Note from MOAA: If you or someone you know is in crisis, contact the Veterans Crisis Line at 988 (press 1) or via www.veteranscrisisline.net.

DoD’s new suicide-prevention campaign fails to address how poor living conditions may negatively impact servicemember mental health, despite a Pentagon review highlighting the connection.

A memo on New Actions to Prevent Suicide in the Military, released Sept. 26, misses significant quality of life recommendations from the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC) related to military housing. Leaders from the Office of Force Resilience, charged to enhance suicide prevention, are quick to describe the need to improve culture, “get upstream of the problem” and increase access to care, yet shy away from addressing these SPRIRC recommendations head on.

That results in an uncomfortable omission – one MOAA and fellow members of The Military Coalition raised after the memo’s release. Officials said the issues would be addressed by other offices, but it’s clear the memo’s first of “five lines of effort” – Foster a Supportive Environment – should have directly addressed this headline-making concern.

[TAKE ACTION: Urge Your Legislators to Improve Quality of Life for Our Servicemembers] 

Other lines of effort in the campaign:

• Improve the Delivery of Mental Health Care
• Address Stigma and Other Barriers to Care
• Revise Suicide Prevention Training
• Promote a Culture of Lethal Means Safety 

Reports and Testimony

At the recent House Armed Services Committee Servicemember Quality of Life panel addressing deplorable barracks conditions, many House members cited the scathing Government Accountability Office (GAO) report and how poor living conditions impact mental health.

“Many of our servicemembers do not come in with chronic depression or a history of suicidal ideations, and many of the problems are rooted in environmental conditions,” said Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), who was forced to resort to using community project funding at Fort Bliss to fix old HVAC in barracks when DoD could not make it a top priority after months of record heat this year.

The GAO report offered some insight from servicemembers on the effects of sweltering and unsanitary conditions on their quality of life. “I often wake up in the night, sweating from the heat, itching from the bedbugs and feel like I am suffocating,” one Marine told GAO staffers.

Leadership approach to these conditions has been less than helpful:

• GAO found the military culture of toughing out such adversity – the old “suck it up, Buttercup” attitude – contributes to these problems going unsolved. 
• Army senior leaders, dismissive of housing problems, recently stated in a public forum that the key to improving living conditions was “Adulting.”
• A similar reaction occurred last year, when the Navy’s senior enlisted adviser addressed the crew of USS George Washington (CVN-73) after a spike in suicides among those assigned to the aircraft carrier, linked to awful living conditions.

How You Can Help

• Spread the word: Amplify your message by encouraging your network to join our Legislative Action Center and ask Congress to improve the quality of life for our servicemembers. You do not need to be a MOAA member to use the action center.
  
  
• Get personal: Customize your message with a personal story to your lawmakers. Share the message with friends.
  
  
• Check on your buddies: Suicide prevention can be described as a battle against isolation and the fight to improve connections and personal protective factors. Find the time to pick up the phone and call an old friend with a Buddy Check.

You can learn the latest on MOAA’s legislative priorities at MOAA.org/Advocacy-News.