U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a member of both the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and the Senate Armed Services, today questioned top Army leaders about the suicide rate in the Army National Guard and Reserves.
Earlier this year, the Army announced that suicides among active-duty soldiers declined in 2010, but the number of suicides among members of the Army National Guard actually doubled.
"I recently welcomed home the troops of the 1136th Transportation Company of the Maine National Guard which had returned home after from a nine-month mobilization to Afghanistan. While it was a day of celebration, I could not help but be concerned about the long-range mental health impact for these troops and the alarming suicide rate that has significantly increased for our National Guard soldiers," Senator Collins told Army Secretary John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Martin Dempsey. "Active duty bases have an easily accessible support structure in place, but I am deeply concerned that we have not built the same return and restoration programs for our reservists and guardsmen, who are going back to rural towns and resuming their civilian lives."
Noting that the Army's Fiscal Year 2012 budget request supports an investment in prevention-focused initiatives such as the Army Campaign Plan for Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention, Senator Collins urged Army leaders to work to ensure this program is extended to help National Guard members and reservists to help compensate for a lack of mental health services in rural areas.
Calling this a "huge problem," Army Secretary McHugh told Senator Collins that 50-percent of National Guard members and reservists who have committed suicide never actually deployed. McHugh said the Army continues to work to help ensure all members of the Army, active duty and National Guard and Reserve members, have proper access to quality mental health services.
Click
here to watch the video of Senator Collins questioning Army Secretary John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Martin Dempsey.
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