with names attached to them, everyone patted themselves on the back as if they actually did something good, but where the hell were they when another year passed and even more veterans killed themselves?

I don't play well with others when veterans are suffering. I don't support groups when they don't give a shit about facts or use their ability to actually stop and take a look at what has already been done and failed. I don't simply pass on news stories just because it is easy to do when those articles are totally wrong. If you do, shame on you. If you trusted someone sending you this crap you are just as guilty as they are.

After you look at these charts, think about all the support you gave to politicians and groups claiming they were going to change things and help veterans live.

This chart shows how they committed suicide

The means by which they took their own lives has remained the same even though there have been many bills claiming to be about preventing suicides.

These numbers are just from veterans in the VA system. If they were not in the system, which according to to the VA they are compensating less than 4 million veterans out of the 22+ million veterans in this country. They don't address standoffs with police officers.

How many more bills do they need to pass that simply repeat failures? On the Defense Side these were the numbers

There were a total of 268 Service Member suicides in CY 2008, including cases pending final determination but strongly suspected to be suicides (Army = 140; Air Force = 45; Navy = 41; Marine Corps = 42).

The AFMES indicates that 309 Service Members died by suicide in 2009 (Air Force = 46; Army = 164; Marine Corps = 52; Navy = 47). This number includes deaths strongly suspected to be suicides but pending final determination.

The AFMES indicates that 295 Service Members died by suicide in 2010 (Air Force = 59, Army = 160, Marine Corps = 37, Navy = 39). This number includes deaths strongly suspected to be suicides but pending final determination.

The AFMES indicates that 301 Service Members died by suicide in 2011 (Air Force = 50, Army = 167, Marine Corps = 32, Navy = 52).

Of the 915 Service Members who attempted suicide, 896 had one attempt, 18 had two attempts, and 1 had three attempts.

Service Members died by suicide in 2012 The distribution of suicide DoDSERs across the four included Services was as follows: Air Force – 57 (17.9%), Army – 155 (48.7%), Marine Corps – 47 (14.8%), and Navy – 59 (18.6%).

According to AFMES data as of 31 March 2013, there were 319 suicides among Active component Service members and 203 among Reserve component Services members (Reserve [n = 73]; National Guard [n = 130].

Suicides by Quarter for 2013

Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act of 2014 was passed and signed after Senator Joe Donnelly pushed it.

Shown Here:
Introduced in Senate (04/25/2013)
Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act of 2013 - Expresses the sense of Congress that, as the United States draws down combat operations in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense (DOD) should continue to seek to assist in the identification of behavior indicating a risk of suicide in members of the Armed Forces (members).

Directs the Secretary of Defense to carry out a pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of using an online computerized assessment to assist DOD in detecting behaviors in members that indicate a risk of suicide or other mental health conditions. Requires: (1) 1,000 members of each regular component and 500 members of each reserve and National Guard component to be used in the pilot program, and (2) each participating member to complete two assessments. Requires the first superior officer of each participating member to also complete a computerized assessment on the behavior of that member as it relates to the risk of suicide or other mental health conditions.

Requires each member determined under the pilot program to have behavior indicating a risk of suicide or other mental health conditions to be referred to an appropriate mental health care provider for further assessment, care, and services.

Directs the Secretary to establish one or more control groups whose behavior permit comparison with the behavior and experiences of the participants.

Provides for the privacy of any medical or other information obtained under the pilot program. Prohibits information obtained from being used in determining the promotion or advancement of the member. Excludes the use of participant personally identifiable information in any required report.

Sounded good?

DOD launches after deployment web site Subject: Military Health System launched a behavioral health Web portal

The Military Health System launched a behavioral health Web portal August 5, 2008. The Web site, http://www.afterdeployment.org/ (AD), is the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) response to a congressional mandate to develop a behavioral health Web portal focused on post-deployment problems.

More than 1.5 million troops have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. The DoD estimates that up to 15-20 percent of returning troops have problems after returning home. Irritability, depression, increased stress, and relationship difficulties are the typical concerns faced by service members and their families following a deployment.

Multiple reports have highlighted the need for Web-based behavioral health tools to reach the many service members who do not seek out face-to-face care. In addition to barriers to care, such as scheduling appointments or getting time off from work, or transportation costs, many service members fear the stigma that talking to a counselor will damage a career or be seen as a sign of weakness.

In recent months, DoD has taken steps to combat the stigma associated with obtaining necessary mental health treatment. In May 2008, DoD officials announced that applicants for government security clearances would not have to report mental health treatment for their combat- related injuries on their applications.

The Web site offers self-care tools for the entire military community 24/7 anywhere an internet connection is available. The materials can be used anonymously. Additionally, military leadership and health care providers can tap the site’s materials to learn about common problems and change strategies and to obtain useful contact information concerning local resources.

That was done in 2008.  Right now people are happy yet another bill is being pushed that will do what all the others did.
How much more do you need to read to understand that more servicemembers and veterans paid the price of these failures with their lives?
Wasted years repeating failures, wasted money paying for them and absolutely no one held accountable for any of it. How about you start supporting the servicemembers and veterans and stop supporting those who fail them?

If they ask for your support, ask them what they did for it. If they ask you for donations, ask them what they have to show for all the money they got before. It is time to hold of them accountable. If they were putting veterans first, their bank account would be empty.

Months of Training To Serve, Worse Than None To Go Home

When Will the DOD Train Them To Live?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 11, 2016

Suicides tied to military service are always complicated.  While lives always end for the same reason, loss of hope tomorrow will be any better, how they get to that point is a series of events complicated by human encounters.

Men and women decide to take the hardest, most demanding jobs.  It isn't just about the low pay, endless hours, rules and regulations.  It isn't just about the unknown they are willing to accept, such as being deployed, but all the hardships that come with the job.  They are even willing to be killed, sacrificing their lives for someone else.

So how do they go from being like that to someone unable to live one more day?

We can keep finding the easy villain to blame and usually folks simply blame the VA. Yet if we actually think about all of this, it all begins with the Department of Defense itself. That is where they transition from civilian to servicemember and where they are supposed to transition from servicemember to veteran. Unfortunately, the DOD has not been interested in that part.

The new Army training is 10 weeks. For the Marines training is 12 weeks. The Air Force training is 8 weeks and so is the Navy training. While the DOD considers all physical conditions for recruits, they also consider mental health issues. In other words, they are supposed to be of "sound mind" when they join.

The DOD also started addressing prevention around 2006, which was supposed to be training their brains to become mentally tough and avoid PTSD. (Yep, like that would work since they were already mentally tough to being with.) While there is no evidence anyone can be trained to be resilient, but plenty of evidence this did not work, the military continued to push it. Suicides went up and so did suicides in the Veterans Community.

As a matter of fact, the newer veterans are committing suicide triple their peer rate.  Veterans are double the civilian rate of suicides with the majority over the age of 50. So that clearly shows the DOD efforts in prevention failed. It also shows that after all these years, the VA has not done enough.  None of the new charities with all their "awareness" talk have done enough.

With all that in mind, then consider the other thing the DOD has been reporting. They point to the fact that suicides are high for the non-deployed forces. The following is from the story of one of them.  A young Marine who only wanted to be a Marine since the age of 6.

"Thompson, the VA's deputy director of suicide prevention, said recent studies found that more veterans who have never been deployed and have never seen combat die by suicide than those who have been deployed — a fact that surprises most people."

If all that training was not good enough for the non-deployed, how did they expect it to work on those with multiple deployments?

A mother mourns; the VA promises to do more to prevent veteran suicide
Springfield News Leader
Jackie Rehwald
June 10, 2016

When he was 6, police caught Kindall Johnson trying to cross Sunshine Street by himself. The Marine-obsessed child had discovered the recruitment office, then located in the Elfindale Center.

His mother, Kathy Davis, seemed to enjoy sharing that memory.

"One night I'm cooking dinner and there was a knock at the door. It was two police officers and Kindall was standing there smiling," she said. "He had bumper stickers, lanyards, pencils, pads of paper. And he goes, 'I found this really cool place and they give you all this free stuff.'"

Johnson stayed in touch with the recruiters and never wavered on his plan to enlist.

A strong runner, Johnson was invited to train with recruits who were getting ready to ship out. He was just 15 years old.

A few days after high school graduation, he was sent to boot camp.

Five years later he died of a gunshot wound. The Marine was not killed by enemy fire.

Shortly after attending a Missouri State University homecoming tailgate party on Oct. 17, 2015, Johnson drove to the police station on Chestnut Expressway. He sent several messages to friends and family, apologizing and saying goodbye.

He then called 911 before shooting himself twice.
read more here

UPDATE
Here is General Peter Chiarelli talking about suicides in February. "It is the highest we've seen in any single month since we've been keeping track."

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The Warrior Saw, Suicides After War hits military suicides with facts

The Warrior Saw, Suicides After War by Kathie Costos is now available. I am working on the Kindle conversion and that should be up (I hope) later today. In this work you will have three essential questions answered.

Where are we?

When it comes to military suicides and the record breaking year of 2012 we read the numbers but have forgotten each one represents a family left behind and many more wondering what they did wrong. When you only read numbers going up, it is easy to forget about how many lives these deaths affect.

2003 Army 79 26 while deployed
2004 Army 67 13 while deployed
2005 Army 87 25 while deployed
2006 Army 99 30 while deployed
(Army Suicide Prevention Program Fact Sheet, Army Public Affairs, August 17, 2007)
2007 Army 115 36 while deployed (50 deployed prior to suicide and 29 not deployed)

The following is from the Department of Defense Suicide Event Report.
Air Force Suicides Confirmed and Pending (2011 page 93)
2008 45
2009 43
2010 60
2011 50 241 Airmen who attempted suicide in 251 separate incidents.

Army Confirmed and Pending Suicides (2011 page 128)
2008 140
Suicide attempts 570
Of the 140 suicides, 34 (24%) occurred in OIF-OEF. One hundred sixteen suicide attempts (12%) were reported to have occurred in OIF-OEF. Nineteen percent of Soldiers with completed suicides, and 14% of Soldiers with suicide attempts, had a history of multiple deployments to Iraq and/or Afghanistan. Of suicide events reported as occurring in theater, the majority was reported to have occurred in Iraq.

2009 164 Army DoDSERs Submitted for Non-Fatal Events 2,047 Army DoDSERs for non-fatal events were submitted for 2009. Of these, 502 (25%) were submitted for suicide attempts, 347 (17%) for instances of self-harm without intent to die, and 1198 (59%) for suicidal ideation only

2010 160 DoDSERs provide data on suicide attempts for 400 individuals. Two attempts were reported (DoDSERs submitted) for 11 (2.75%) individuals, and three for one individual (0.25%). Additionally, four Soldiers with a 2010 suicide attempt DoDSER subsequently died by suicide in 2010 and were also included in the preceding section.

2011 167 440 DoDSERs for 2011 Army suicide attempts. As indicated in Table 5.29, these DoDSERs provide data on suicide attempts for 432 individuals. Two suicide attempt DoDSERs were submitted for 8 (1.85%) individuals 2011 Army suicide attempts 432 individuals with 440 attempts

Marines Confirmed and Pending
2008 42
2009 52
2010 37
2011 32
2011 156 Marines who attempted suicide in 157 separate incidents

Navy Confirmed and Pending
2008 41
2009 47
2010 38
2011 52
2011 87 Navy suicide attempts

Department of Defense Suicide Event Report for 2011
For 2011 there were 935 attempted suicides in the military with 915 individuals trying to kill themselves. 896 tried once, 18 tried twice and 1 tried three times.

These are the deaths from suicides for 2012.
Army 182
Army National Guards 96
Army Reserves 47
Marines 48
Air Force 59
Navy 60
492 total reported suicides from one year alone.

The DOD Suicide Event Report for 2012 has not been released yet but according to the DOD they expect the numbers to go up when they put all the data together.


How did we get here?

Oh, that one is the one that bothers me the most.
When you think that after billions have been spent every year and countless efforts made including the stunning fact there are over 900 programs, yet arrive with more suicides, that should be screaming across every headline in this country.

In 2006 there were more than 500,000 veterans with pending claims and of those 100,000 were over a year old without resolution according to the VA. By March of 2007, the Boston Globe reported that the backlog of claims had gone from 69,000 in 2000 to 400,000 in 2007 taking 177 days to process an original claim and 657 days to process an appeal. The news got worse with a staggering 915,000 in 2009 with 803,000 with the Board of Appeals.

“Backlogs are at the point where veterans must wait an average of six months for a decision on benefits claims and some veterans are waiting as long as four years,” number of unprocessed veterans claims exceeds 915,000 — a 100,000 jump since the beginning of the year.” (Have VA Pay old claims automatically, Rick Maze, Marine Corps Times, June 30, 2009)

This is what 2007 looked like.

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.

Veterans Affairs officials say prioritizing war-on-terror veterans is necessary because many of them face serious health challenges. But they don't agree that other veterans will suffer, saying that they are hiring thousands of new employees, finding ways to train them more quickly and streamlining the process of moving troops from active duty to veteran status. (Two-tiered system of healthcare, Chris Roberts, El Paso Times, October 8, 2007)

There was the Suicide Prevention Hotline taking calls and making "rescues" even when the number of suicides went up.

“Call volume has grown, from 67,350 in 2008, the center’s first full year of operation, to 193,507 last year. But the percentage of rescue calls — those calls for which emergency responders get involved — has declined, from a high of 4.26 percent in 2010 to 2.7 percent in the first months of this fiscal year.” (Reported on Syracuse.com Dave Tobin, February 17, 2013.)

This is perhaps the most troublesome of all. “VA has been underfunded for years; for FY2007, the Bush Administration requested almost $4 billion less in VA funding than the amount suggested by major veterans’ organizations. In early 2007, Congress made veterans’ health care a priority, increasing the funding for veterans’ health care by $3.6 billion.” (IAVA 2008 Congressional Report Card)

According to the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA employed 1,392 Veterans Service Representatives in June 2007 compared to 1,516 in January 2003. Did they think about what would have happened if after the troops were being sent into a second war, the VA was prepared to take care of them with their claims as well as their wounds? Would older veterans have suffered even longer than they already had? Would it have helped to know all their years of fighting to make sure PTSD was treated for all veterans was worthy of their efforts?

VA has been underfunded for years; for FY2007, the Bush Administration requested almost $4 billion less in VA funding than the amount suggested by major veterans’ organizations.

“Clearly, the current funding process is broken. The VA had a $3 billion shortfall in veterans’ health care in fiscal years 2005 and 2006. The waiting list for new veterans’ health care appointments doubled in a year. The current backlog of benefit claims is approaching 400,000.

Staffing levels and training have not kept pace with the number or complexity of claims. Large numbers of retirements among older, more experienced claims adjudicators have worsened the current workforce crisis. By VA’s own estimates, new Veterans Service Representatives (VSRs) require several years of on-the job training to become fully competent.” (AFGE 2007)

Then there are the billions spent every year on "Resilience" training. Many experts have come out and said that this attempt does not work but instead of learning from the numbers, they pushed the programs.

You can read the rest in the book.

I track reports from across the country and readers of Wounded Times know that I only track verifiable reports from newspapers, government sites and academic media. This book gives the sites and the dates of the reports. If you look at the date of the report, 90% of them came from Wounded Times. You can go to the achieve on the sidebar, find the date you are looking for and then you'll find the links to where the reports came from. Some of them may not be active any longer but as of 6 months ago when I started writing THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR, most of the links still worked.

What can be done?

There are things that have to happen right now.

End Resilience Training. I have been screaming about that since it started.

Start to use the same kind of training Crisis Intervention Specialist use so they will know how to respond after an event right away. There is too much of a crisis going on right now and no time to play catchup. They can be trained in a week to know how to respond and have a basic understanding of the difference between mental illness and anxiety caused by trauma. They will also be able to do what police and firefighters have been doing for a very long time. It will not prevent all cases of PTSD but it will prevent a lot of them.

Get the families involved because they are the support system for them when they come home. Too many families have no clue what to watch out for, what PTSD is or what to do about it.

Get clergy involved because if you do not understand that this is in fact a "moral injury" then you are part of the problem. This is not a new idea. Jonathan Shay wrote about it in Achilles in Vietnam.

The fact is that PTSD has been researched for over 40 years. None of this had to happen but the wrong people were listened to and the right people were forgotten about.
You can also read it on Kindle now.

Massachusetts Police about to repeat DOD failure

Massachusetts Police about to repeat DOD failure
by
Chaplain Kathie

If they make the mistake of copying what the military is doing, then the police department is about to make it a lot worse for their officers coming back from combat.

Leo F. Polizoti of Worcester, a law enforcement psychologist for 34 years, said some police departments give returning veterans a two-to-four-week transition period when they return to work to gradually reacclimate to the department and police work. He recently developed a critical incident resilience training program for police departments that is similar to one the Army is working on. The program helps officers learn how to better handle critical stress incidents before they go to combat as well as traumatic experiences on the job such as deadly car accidents.


“If we can help them to develop more resilience before going over there, they'll have more resiliency and less psychological problems with their return,” he said.

I am not sure who started this claim that "resiliency" training works but I do know all the evidence is in and it is a monstrous failure. Numbers don't lie. The number of suicides in the military has gone up since they began to take this approach. For July alone, the Army lost 32 to suicide, Marines lost 4 but 17 more attempted it.

This approach began in 2003.

AMEDD To Introduce Battlemind Video

September 02, 2008
Army News Service
FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- The Army Medical Department Center and School, co-developers of Battlemind training, will release a new Battlemind training video next year to help foster resiliency in deploying Soldiers.

Battlemind training, or "Armor for the Mind," is the U.S. Army's psychological resiliency-building program. It was first developed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C., as a result of compiled data from a land-combat study.

The mental-health training that came about from this study builds on Soldiers' proven strengths, and consists of two critical components: self-confidence and mental toughness. It teaches Soldiers how to apply those critical components when they leave for deployment and how to use those same survival skills when they transition back home.

The program focuses on a Soldier's inner strength to face fear and adversity in combat and other military deployments with courage. The training is divided into three sections: Deployment Cycle, Life Cycle and Soldier Support, and is given at pivotal points in a Soldier's career. The training is mandatory and is currently being facilitated by Army chaplains who are taught how to conduct the training at the AMEDDC&S.

The new movie-like training video, developed with AMEDD Television, was created to cover the deployment portion of Battlemind training.

"What we've learned is that education directed toward younger Soldiers and young adults has to be more plug-n-play," said Mike Hagan, chief of the Battlemind Training Office at the AMEDDC&S. "Therefore, what we wanted to do was to create something that was entertaining and realistic and also that gets the messages across in sound bites, because this is how they (young Soldiers) receive messages, and that was my goal for doing this production."

The training, to be given prior to deployment, will cover the seven deployment phases and promote resilience in dealing with the psychological impacts that Soldiers could face during combat and other military deployments.

The way Battlemind training is taught has been modified several times since its inception in 2003.
read more here

But the DOD changed the name as if the title of the program was the problem. In tiny print on the right side of the banner you see "formerly Battlemind" in other words, the same thing.

One more factor in all of this is the VA's Suicide Prevention Hotline. If Battlemind worked when it began in 2003, would they need to have one in 2007?

July 30, 2007
VA’s Suicide Hot Line Begins Operations
Nicholson: “Help a Phone Call Away”

WASHINGTON – To ensure veterans with emotional crises have round-the-clock access to trained professionals, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun operation of a national suicide prevention hot line for veterans.

“Veterans need to know these VA professionals are literally a phone call away,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. “All service members who experience the stresses of combat can have wounds on their minds as well as their bodies. Veterans should see mental health services as another benefit they have earned, which the men and women of VA are honored to provide.”

The toll-free hot line number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). VA’s hot line will be staffed by mental health professionals in Canandaigua, N.Y. They will take toll-free calls from across the country and work closely with local VA mental health providers to help callers.

To operate the national hot line, VA is partnering with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

“The hot line will put veterans in touch – any time of the day or night, any day of the week, from anywhere in the country – with trained, caring professionals who can help,” added Nicholson. “This is another example of the VA’s commitment to provide world-class health care for our nation’s veterans, especially combat veterans newly returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The suicide hot line is among several enhancements to mental health care that Nicholson has announced this year. In mid July, the Department’s top mental health professionals convened in the Washington, D.C., area to review the services provided to veterans of the Global War on Terror.

VA is the largest provider of mental health care in the nation. This year, the Department will spent about $3 billion for mental health. More than 9,000 mental health professionals, backed up by primary care physicians and other health professionals in every VA medical center and outpatient clinic, provide mental health care to about 1 million veterans each year.

VA Suicide Hotline has received almost 225,000 calls was a headline on this blog for February 2010. One more indication that Battlemind did not work. Had it worked, there wouldn't be that many contemplating suicide. If either program was really successful, the numbers would have gone down. What no one is talking about is the fact that many veterans, survivors of combat, found it so impossible to live after combat they felt the need to call the Suicide Prevention Hotline in the first place. While they have managed to save a lot of lives and claim rescues in the thousands, it is further proof that resiliency training has been a failure. Reporter James Dao of The New York Times reported "The hot line has chalked up 10,000 rescues since 2007." Taking Calls From Veterans on the Brink July 30, 2010.

Again, numbers don't lie.

Every year we're reading the numbers go up, attempted suicides go up and the calls pouring into the Suicide Prevention Hotline go up. If Battlemind, no matter what title they put on the program, worked, then it would have been proven in the numbers. So why do they continue to support a failed approach like this? Eight years? How many more years of data do they need to wake up and finally understand that in the battle to save their lives they are unarmed?

Does anyone do any research anymore before they consider replicating a failed program? How could any police department even consider using this to save the lives of their own people?

War's trauma comes home
By Elaine Thompson TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

When one of his police officers returned from two tours of duty in Iraq, Rowley Police Chief Robert R. Barker could tell he just wasn't the same.

Chief Barker said 30-year-old Thomas Lantych had been an active reserve police officer who had shown a lot of promise during the year before he was deployed. But a few months after he returned, authorities began to notice erratic behavior by the officer, who was also a full-time firefighter in Beverly.

A month after being placed on medical leave to get counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, Mr. Lantych's vehicle struck and killed a motorist. Police said he seemed emotionless at the scene and investigators subsequently determined that the crash had been overwhelmingly avoidable. Mr. Lantych was convicted of vehicular homicide earlier this year and is now serving a year in jail.

“He wasn't grounded like he was before he left. It seemed like he was hyperemotional. He seemed, I guess, I would classify it as euphoric,” Chief Barker said in a recent telephone interview.

A. Wayne Sampson, executive director of the Grafton-based Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said law enforcement leaders are concerned about police officers who resume their duties or join the profession after serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's of greater concern for law enforcement than other professions, he said, because police work can trigger flashbacks of combat experiences. A loud noise or sight of a handgun, for example, could cause an officer to become hypervigilant — as if he's in combat — resulting in a wide range of reactions from hiding behind his vehicle to crying.
read more here

Battlemind did not work then and it will not work now. They don't use slingshots anymore to defeat a gigantic enemy but in this case, the stone is just a pebble.

What works? They were already doing it when they have Crisis Intervention Teams responding right after a traumatic event. In this case, most of the time, it is many months after the traumatic events in combat. Ideally the sooner the better but at least it can be done as soon as possible. Let them train veterans in Crisis Intervention so that the newer combat veterans have someone to talk to who can help them heal and offer emotional support.

PTSD caused by duty spawns action across the nation

PTSD caused by duty spawns action across the nation
by
Chaplain Kathie
Massachusetts has reason to be ashamed when there is even one remaining branch of public service denying PTSD and what it brings to those who serve as well as their families. Haven't they read the newspaper articles about National Guardsman and women committing suicide? Haven't they read them about active duty servicemen and women trying to heal? If they do not recognize PTSD as being behind the suicides of those who serve, no matter in what capacity, then they are attacking all demographics with it.

This means they do not value the men and women serving as police officers, State Troopers or the National Guards or those in the military enough to learn much at all, yet they have one of the best Veteran's hospitals for PTSD in the nation right there in Bedford.

They have one of the best VA psychologists honored as an expert on PTSD, author of some of the best books on PTSD, Dr. Jonathan Shay, now retired from the Boston VA, but in all these years, he was right there to get them out of the dark ages.

When we know about something good being done, we assume it is happening everywhere but this is not the case when it comes to PTSD. One state may be far ahead of other states address the trauma first responders face everyday, but a neighboring state may still be totally oblivious to it. One state may have chaplains fully train on trauma and PTSD working with survivors but ignoring the responders, or visa versa. Civilians face trauma all the time but for most, it is only a one time event while responders face multiple traumas as part of their jobs. If we do not take care of the responders, then we are not honoring anyone's service. It's as simple as that.

My friend Lily Casura over at Healing Combat Trauma wanted to make sure I read the following. It makes me wonder what it will take for all of the people we count on everyday to be able to receive all the help they need to do it.

(Photograph by Webb Chappell)
A widow speaks "I have three children who need validation from someone other than their mother that this had nothing to do with them," says Janice McCarthy, whose trooper husband killed himself with his service weapon after years spent struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The police suicide problem
Being a cop is a dangerous job -- and not just for the obvious reasons. Suicide kills more officers every year than homicides or accidents at work. But what does society owe the families of those for whom this high-stress job is too much to take? One widow answers: respect.


By Julia Dahl
January 24, 2010

Early on the afternoon of July 28, 2006, Captain Paul McCarthy of the Massachusetts State Police put on his blue trooper uniform, holstered his gun, and got into the driver’s seat of his police cruiser. McCarthy was despondent, exhausted from 13 years of physical and emotional pain. It all began on an overtime shift back in 1993: a snowy March midnight when a man driving a stolen MBTA bus bulldozed his cruiser, crushing his legs and trapping him inside the vehicle. After that came the surgeries and months spent learning to walk again. He fought hard and, defying doctors’ predictions, after a year and a half made it back to active duty in the only job he’d ever wanted.

In June 2006, he poured his frustrations into a rambling eight-page letter of complaint to the state Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, writing: “The Massachusetts State police do not recognize Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as an issue that affects the employees of the Mass State Police.”

It was all too much. On the last Friday of July, Janice and the kids were visiting family in Saratoga Springs, New York, when McCarthy stepped out of his apartment and got into his cruiser. At 6:30 p.m., he pulled up to a construction site in Canton at the junction of Route 128 and Interstate 95. A surveillance camera caught the last hour of his life: A passing thunderstorm roared through, then Paul got out of his cruiser and paced. At 7:30 p.m., he pulled out his gun and shot two rounds into a mound of dirt. Moments later, he turned the barrel around and fired a single shot into his chest. He was 41 years old.
When I went to Washington DC for Memorial Day last year, the Nam Knights also went to honor the officers as well. This picture is from the Memorial.

Janice took her case to the state retirement board, and in June 2007 her husband’s death was ruled “accidental.” The decision meant she would collect 72 percent of his pension (an “in the line of duty” death would have meant 100 percent and an additional one-time payment of nearly $100,000), but more important, it drew a line connecting his on-the-job injuries to his suicide, opening the door for what Janice McCarthy really wants -- her husband’s death to be ruled “line of duty” and his name added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In May of 2009, news of McCarthy’s quest reached Andy O’Hara, a former California highway patrolman and the founder of Badge of Life, a national advocacy group devoted to improving mental health training for law enforcement officers. The two began talking, and in December O’Hara and his colleagues established a working definition of line-of-duty suicide: “any police officer suicide in which work-related psychological trauma is a precipitant or significant contributor to the act of suicide.” To determine whether an officer suicide fits this definition, O’Hara suggests that outside mental health professionals conduct what’s called a “psychological autopsy,” collecting information through interviews with family and friends of the deceased and a review of his or her medical and job history.

O’Hara’s group is one of several like-minded organizations advocating for police mental health services. The National Police Suicide Foundation was begun in 1997 by a former Baltimore police officer and chaplain who lost a co-worker to suicide. In 1995, Teresa Tate of Cape Coral, Florida -- whose officer husband had taken his life in 1989 -- formed Survivors of Law Enforcement Suicide. Both groups are working to persuade departments across the country to add suicide prevention programs and awareness training for officers and to adopt more compassionate protocols for how to treat surviving families.

read more here
The police suicide problem

Too many veterans facing off with police officers

How much louder do they have to scream? That was the question a couple of weeks ago when we posted about veterans committing suicides in very public ways. 

Last year, veterans were facing off with law enforcement officers every week. Now there are three within 3 days.

Man taken to hospital after barricading himself inside Byron hotel
The standoff began when police went to do a welfare check and found the man had barricaded himself inside the room
Author: WMAZ Staff
July 24, 2018

When police arrived, they found the door barricaded with all the furniture inside the room.

The SWAT team was called in after family members and police were not able to make contact.

The man inside was confirmed as a military veteran, and police are saying he is under intense mental and physical stress.

No weapon was found and police say he never threatened anyone or himself.
read more here

Man charged with Domestic Battery after Cape Coral standoff
FOX 4 News
Jul 24, 2018

CAPE CORAL, Fla. -- A several-hour long standoff with deputies ended safely Monday with the suspect in jail for Domestic Battery.

Cape Coral Police responded to a welfare check in the 900 block of SW 47th Terrace after a wife called the VA clinic to report her husband was having combat flashbacks and threatened to harm himself.

Deputies responded and attempted to contact the resident, 48-year-old Michael DeArmas, who refused to come out or cooperate with deputies. He later walked out and was taken into custody without incident.

DeArmas' wife spoke to detectives and told them that DeArmas is a combat veteran who has flashbacks and becomes delusional, especially when drinking, as the couple had been doing last weekend.

She said he had access to guns and had threatened to kill himself and their dog.
read more here

Deadly officer involved shooting after standoff in West Central Fresno
July 21, 2018

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- With Action News cameras recording from a distance and witnesses hiding out in neighboring hotel rooms, Fresno Police officers shot a man in the parking lot of the Parkway Inn.

"Officers fired two rounds. One of those rounds struck the suspect at which point he dove right in through a broken window into the hotel room," said Deputy Chief Pat Farmer.

Officers knew they'd hit him and paramedics rushed in, but they could not save the suspect and a standoff ended.

Action News talked to some of Maya's family members, including a woman who was with him at the motel.

They say he was a good man who once served in the army.

They called him a family man who had turned his life around over the last ten years and state records show he also owned his own business.

Both weapons turned out to be pellet guns, but police say they looked very realistic, especially from a distance.
read more here

How much louder do they have to scream?