By MATTHEW ADAMS | STARS AND STRIPES | September 28, 2023
WASHINGTON — Including unit leaders in more suicide prevention training and increasing mental health services are just two of the more than 100 recommendations that the Pentagon said Thursday will be implemented in the next seven years to help address the suicide crisis in the military.
“Suicide prevention is a long-term effort. Change will not happen overnight, but we have no time to spare,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in a memo announcing the initiative.
The Defense Department in recent years has aimed to improve mental health care access for troops, amid increases in suicide rates and outcry from members of Congress and others.
There were almost 29 suicides per 100,000 troops in 2020 — up from 17.5 per 100,000 in 2010, according to Defense Department data. That figure fell to 24.3 per 100,000 in 2021, but it still represented a serious uptick in suicides compared to most of the 2000s and 2010s.
In 2022, Austin approved the establishment of the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee, and the group made 127 recommendations of near- and long-term solutions to address problems in the ranks. Austin implemented 10 recommendations in March 2023.
In Thursday’s announcement, 101 recommendations were added to be implemented by the end of fiscal 2030, subject to the availability of funds.
Some of the recommendations to be implemented include expanding telehealth services, increasing appointment availability by revising the mental health staff model, launching a comprehensive public education campaign on firearm safety, and updating content by how it is presented and the amount of suicide prevention training.
“You cannot solve this problem by isolating one risk factor. You have to take a holistic approach,” said Elizabeth Foster, executive director of the Pentagon’s Force Resiliency Office. “And to be truly effective, you have to look far upstream of the point of crisis. If we are doing this right, this is as much about well-being promotion as is it about suicide prevention.”
Two recommendations not included in the recommendations were installing air conditioning units in all barracks, dorms and military housing locations and raising the minimum age to buy firearms and ammunition on Defense Department property to 25.
The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment is looking into housing matters at large, Foster said, so the Force Resiliency Office did not want to get ahead of that effort.
Regarding raising the age to purchase firearms and ammunition, Foster said it was determined after a thorough review “there were significant legal barriers” to implementing the recommendation at this time.
She said she could not discuss how much the initiative will cost.
According to a recent Pentagon report, suicides in the active-duty military increased in the first three months of 2023 compared to the same time last year.
The Defense Suicide Prevention Office revealed in its quarterly report that the overall number of active-duty suicides — 94 — from January through March was up 25% compared to the number of troops — 75 — who took their own lives in the first three months of 2022.
The 94 active-duty suicides are the most that the military has seen since 97 were reported in the second quarter of 2021. Among Reserve troops and the National Guard, the report said suicide figures did not change between the first quarter of 2022 and the same time this year.
In May, the Pentagon enacted the Brandon Act to let troops seek mental health services confidentially and any time that they need it. It’s named after Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Caserta, who died by suicide in 2018.
