Vice chief: Restore discipline, stop suicides - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Vice chief: Restore discipline, stop suicides

A record number of suicides has prompted Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli to launch a massive house-cleaning plan with orders to garrison, installation and medical commanders to revive lapsed health and welfare programs, and restore discipline in the barracks.

The plan addresses two broad areas: closer attention to suicide prevention and tighter adherence to discipline in garrison after eight years of tending to the wars and overseas deployments.

Suicide rates among soldiers have nearly doubled in the last four years, reaching a record high last year. The current rate of suicides suggests that 2009 may exceed numbers for 2008.

A renewed focus on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health of soldiers and their families will eventually lead to a more resilient force and fewer suicides, Chiarelli said.

On May 1, Chiarelli issued the Army Campaign Plan for Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention. It includes a checklist and about 250 tasks for commanders with deadlines as early as June. Most have deadlines before the end of the fiscal year, which is Sept. 30.

Soldiers living in barracks can expect to feel the impact in coming months with a return to inspections, when commanders feel it necessary, to find troubled soldiers and get them the help they need and crack down on those whose illicit behavior, such as drug use or having firearms in their rooms, has gone unchecked.

Soldiers increasingly are “popping hot” on urine analysis tests for substances that include LSD, cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamines, heroin and illegally used prescription drugs, according to Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director of the Suicide Prevention Task Force, who described that as “an eye opener.”

Almost as unexpected as the rise in drug and alcohol abuse was that most of those soldiers haven’t been referred for treatment or evaluation, McGuire said.

Many soldiers would have been chaptered out if regulations had been followed, she said.

The breakdown in discipline is one of the more glaring examples of falling morale and points to an environment in which tired leaders have had their focus on war for almost eight years, she said.

The traditional nurturing and overwatch role of squad leaders, team leaders or company and battalion commanders has flourished in the war zone but has suffered in garrison because those leaders are burdened with their own problems, and often they are unfamiliar with the health and welfare programs in garrison that could help them or their troubled soldiers, McGuire said.

Another factor is the freedom and privacy soldiers have enjoyed in recent years with a switch from group barracks to apartment-like dwellings, where they are more isolated.

Commanders are being encouraged to comply with regulatory guidance to administratively separate soldiers for misconduct, at their discretion. Chiarelli’s guidance allows commanders to continue to use their discretion in dealing with soldiers.

The Army is “tired and under immense stress as the result of a protracted conflict” and associated deployments, Chiarelli said in a memo about the campaign. “Under these strains, current efforts are not enough.”

Soldiers and families, he said, “need immediate help” to cope and build the resilience it takes to overcome stress, medical and behavior issues, and fatigue.

Related reading:

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