Shahid 1 Shahid, Ebrahim English 1302-900 Mrs. M.

Harrison April 3, 2013 Solving the Problem: Suicidal Soldiers in the United States Army Anybody who has bothered to look at statistics concerning the cause of death among American soldiers would be lying if they said that suicide is a minor contribution. In fact more soldiers die by suicide than in actual combat. Another sad fact is that there have been more suicides in the past 10 years than in the 4 years of the civil war, which experts are at a loss to explain (Breidenstine 11). Instead of focusing on the events and the stories behind the suicidal soldiers, more emphasis needs to be brought to what can reduce this. The bar charts for army suicide is at an incline and making the chart look more like the chart of a failing company in the stock market would be a truly great thing. The problem lies in mental health issues, relationship problems, and flawed military policies, but where are the solutions, and more importantly are there even any? The short answer to this is yes. Suicide is preventable both for civilians and soldiers and the most effective reduction of suicide has been proven through use of the suicide hotline, and meditation and alterations to military standards. Everyone has at least heard of the suicide hotline. The initial purpose of it was a sign of relief for the men in uniform defending the land of the free and the home of the brave. The hotline has been successful. According American Journal of Public Health Volume 102, King et al. demonstrated among a small sample of adolescents, suicidality decreased after a call to a suicide crisis line (Katz et al. S29-S30). If it worked for

Shahid 2 teenagers, it will probably at least contribute some to adults and soldiers. To some this is an easy alternative to going to the hospital (Katz et al. S29). The ease of use and display of kindness shown by the 24/7 hotline is definitely a step in the right direction and keeping it open and adding more responders to it will almost certainly be beneficial to the situation. A phone call isnt the only thing thats been proven to save lives; meditation is another contributor to the decrease in suicide among veterans. According to USA today Among 50 soldiers who had attempted suicideby teaching them meditation and relaxation skills to manage emotions and relationships, suicidal behavior was dramatically reduced. (Gregg 02a). This only proves that meditation is a potential cure for military suicidal tendencies but also possibly for depression as well as feeling suicidal in the civilian world. Also those with greater knowledge on the field including government agencies agree that the problem is not unpreventable (Holloway 116). Just this information alone serves enough proof to convince one to think that there are solutions and meditation is definitely one of the more reliable ones. Meditation being incorporated into the daily lives of soldiers will definitely release some stress and in turn lower the high statistics. The final and probably most important thing that will help the suicide problem will be changes to military standards. Soldiers shouldnt have to go through trying CPR on a person who tried to end their life, be unsuccessful and then not be given the chance to clean their crimson shoes (Nock 108). At least giving people a little break or offering them a day off after something like that would make the stress factor a tremendous amount less insane. People are tough yes, but being asked to just deal with things like this

Shahid 3 on a daily basis is inhumane and needs to be changed. The policy of starting out in high positions and then being most likely demoted as well as people practically never being punished for spilling the beans on crucial info also is a contributor to the problem (Kroesen 20). It makes sense to have soldiers start as a Private and steadily make ascension to Sargent Major status. Also spilling the potential weaknesses and possibly destroying certain US soldiers lives is completely unacceptable, and most people would consider such act treason. Ascending the ranks, punishing the tattle-tales, and being more empathetic towards the soldiers will no doubt take a huge load of stress off the soldiers and less stress means less suicide. Today military suicide is a major social issue caused by issues such as flawed military policies, poor mental health among soldiers, and also relationship problems mainly because of long periods of separation. Every problem has solutions, whether they work or not requires some experimenting. The experiments that have been done so far have proven suicide hotlines, meditation, and greater protection of the soldiers as well as getting rid of the demotion policy to be most effective in increasing the survival rate and decreasing the suicide rate. Some of this even worked for civilians who arent in other countries fighting wars as well, and perhaps one day suicide will be as rare as cannibalism. Efforts are being made to help this situation as regards to the army of the United States and from the looks of things, steering toward the right direction long enough will make the hope and dream of an end to suicide militarily or otherwise a reality.

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Shahid 4 Works Cited Breidenstine, Bill. "Suicide Statistics Confound Conventional Wisdom." America's Civil War 25.6 (2013): 11. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Feb. 2013 Ghahramanlou-Holloway, Marjan. "Lessons Learned From A Soldier's Suicide In Iraq." Psychiatry: Interpersonal & Biological Processes 74.2 (2011): 115117. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Feb. 2013. Gregg, Zoroya, and TODAY USA. "Army, Navy suicides this year at record high." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Feb. 2013. Ira R. Katz, et al. Implementation And Early Utilization Of A Suicide Hotline For Veterans. American Journal Of Public Health 102.S1 (2012): S29-S32. Academic Search Complete.Web. 10 Feb. 2013. Kroesen, Frederick J. Hot Topics. Army Magazine 62.9 (2012): 20-22. Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. Nock, Matthew K. A Soldiers Suicide: Understanding Its Effect On Fellow Soldiers. Psychology: Interpersonal & Biological Processes 74.2 (2011): 107-109. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Feb. 2013