USAF Orders Stand-Down to Combat Rising Suicide Rate

[OldGuy]

http://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2019/August%202019/Air-Force-Temporarily-Stopping-Operations-to-Address-Growing-Suicide-Rate.aspx

[Fubar]

Is there any evidence that these stand-down days produce desired results? They seem more like PR stunts that allow executive leadership to "show we did something about the problem" but I've never heard of them being effective.

I suspect if they were effective we'd be doing a lot more of them.

[PHall]

They have to do something to show congress that they take the problem seriously.
Kinda hard to show them the results from counseling, doctor patient privilege and all that.
But you can show them that you took a much needed day out of your training schedule to "talk" about it.

[Luis R. Ramos]

I am not a psychologist, but as PH states, you read in all training manuals and articles about it that when you "talk" about it, it reduces stress and brings the rate down. The problem, as those experts write is when you do not "talk" about it. The experts must know what they are "talking" about as it is an accepted practice.

[Abby.L]

Active duty member here: I was given the day off for this(Today, actually). And while I think this is a good start, it won't mean anything unless there are serious talks about how to improve the overall culture of certain career fields. Personally, I love my job, my unit, and the people I work with. Realistically, it(Suicide) is probably a fairly limited issue within my linguist/aircrew slice of life. However, I have heard numerous horror stories from Maintenance(Aircraft and otherwise), Secfo, and even the more "Nonner," side of the house. Whether it be workload(12 hour work days, 5 days a week), crappy leadership(LtCol X doesn't listen to his airmen), or even lack of mental health.

"Oh well back when I was in during the civil war, no one committed suicide!"
Okay, that's great. But the average workload, even among the more "comfortable," armchair warrior jobs still has a high tempo, high demand, and heavy workload. Trainings are more rigorously tracked, criticized, and frequent. Regulations dictate everything you do. Anything you, as an airman, do is judged more seriously than even 20 years ago. In ye olden days, having one or 2 NJPs was expected, and a part of the job. Now? Get an NJP, your career is DONE. The standards are set higher, there's very little room for error.

Leadership doesn't help. They're frequently out of touch. A commander/shirt can follow every last regulation and improve every metric thrown at them, but what do they gain if they alienate their subordinates in the process? And example of this can be seen shortly after Tyndall began to rebuild: Facing a shortage, a lot of defenders came in on TDY to help maintain order on the base. What did they face when they got there? A Crusty Secfo Superintendent who threatened NJPs/paperwork for any little screw ups. These TDY defenders came to help, frequently out of the goodness of their heart, only to be faced with threats against their careers for minor issues that may pop up. Then, you have units doing 0530 "Fun runs," and "Mandatory videos," during this day specifically designated for resiliency. Are they technically in the wrong? No. But I can count the number of people who'd want to show up early to something on one hand. Watching a video that can be summed up as "Don't commit suicide, or else," is going to bring the rate down about as much as Taco Tuesdays will(Though, who can contemplate suicide when there are tacos to be had?)

Mental health... Probably the worst offender. In addition to the abysmal condition of general healthcare and mental healthcare in the US, it's generally not much better on the military side. There are so many regulations and requirements imposed on both military members and military healthcare providers that the providers are unable to perform to a satisfactory level. Example: I have a 12 month currency for a "Personal health assessment." This consists of, as an aircrew member, filling out an online questionnaire that asks about health habits and any mental health concerns, scheduling an in person(Non-aviation folks get a phone call) where they'll check out the basics, and then I'm off. I see a different doctor every time. The problem is that neither me nor my doctor are fully engaged in this transaction. It's another checkmark that I have to take care of which he facilitates. Bringing any mental health issues up is simply off the table, as despite the rhetoric "99% of the time if you self report, there's no harm to your career," I'd have to say that probably 95% of the folks in my group have some minor mental health issue, 50% have a serious mental issue, and 3% have a serious mental health issue that faces command-designated treatment. Could we all self-report to mental health and have no negative affect on our career? Doubtful. This aspect of the Air Force lifestyle probably affects my career field the most out of what I've talked about, and certainly doesn't help any other career fields. Many folks in my career field have Top Secret/SCI clearance. ANYTHING can be a reason to revoke such a clearance. Am I saying that the requirements for such a clearance need to relax? Certainly not, but access to mental health needs to be taken in to account.

I hate that I've had to go on this rant, and I hate that the Air Force has faced such a significant problem such that they've had to dedicate a day to mental well being. But something's gotta change. I love my job, and I hope to serve many more years. But not everyone feels the same as I do, and I try to acknowledge that as much as I can.

[Spam]

Levi:


I will back you up on your impressions regarding clearances and mental health. Although we constantly hear that claim that seeking treatment will not impact your adjudication (even with statistics cited), my observation is that its simply not true. I have had coworkers who did so, resulting in career killers. In terms of risk mitigation, I completely see how people choose to self-treat rather than disclose. They quietly soldier on to keep from losing everything while dealing with having suicidal ideations on a near-daily basis, and after managing that despair, some eventually reach the decision to shut it all down. I've refused suggestions by family and my supervisor to see someone myself, actually, because of this. Its a cold logic.


Its just a crying shame that care isn't accessible in so many cases to people who could benefit from it, and we see little but the near useless annual PR fest, "awareness" floggings. I'm so sorry that you and your teammates have to deal with it.


R/s
Spam

[abdsp51]

Mental health care is there for AF members,  the quality is very much seriously lacking.  That and most of the folks in that clinic only care about making sure the AF stays in good standing and most are straight out of school.