{"id":32164,"date":"2012-09-27T10:03:05","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T14:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=32164"},"modified":"2012-09-27T10:03:05","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T14:03:05","slug":"army-stands-down-for-suicide-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=32164","title":{"rendered":"Army “stands down” for suicide training"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just got my letter from Army Chief of Staff General Odierno announcing that the Army is “standing down” world wide today for suicide prevention training. Associated Press<\/a> reports;<\/p>\n

“The Army has decided that this issue is so important to us that we’re going to devote an entire day … that was otherwise devoted to something else and say `That’s not as important as this,”‘ the Army’s top enlisted man, Sgt. Maj. Raymond Chandler, told a news conference Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Army is the largest of the services, it has the highest number of suicides, and it is the only branch planning the special training Thursday.<\/p>\n

For the first seven months of 2012, the Army recorded 116 suicides among active-duty soldiers, officials reported last month. If that pace were maintained through December, the year’s total would approach 200, compared with 167 total in 2011.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are a couple of excellent stories in the video “Shoulder to shoulder” that’s been linked in my sidebar for several weeks about soldiers who saved their buddies from suicide. I won’t claim to have a silver bullet cure for the rash of suicides this year, but I do know that one path to a cure is saying something to your friends whether you’re thinking about it or if you spot someone who might be thinking about it. <\/p>\n

I know that I’ve intervened a few times when I read a comment on the blog that seemed like a warning signal. There’s no one at VA or DoD who is going to look out for us like we do for each other. I feel the loss when I read about soldiers who took their own lives, whether I know them or not, and I’m sure that each of you feels the same way.<\/p>\n

It’s time to nip this suicide thing in the bud, and we’re all up to the task at hand. Dakota Meyer talks about his thoughts about succumbing to the demons;<\/p>\n