Déjà vu? GOP obstructionism delays military suicide-prevention bill

Despite the steady rise in suicides among active-duty service members, congressional politics trumped an amendment to the recently passed Defense of Defense Reauthorization Bill that would have helped address this increasing problem.

Although Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, was pleased with some of the measures in the bill that will help military members and their families, he was disappointed that his suicide-prevention measure, along with a measure to fix a pay glitch that shortchanged National Guard troops, were casualties of partisan politics.

“While I am glad my colleagues in the Senate have passed this important legislation, I was disappointed to hear that two fundamental measures that I pushed for were needlessly blocked by one member of the minority party,” Harkin said in a statement. “My amendment to help prevent suicide among active-duty service members and an amendment I co-signed that would have fixed a pay glitch that shortchanged many National Guard troops both fell tonight because of Republican obstructionism.

“The Army has reported that, as of the end of August, 62 soldiers have committed suicide so far this year and another 31 deaths appear to be suicides,” Harkin said in a statement. “If this pace continues, that could mean the number of suicides in 2008 would eclipse the 115 suicides recorded in 2007. These startling statistics should serve as a wake-up call that suicide among soldiers and veterans is more than a problem, it is an emergency. My amendment would have created a comprehensive suicide prevention program including annual training for all service members, improved instruction for field medics and post deployment assistance.”

The suicide-prevention amendment introduced by Harkin was one of 101 eventually scrapped by the majority party in the Senate, who feared that an amendment introduced by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., might reframe the debate over the amendments to a debate over pork-barrel spending – something the Democrats want to avoid in election-year politics.

Another amendment co-sponsored by Harkin and left by the wayside would have retroactively reimbursed soldiers shortchanged during a bureaucratic lapse. “Currently, there are more than 600 Iowa National Guard service members who have not received their earned leave due to a delay between the announcement of a new leave program by the Department of Defense and the establishment of the program by the individual services,” Harkin said in a statement.

DeMint, employing an obstructionist tactic, introduced an amendment that would have would have given the Department of Defense authority to ignore up to $5 billion of earmarks found not in the bill, but buried in the bill's report.

This is not the first time that a suicide-prevention measure aimed at helping service members was caught in the partisan crossfire and nearly killed by GOP obstructionism.

Despite overwhelming bipartisan congressional support for the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act, which was introduced by Harkin in August 2007, the measure was held up by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who put a hold on it. Coburn called the bill insulting to veterans and warned that its mandatory mental health screening could harm their future job options. “I’m going to continue to hold this bill until we work on the issues to guarantee freedoms of the veterans in terms of the tracking,” Coburn said on the Senate floor.

The obstructionist move drew the ire of Harkin, who was surprised by Coburn’s hold. “The Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act has received intense scrutiny, including two hearings in the House and three in the Senate,” Harkin said on the Senate floor in September 2007. “The bill has been strongly endorsed by the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled Veterans of America, and other veterans groups. So it is a travesty to have this bill held up, now, by a single Senator for reasons that are completely bogus.”

The Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention bill was first introduced in the House by Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, who named the bill after a soldier from his district in Grundy Center, Iowa, who took his own life after returning from Iraq. The bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to step up screening, counseling and other mental health services for returning war veterans by mandating this process. The House bill overwhelmingly passed in March 2007 by a vote of 423 to 0.

In the Senate, however, Coburn objected to the unanimous consent request, citing concerns that veterans’ access to purchasing guns may be hindered. Harkin refuted Coburn’s claim on the Senate floor: “And his principal reason for doing so is completely baseless,” Harkin said. “He speculates that if we have mandatory screening of all veterans for suicide risk, the resulting medical data might be used to deny a veteran the right to purchase handguns. No medical professional can refer an individual to the background check system that would limit access to firearms. This can only be done through the judicial system.”

Eventually, with the help of his colleague Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Harkin helped usher the bill through the Senate in late September 2007. Grassley took the leadership role on the Republican side and helped persuade Coburn to lift the hold, before it passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and was signed into law by President Bush shortly thereafter.

The fate of Harkin’s new suicide-prevention and the National Guard pay-glitch amendments remain uncertain at this point, although Harkin has vowed to keep fighting for these measures until they pass.

As he said in a recent statement: “The demise of these two common-sense amendments to the Defense Authorization Bill is unfortunate and unfair to the men and women who serve our country so courageously.”

After Long-Fought Battle, Veterans Suicide Prevention Bill Passes

For many combat veterans returning from war, the battle doesn’t end on the battlefield. It continues at home with the mental scars. As soldiers return from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, many are ill-equipped to deal with emotional issues stemming from deployment, and sensing no other way out, they tragically take their own lives.

Congress, led by the tireless efforts of the Iowa delegation, has taken measures to reduce the high suicide rates among veterans. After a long-fought battle, the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act (H.R. 327) overcame its last congressional hurdle Tuesday when it passed in the House for the second time by a vote of 417-0.

Introduced by Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-3rd District, the bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop and implement a comprehensive program addressing suicide prevention. The bill is named after Joshua Omvig, from Grundy Center, Iowa, an Iraq War veteran who served in the Army Reserve and took his own life in December 2005 after an 11-month deployment.

“I’m very pleased that both chambers have passed H.R. 327, and it’s now ready to be signed by the President,” Boswell said in a press release. “A recent article in USA Today reported that the number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from the VA has jumped almost 70 percent in the past year. The time to act is now.”

“I commend Joshua’s parents, Randy and Ellen Omvig, who have suffered this personal tragedy, but have helped endless veterans and their families,” Boswell added. “They have advocated for improving all mental health services at the VA and have assisted countless veterans navigate the VA system.”

Although suicide rates are difficult to confirm and accurately gauge, the VA inspector general in a report last May noted that Veterans Health Administration mental health officials estimate 1,000 suicides per year among veterans receiving care within VHA and as many as 5,000 per year among all living veterans.

"Unfortunately, suicide prevention has become a major part of our responsibility to both active duty and to our veterans," Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, told the Associated Press. "It's a terrible statistic," he said. "As many Vietnam veterans have now committed suicide as died in the original war. That's over 58,000."

The bill, authored by Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, is designed to help address PTSD among veterans by requiring the Veterans Administration to develop and implement a comprehensive veterans suicide prevention program, provide 24-hour mental health care services to veterans, and requiring that a suicide prevention counselor be available at every VA facility.

“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the hidden combat wound. Veterans suffering from PTSD are often the last to know they have a problem,” Rep. Bruce Braley, D-1st District, said in a statement. “In the past, many veterans returning from war have suffered silently from this illness without the help and support they need.”

“Joshua Omvig’s experience puts a human face to PTSD. His death stands as a stark reminder of the impact PTSD can have on veterans and their families,” Braley added. “Passing the Omvig bill into law is so important because veterans coming home and suffering from PTSD deserve the screening, treatment and resources they need to ensure their long term mental health.”

The bipartisan bill unanimously passed in the House March 21 by a vote of 427-0 before moving on to the Senate, where it hit a procedural snag. Led by the efforts of Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the bill was expected to overwhelmingly pass going into the August recess, until it hit a procedural road bump when Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., put a hold on the bill, citing duplication and second amendment concerns, which Harkin said were “bogus.” Undeterred, Harkin kept fighting for the bill’s passage and solicited fellow Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to help persuade Coburn to lift the hold. Their bipartisan effort paid off, and the bill cleared the Senate hurdle Sept. 27.

Before the vote, Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, delivered a speech on the House floor in support of the bill. “I rise today in strong support of the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act,” Loebsack said. “This bill was one of the first that I co-sponsored as a new Member of Congress. I did so because I believe that we have a moral obligation to care for those who have worn our country’s uniform. I urge the president to quickly sign it into law so that these vital mental health services can reach our nation’s veterans.”

Originally posted on "Iowa Independent"

The Invisible Casualties of War: Suicide Surging in the Military

Though the 2006 suicide rate in the Army was the highest in 26 years, Army officials noted that it remains lower than the rate for the same age and gender group in the overall U.S. population. The Army Suicide Event Report, which tracks suicide attempts and completions and the factors involved, showed 99 suicides in 2006 within the Army, 30 of which occurred in Iraq or Afghanistan. That marks an increase from 87 suicides in 2005 and 67 in 2004.

“With more and more service members returning from tours of duty and leaving the military, we must ensure that they receive the health services they need,” Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-3rd District, a decorated Army veteran who served in the Vietnam War, said in a press release. “With our military facing constant deployments, this report is one more reason why we must do more for our returning men and women in service and those who have left service.”

The report indicates the Army’s suicide rate for 2006 was 17.3 suicides per 100,000 soldiers. That compares to the overall U.S. population rate, for the same age and gender group, of roughly 19 suicides per 100,000 people.

“The loss of any member of the Army family is a tragedy, and the Army has made prevention of suicide a top priority,” said Army Col. Dennis W. Dingle, director of the Army’s Human Resources Policy Directorate, while talking with reporters at a media roundtable conference. Dingle noted that the number of confirmed suicides in the Army has been rising since 2003, and leaders are emphasizing suicide prevention and education programs to counter that trend.“Our message to you today is that the Army recognizes this issue and is taking deliberate steps to mitigate those risks that may contribute to suicidal behavior,” Dingle said. “Our prevention efforts do help our soldiers and their families deal with the challenges they face every day.”

A majority of suicides in 2006 involved firearms, the report says, and the most common contributing factors were failed personal relationships and occupational, legal and financial problems. The report did not find a direct relationship between increased deployments and suicides, Dingle said.

Army officials recognize that increased deployments put strain on soldiers and on their relationships, so deployment frequency and length was closely examined in this report, said Army Col. Elspeth C. Ritchie, behavioral health psychiatry consultant to the U.S. Army surgeon general, at the roundtable. While the data has not shown a correlation between those factors and suicides, other studies, such as the Mental Health Assessment Team, have found that longer and more frequent deployments have increased the rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, she said.

The threat of suicide is not unique to the Army, for its rate mirrors the Army National Guard, where suicide is the third leading cause of death among soldiers. The Army National Guard’s Suicide Prevention Program indicates there have been 42 cases of suicide in the Army National Guard so far this fiscal year (up to Aug. 13), narrowly trailing accidents and combat deaths, which accounted for 45 and 47 casualties respectively. The Army National Guard’s total of 42 is already 17 more than the 2006 total and marks the highest total since the Guard began keeping suicide statistics in 2004.

“The comparison to the active duty group has one major difference though,” said Master Sgt. Marshall Bradshaw, the National Guard Bureau suicide prevention manager in a press release. “The active duty Army has resources and facilities available to the Soldiers 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Bradshaw said. “They have a greater ability to track information and provide suicide prevention resources to their soldiers.”

Given the dynamics of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s hard for the military to pinpoint exactly why these numbers are increasing when comparing these numbers to previous wars. One factor contributing to the spike in suicides may include the rise of reported cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which reportedly afflicts one out of every four soldiers returning from the theaters of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that number doesn’t include the number of soldiers who don’t report PTSD, fearing a backlash of being perceived weak by their superior officers.

Other factors possibly contributing to the rise in suicides is the number of multiple deployments and the absence of a clear “war front,” which would imply that there’s a back end of the war, where soldiers can rest and recuperate from the mental anguish of worrying about being killed at any moment. Furthermore, the mental disconnect between soldiers and their families has led to failed relationships, an increase in divorces, legal and financial issues stemming from the opportunity loss of employment income while deployed.

Having recognized the growing problem of suicide, the Army and Army National Guard are taking steps to combat these threats before the rate further escalates. The Army is using the Army Suicide Event Report (ASER) to help improve its prevention and training, focusing not only on the prevention of suicide, but also on increasing awareness about mental health issues and decreasing the stigma associated with seeking mental health care.

In mid-July, the Army began a new training program for post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries and stress. This training will be given to every soldier -- active-duty, National Guard and Army Reserve -- within 90 days. The Army also is taking the data gathered in this report and others and integrating it into its suicide prevention and training program. For example, the Army’s suicide prevention has historically focused on young men, but the data in the report indicates these programs need to be expanded to focus more on women and older men.

The Army also is working on hiring 250 more mental health professionals, and all the Army’s medical personnel are being trained in recognizing post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries and suicide risk, Ritchie said. In addition, the Army is instituting programs to reduce the stigma associated with seeking mental health care.

In Iowa, the Guard has checkpoints in place to gauge potential suicide risks among soldiers returning from deployment. “When soldiers are leaving active duty from a combat theater, the first line of defense we have in place is a demobilization process in the U.S.,” Iowa National Guard Press Secretary Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood told the Iowa Independent. “During the five to eight day course of out-processing, soldiers take part in a series of briefings that talk about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).”

Moreover, Hapgood said there are other outreach programs implemented for soldiers and their families to help with the transition back into civilian life. “We have a family program at Camp Dodge and a full-time chaplain to help families deal with issues and symptoms related to suicide,” Hapgood said “After the soldiers come back, they go through a program called “Enduring Iowa,” which is a series of classes facilitated by a counselor, who talks about reintegration issues. We also have ‘Army One Source’ in place, which is an entity that helps families get counseling from outside sources if they need it.”

Often times, soldiers are reluctant to seek help on their own. “The soldiers have a fear that there’s a stigma attached with seeking help, but this couldn’t be further from the truth,” Hapgood said. “We emphasize that it’s in their best interest to go and seek assistance. The only way that you can get a soldier help who needs it is one of two ways. Either they recognize some of the symptoms themselves and are willing to go get help, or their families or friends recognize symptoms and they’re able to convince them that it would be in their best interest to seek help.”

“The most important thing that we can do is to convince our soldiers that there is no detrimental effect whatsoever if they realize they have an issue and get help,” Hapgood said. “The real detriment occurs if soldiers don’t get help, and their situation won’t get better, but rather, it will only get worse.”