BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service) – As the number of Soldiers committing suicide continues to rise, the Army’s suicide prevention campaign shifts its focus to junior leaders in an effort to arm them with the tools they need to help their Soldiers before a problem reaches a tragic end.
A recent Army study shows that 60 percent of suicides are carried out by first-time deployers. That percentage may be hard to believe as news agencies continue to report on how the Army is stretched thin and Soldiers are on their second, third or fourth tours here.
“Soldiers who have deployed before have been able to build resiliency, and they are able to adapt to situations because they have been placed in similar ones before,” said Chaplain (Col.) Kenneth Stice, Multi-National Corps-Iraq command chaplain. “First time deployers need to build that same resiliency, and that is hard to do.”
Leave a comment