Pentagon lacks a comprehensive suicide prevention strategy, report says

A new report on military suicides ordered by Congress recommends the Defense Department create a high-level office to develop and coordinate a departmentwide strategy for suicide prevention.

The report, conducted by civilian and military doctors with the Defense Department Task Force on the Prevention of Suicide by Members of the Armed Forces, was sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates for review on Tuesday.

The task force found that while the services had taken a number of laudable steps to understand and prevent suicides, the initiatives suffered from a lack of strategic planning, evaluation, and standardization, leading to inefficiencies and gaps in support to troops.

"Many programs were misunderstood by service members, their families, and commanders in the field," the report said. "Finally, the task force concluded that the remarkable efforts of the services seemed to lack the consistency and power that could have been achieved had the policies directing the programs been centrally developed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense."

The military's rising suicide rate, especially in the Army and Marine Corps, has alarmed service leaders, Obama administration officials and lawmakers, and has generated numerous reviews and reports. Last month, the Army released its own findings after a 15-month study of its suicide prevention efforts.

The Defense task force noted that in the five years from 2005 to 2009, more than 1,100 service members took their own lives, an average of one suicide every 36 hours.

"The years since 2002 have placed unprecedented demands on our armed forces and military families," the report said. "Military operational requirements have risen significantly, and manning levels across the services remain too low to meet the ever-increasing demand. This current imbalance places strain not only on those deploying, but equally on those who remain in garrison."

The task force concluded the cumulative effects of all those factors have contributed to the rising suicide rates, and without change, the problems will persist well beyond the current operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The task force made 76 recommendations in four primary areas: organization and leadership; wellness enhancement and training; access to and delivery of quality care; and surveillance, investigations and research.

It also made 13 "foundational" recommendations considered vital to developing a comprehensive Defense suicide prevention model. Those were:

• Standardizing policies and programs across the military services.
• Holding leaders accountable for ensuring a positive command climate that promotes well-being, total fitness and seeking help.
• Reducing stress on the force by giving troops more quality time at home between deployments.
• Focusing efforts on improving total fitness and resiliency among troops.
• Developing a comprehensive stigma reduction campaign plan to encourage troops to ask for help when they need it.
• Strengthening strategic messaging.
• Developing skills-based training for suicide prevention, especially among buddies, family members, first-line supervisors, clergy and behavioral health personnel.
• Evaluating programs to determine their effectiveness.
• Coordinating support for both active-duty and reserve service members.
• Ensuring continuity of care, especially during transition periods.
• Improving surveillance and standardizing data collection processes.
• Standardizing suicide investigations to learn more about times preceding suicides.
• Supporting and funding ongoing suicide prevention research.