Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Congress combatting military suicides
By Shane Collins
The Rebel Yell UNLV
June 16, 2008

As suicide rates among enlisted soldiers reach a record high, legislative steps are being taken to provide counseling and emotional support to men and women who are enlisted.

Before now, counseling has only been provided to veterans, but if the Armed Forces Suicide Prevention Act, H.R. 5223, passes legislation, these services will be provided to enlisted soldiers suffering depression and post traumatic stress disorder, among other things.

More than 115 suicides were committed in 2007, up 13 percent from the previous year, with a quarter of the suicides occurring in Iraq.

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., felt personally attached to this cause after a soldier from Pahrump, Nev., killed himself a day after the army declared he was no longer in need of suicide watch.

"The incidents of suicide and attempted suicide among America's enlisted are near epidemic proportions," Berkley said. "There is no reason we should not be providing these services to those enlisted."

Berkley, who serves on the veteran affairs committee, said the emotional make-up of soldiers is usually "macho," but the reality is quite the contrary.

"Some of the things these men witness and have to deal with on a daily basis is beyond comprehension," she said.

A UNLV student and Army Reserve officer, who asked to remain anonymous due to reprimand, said many suicides occur because of the high amounts of stress placed on the officers during war.

"I know I am stressed just being a reserve," the student said. "Not knowing if or when I might go to war, I tend to worry a lot at night."

The student continued by saying that this bill would be good for the greater enlisted community and soldiers who face stress on a daily basis.

According to Berkley, the bill calls for a three-part strategy that is comprehensive across all branches of the military.

The first step is to evaluate the soldiers in the environment of war.

"We need to assist the enlisted man or woman and survey their emotional make-up in the theater of war," Berkley said.

After an evaluation is complete, the next step is to provide a report of the soldier's mental health.

Lastly, the implementation of an all-inclusive program is called for, which may include counseling and drugs, such as Prozac.

One of the biggest problems expressed by Berkley is the fact that soldiers are supposed to be stateside for 12 months after returning from a tour of duty, but some of these men men only stay state-side for 90 days before returning to service, she said.

"They do not have enough time to recuperate between returning from a tour of duty and being redeployed," Berkley said. "We are endangering the lives of the enlisted and those around them. We want to provide relief for this."

According to David Cherry, Congresswoman Berkley's communications director, out of 1.6 million soldiers serving a tour of duty, 3 percent, or 300,000 soldiers, will return with mild to severe cases of PTSD.

"The numbers are staggering and can possibly surpass the number killed in battle," Cherry said.

Nearly 4,000 soldiers have been killed so far during the war on terrorism. Suicide rates may exceed those numbers if counseling services are not provided, he continued.

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