Army soldiers returning from war zones in March during the most hastily called coronavirus lockdowns complained of cramped conditions, that they were denied food and water, and that they had no access to bathrooms.
The increased stressors across the force led to a mental health crisis in the service. Recent Pentagon statistics also revealed a 20% increase in suicides over 2019 figures.
The Army told the Washington Examiner this week that it moved quickly to respond to the increased stressors by ramping up its telehealth and ministry offerings. While the Army still denies a correlation between the lockdowns and Army suicides, it is still taking the effort seriously.
“One suicide is too many,” Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Junel Jeffrey told the Washington Examiner. “In light of isolation and other stressors that people across the country and around the world are facing during COVID-19, the Army has encouraged leaders across the Army to pay special attention to their troops and families to ensure they have the support needed.”
Globally, soldiers who were feared to have been exposed to COVID-19 were forced into sometimes harsh 14-day quarantines. Still, the Army, as the nation’s largest service, also suffered higher infection numbers, with 20,788 cases as of Tuesday.
Jeffrey cautioned that the increase is not across all Army components, with the Army Reserve holding steady and the Army National Guard declining in suicides. Still, 81 active-duty soldiers died in the first half of 2020, not in America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but at their own hands.
“I am very concerned about the behavioral health impacts of COVID, and it is affecting our soldiers,” Army chief of staff Gen. James McConville said recently.
“Suicides [are] affecting our soldiers,” he said. “That’s why it’s one of our top three priorities when it comes to things that we have commanders getting after.”
The Army response also included virtual religious services to facilitate spiritual connections while social distancing.
The Army Resilience Directorate acted to distribute resources to leadership, soldiers, civilians, and family members. From applications, podcasts, and online training to multimedia publications, the Army sought to address coronavirus pandemic challenges such as social distancing, lost connectedness, and reduced communication while teaching ways to intervene with a peer in need while maintaining social distance.
The Army ostensibly acknowledged its first efforts to separate and isolate soldiers were harmful by discontinuing the use of non-healthcare settings for isolation.
Jeffrey says the adjustment was part of a “system-based strategy” instead of a test-based strategy.
Army leadership has already linked the coronavirus pandemic to the rise in suicides.
“Some of the scientists have said they’ve not been able to show causation between COVID and suicide,” McConville said.
“But I would argue, at least my sense is, it is having an effect because it disconnects people,” he added. “When we look at the after-action reports of soldiers that have died of suicide, it tends to be situations where relationships have gone bad, where they start to feel that they don’t belong, that they’re a burden.”
