[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14507-14508]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        SUICIDE PREVENTION MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Austria) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AUSTRIA. Mr. Speaker, thank you for this opportunity to publicly 
recognize September as Suicide Prevention Month.
  As a member of the Military Mental Health and Suicide Prevention 
Caucus, my goal is to increase awareness and aid in the prevention of 
suicide.
  Although suicide affects thousands of Americans each year, I would 
like to take a moment to focus specifically on our veterans and the men 
and women who are currently serving in our United States military.
  Suicides are increasing at an alarming rate this year for our 
soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. Recent data shows that suicides 
are occurring at a rate of approximately one per day for the military. 
This makes suicide the second-leading cause of death for our troops, 
surpassed only by combat.
  The Army, in particular, has seen a 22 percent suicide increase when 
comparing the first 7 months in both 2011 and 2012.
  But these are not just numbers and statistics. These are real 
soldiers and

[[Page 14508]]

real families impacted by this growing tragedy.
  This increase became very personal for me again last weekend when I 
attended a memorial dedication for Lance Corporal Bobby Wiley. Lance 
Corporal Wiley was a Lima Company marine and the son of my classmate 
and friend. As a result of Bobby's death, a loving family and Nation 
grieve with loss.
  On behalf of Bobby and his family, I stand before you today to 
briefly discuss this growing trend and associated symptoms, as well as 
highlight prevention efforts within my district and nationwide by both 
the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.
  More than 2 million troops have served in the wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan, and that's a lot of people who have seen war up close and 
personal. It can affect some of them adversely when they come back 
home.
  In fiscal year 2009 alone, 1,868 veterans of these wars made suicide 
attempts.
  Faced with the stigma of post-traumatic stress disorder, unemployment 
rates tipping 12 percent for our veterans, and a loss of the military 
camaraderie, many veterans report feeling purposeless upon returning 
home.
  We are aware of three conditions that contribute to many of the 
suicides of our veterans, and they are post-traumatic stress disorder, 
PTSD; traumatic brain injury, TBI; and depression. We know that 
veterans with these three medical conditions are at a higher risk of 
succumbing to suicide behavior.
  As friends and family members of our veterans and those serving our 
country, there are some things that we can do: first, recognize the 
symptoms that could lead to serious problems; understand where and how 
to get assistance while still part of the military; and know the 
availability of treatment after service.
  As members of the Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee, my colleagues and I 
on both sides of the aisle have had the opportunity to meet and discuss 
some of these very important issues, and I'm pleased with Secretary of 
the VA Shinseki's recent outreach efforts such as Stand By Them and 
Side By Side.
  The purpose of the joint DOD and VA Stand By Them campaign and public 
service announcement, Side By Side, is to increase awareness with focus 
on support networks for military members.
  Detection and treatment are key components required for resolution. 
Those closest to the military member can often see signals of distress 
before the member recognizes it himself or herself. The quicker the 
detection, the quicker the treatment.
  Yesterday, I joined back in my home district Director Costie and Dr. 
Napp at the Dayton VA Medical Center to bring awareness to Suicide 
Prevention Month. With a large geographic span of responsibility in my 
district, the Dayton VA Medical Center provides services to veterans 
from 16 counties.

                              {time}  1100

  During the joint press conference at the VA, we announced the ongoing 
efforts and helped in the promotion of the VA and DOD programs. I know 
communities across our Nation are doing similar awareness and education 
programs.
  As our young men and women are fighting to protect our freedoms, 
while they're often faced with multiple and lengthy employments, 
exposed to stressful situations in combat--including death--we cannot 
look the other way and hope that these issues disappear. The reality is 
we are faced with a growing number of PTSD, TBI, depression, and 
suicide within our military and veterans. This is a real problem. And 
if we can alleviate one of the symptoms and causes of suicide, PTSD, we 
may see a change in the current trendline before the problem becomes 
completely systemic across our fighting force.
  Let me just say, as members of the grateful communities to which our 
brave men and women return, we need to do whatever is possible to 
recognize these veterans at risk and help them get the assistance they 
need.

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