The Department of Defense did not consistently screen for suicide risk or arrange for mental healthcare for recently retired troops despite a presidential order, according to a new watchdog agency report.
The Defense Department provided a mental health check to roughly 34% of the more than 150,000 troops transitioning out of the service during the 2020 fiscal year, a dramatic improvement from the 16% who received the check during the 2018 fiscal year, the investigation from the inspector general found.
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The investigators’ objective was to determine whether the Defense Department was meeting the requirements set out by then-President Donald Trump’s 2018 executive order, which resulted in the creation of a joint action plan with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs that called for every transitioning troop to get the necessary checks by the end of 2018.
“Specifically, we determined that the DHA and the Military Services are not conducting mental health and suicide risk screenings as part of the separation medical processes for transitioning Service members as required by the Joint Action Plan for Supporting Veterans,” the report said.
“During Their Transition from Military Service to Civilian Life,” it continued. “We determined that the DHA and Military Services are not conducting mental health and suicide risk screenings because the DoD and Military Services have inconsistent processes for and oversight of suicide risk screening and mental health assessments (MHA) for the transitioning Service member population.”
Military suicides have been on the rise in recent decades, and there were 580 suicides from military members during 2020, according to a recent Defense Department suicide report, which was released from the Defense Suicide Prevention Office in September, though their numbers do not include veterans, only current service members. There were 504 such suicides in 2019 and 543 the year before.
The most common demographic for those who committed suicide are enlisted males under the age of 30. People who fit that description make up approximately 42% of the military but account for 63% of suicides.
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“Though our troops have shown, at times, a seemingly superhuman ability to achieve the impossible, they’re also still very much human,” said Army Maj. Gen. Clement S. Coward, acting executive director of the Office of Force Resiliency for the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. “None of us wants to see anyone suffer. We certainly do not want to see any service members or their loved one suffer either, especially in silence. So getting this right, preventing suicides is personal for all of us.”
Dr. Karin Orvis, the director of the Defense Suicide Prevention Office, told reporters when the report was released that “impulsivity” is a major contributing factor as to why 75% of those who committed suicide during the last calendar year were under 30 years old.
