Searching for Answers: A panel review of Army Reserve suicides
DVIDS
U.S. Army Reserve Command
Story by Timothy Hale
September 2, 2014
"Soldiers come back from making life and death decisions to ‘clean up on Aisle Nine"
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – In 2013, 57 Army Reserve Soldiers decided the only way out of their particular situation was to take their own life.
That year was the most deadly since 2009.
The fateful choices these Soldiers made left questions, not only for their loved ones, but also for Army Reserve leaders.
To find out the answers, a panel of Army Reserve Suicide Prevention Program managers recently completed an in-depth look at each of the 57 cases. They reviewed more than 30 documents associated with each case to include 15-6 investigations, police reports, witness depositions, suicide notes, medical records, and autopsy reports.
In most of the cases, what they found was unexpected. A suicide was not necessarily connected to a deployment, traumatic brain injury, or post-traumatic event. In many instances, the suicide was driven by either a financial, personal relationship stressor, or may have been based on where they lived.
In 2013, the predominant demographic trait of Army Reserve suicides were white males between the ages of 18-25 – as one panel member said, “these are formative years for cognitive development and the stressors can be too much.”
Overwhelmed by life
“One of the theories might suggest that coping strategies haven’t fully developed,” said Richard Doss, Ph.D., 416th Theater Engineer Command suicide prevention program manager, and a licensed clinical psychologist. “They haven’t had an opportunity to experience adversity and realize that they can overcome adversity.”
Doss also cited that in many cases, a sound financial system and personal support system hadn’t been established.
“They recently left home and are establishing themselves as adults so that transition period into early adulthood is challenging,” he said.
Doss said part of that transition happens when they return home and try to return to life as a civilian.
“They come from a military environment where many decisions are made them and now they have to make their own decisions,” he said. "It can be overwhelming.”
“Soldiers come back from making life and death decisions to ‘clean up on Aisle Nine,’” he said.
“They go from being responsible for millions of dollars worth of equipment to sleeping in their mother’s basement. So that sense of the meaning and purpose and value of life sometimes gets degraded in the process of returning home.”
Community involvement
One of the panel recommendations was to involve the civilian community. Since a majority of Army Reserve Soldiers and their families do not reside near major military installations, community involvement is a key to limiting the number of suicides, the panel members said.
“I’m a realist so what I’d like to see, initially, is to provide better information to those resources in the community about the general, day-to-day needs, that some of our TPU [Troop Program Unit] Soldiers have,” Wade said.
He said this includes their job, financial, medical, mental health, or family circumstances.
“Because their community is more aware of the needs of that TPU Soldier, they are now in a position to invite that Soldier to take advantage of the resources that community has to offer,” he said.
He also didn’t rule out reaching out to veterans’ organizations such as the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Wade said connecting with outside organizations falls in line with Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, or ASIST, that addresses building safer communities.
“It’s an educational process,” Wade said. “It takes time to build a Suicide Safer Community because you have to make connections, you have to get all these different entities connected in such a way where we recognize that we are looking out for everybody.”
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