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The Department of the Army has finally gone public and acknowledged the alarming rate of suicide among its ranks. While Army leadership is to be commended for breaking the barrier of silence regarding mental illness in the military, the underlying culture of secrecy that has contributed to the current trend is in dire need of reform.

"A new study says Wisconsin veterans are more likely to commit suicide than the general population is. The report says veterans make up 8 percent of Wisconsin's population but committed nearly 21 percent of suicides in the state. Kenneth Black is the secretary of the state Department of Veterans Affairs. He says his department sees the issue of veteran suicide as a growing concern. "

WASHINGTON, June 9, 1999 - President Clinton and DoD announced June 7 two new Defense Department initiatives aimed at improving the mental health of service members. The first, called the "combat stress control" program, seeks to help identify and manage stress during deployments before it adversely impacts service members' coping skills and effectiveness. The second initiative, aimed at suicide prevention, will take the existing Air Force suicide prevention pilot program and expand it throughout DoD by the end of this year. The Air Force program has been particularly successful, achieving a 50 percent reduction in suicides in only three years. The president announced the initiatives in conjunction with the first-ever White House Conference on Mental Health, held June 7 at Washington's Howard University and chaired by Tipper Gore, wife of Vice President Al Gore. The president and Mrs. Clinton also participated in the all-day conference aimed at reducing the stigma associated with mental health disease and treatment and improving care throughout the nation.

WITH ARMY and Marine Corps suicide rates climbing dramatically, surpassing even those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan last month, the nation is increasingly disturbed and demanding treatment for veterans. But these suicide reports highlight an important distinction: A significant portion of those returning from war are not yet veterans; they are still active or reserve service members, which means, above all, that they probably will be going back to one of our theaters of operations. And that means that any treatment for post-traumatic stress will be positioned in direct conflict with the mission itself. As a former Marine captain and rifle company commander, I witnessed this conflict firsthand.

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Last week, another Army general, this time Army Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, entered this category, coming forward to share his personal experience with the stigma of suicide following his son's 2003 suicide. In his efforts, which must be personally and professionally trying, we can see the elements of wisdom at work.

Army Reserve's Chattanooga-based 591st Transportation Detachment prepares to implement the new Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program.\n\nAll branches of the service have some form of the program, according to Lt. Col. Robin Smith Sr., chief well-being officer for the Army Reserve. The Yellow Ribbon program was launched "to prepare soldiers and their families for mobilization, sustain the families during mobilization and to help with reintegration with their families, communities and employers upon redeployment," he said.\n\nThe program began as part of a requirement outlined in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2008 and became even more important as the steep suicide rates were recorded in recent months

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The Air Force reported 13 suicides through April 24 this year, compared with 39 in 2008 and a recent peak of 49 in 2004. That compared with 17 Air Force combat deaths within the past two years, including three in the past six months. The American Psychiatric Association is working with the armed services to help provide counseling to combat veterans and spouses, said Dr. Carolyn Robinowitz, the organization's immediate past president. "The military is trying to address this. But it's kind of a conflict," Robinowitz said. "The culture is one of not admitting weakness."

Army Spc. Thomas Woolly, a Fort Carson soldier arrested Sunday in the shooting death of a 19-year-old woman, served two tours in Iraq with an infantry unit that suffered heavy casualties in combat and has been responsible for violent crime since returning home\nWoolly, 24, was a heavy machine gunner in the 4th Infantry Division's 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment.\n\nMembers of the 500-soldier unit, nicknamed the Lethal Warriors, have been involved in stabbings, beatings, brawls, domestic violence, shootings, at least two attempted murders and four homicides in Colorado Springs. Another soldier who served with the unit in Iraq has been accused of murder in California.\n\nThe unit has also been plagued by drug abuse and suicide. The most recent suicide was Spc. Leland "Cal" Tyrone, 23, who killed himself in a barracks at Fort Carson on Dec. 20, 2008.\n\nWoolly, who was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in the death of Lisa Baumann, is only the latest soldier from the unit to be involved in violence after returning from Iraq:\n\n * Louis Bressler, Bruce Bastien and Kenneth Eastridge were charged with killing two soldiers and stabbing a woman on her way to work in the fall of 2007.\n * Jomar Vives and Rudolfo Torres were charged in random drive-by shootings of three people on Colorado Springs streets in May and June of 2008. Two died.\n * John Needham is charged with beating a woman to death in San Clemente, Calif., in September 2008.

"So after Gregg Keesling's son killed himself in Iraq in June, he expected his family would receive a letter from President Obama. What they got instead was a call from an Army official telling them that they were not eligible because their son had committed suicide. "We were shocked," said Mr. Keesling, 52, of Indianapolis. Under an unwritten policy that has existed at least since the Clinton administration, presidents have not sent letters to survivors of troops who took their own lives, even if it was at the war front, officials say. The roots of that policy, which has been passed from administration to administration via White House protocol officers, are murky and probably based in the view that suicide is not an honorable way to die, administration and military officials say."

"More U.S. military personnel have taken their own lives so far in 2009 than have been killed in either the Afghanistan or Iraq wars this year, according to a Congressional Quarterly compilation of the latest statistics from the armed services. As of Tuesday, at least 334 members of the military services have committed suicide in 2009, compared with 297 killed in Afghanistan and 144 who died in Iraq, the figures show."

MENTALLY UNFIT, STILL FIGHTING Gaps In Mental Health Screenings Still Haunt Military Little Progress In Expanding Screenings By MATTHEW KAUFFMAN | The Hartford Courant May 12, 2009 Chad Barrett had attempted suicide and was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder by the time his unit prepared for a third combat tour in Iraq. A psychiatrist had recommended the staff sergeant be separated from the military for his own good, but Barrett wanted to stay with his Army colleagues. And when it came time for deployment, Army commanders were happy to oblige. Barrett, who had spent a dozen years in the Army, shipped out in December 2007 with prescription bottles of Klonopin for anxiety, Pamelor for depression and migraines, and Lunesta and Ambien for sleep problems. But the drugs did not control his despair and mood swings. And less than two months after arriving in Iraq, Barrett popped open some of the bottles and committed suicide by overdose. He was 35.

"I've written about this before on other blogs. Ilona Meagher's PTSD Combat blog and her subsequent book, 'Moving a Nation to Care', were among the notable earlier bloggers to take on PTSD and the suicide rate in our military. "

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Over the last eight months, Scott Huddleston of the San Antonio News-Express reports, some 14 Fort Hood soldiers have died -- not in Afghanistan or Iraq, but back home. Some apparently were suicides, others were clearly related to PTSD, and some are just mysteries.

"Raymond Kerr"

Alex C. Caton

Jesse Huff

Jesse Huff