After Years of Delays, Army Releases New Suicide Prevention Plan Short on Answers – By Steve Beynon (Military.com) / Aug 25, 2023
Three soldiers at Fort Cavazos, Texas, died by suicide in the past two weeks. But those deaths aren’t unique to the installation formerly known as Fort Hood. At least two soldiers have died by suicide every week this year on average in the part-time components and on active duty at bases across the service, according to internal documents reviewed by Military.com.
There isn’t a singular problem, as suicide is typically a complex constellation of issues both personal and environmental, though soldiers have pointed to quality-of-life issues and a breakneck schedule constantly being away from home, despite the U.S. being in a period resembling peacetime, as adding stressors to their service.
But as the Army has struggled to grapple with the continued prevalence of suicide, the service has had no universal guidance for how leaders are expected to respond if a soldier is in the midst of a mental health crisis, a fundamental building block for combatting the problem of self-harm.
