"Pittard made the services available to all soldiers—whether or not there was any reason to believe they were at risk of killing themselves—because he believed everyone was vulnerable to suicide. It was a position that put him at odds with commonly held views in the Army, which tends to regard suicide as something that only a small number of abnormal soldiers are at risk of trying.
His belief was rooted in a personal struggle. He later made public, in a radically un-Army-like moment, something that could have seriously jeopardized a career that some say was destined for the upper echelons of the military: that he had sought mental health care for depression. People who worked at the fort say Pittard’s openness made it easier for soldiers to seek treatment...
The Army struggled to respond to the surge in suicides. Believing that the increase was connected to lax psychological standards for enlistment during the troop surge in Iraq, the Army reduced the number of waivers it gave for incoming soldiers with mental health conditions who might be at higher risk of suicide. Their approach, as described in the 350-page July 2010 report, framed the problem as largely caused by a small population of high-risk soldiers who “refuse help, use/distribute illicit drugs, and commit crimes.”...
Some Department of Defense policies still create career penalties for people who seek mental health care. The deployment-eligibility requirements for Central Command and Africa Command, for example, “disqualify or require waivers for individuals who have received a mental or behavioral health diagnosis.” That culture of silence extends to the top leadership of the military. In July, Major General John Rossi, a former neighbor of Pittard’s, became the highest-ranked soldier ever to take his own life. For months, the Army refused to acknowledge his death was a suicide...
Since Pittard’s departure, the fear of seeking mental health treatment has returned, people at the fort say. One social worker in El Paso, who requested anonymity because she was not authorized by the Army to speak with the media, says that soldiers from Fort Bliss often come to her instead of seeking help at the base because of concerns they will suffer professionally or socially."
FB: "By building up mental health resources for everyone, Pittard sidestepped the stigma that’s made the Army hesitant to act on its research. He says the focus on identifying risky soldiers comes from the mistaken belief that suicide is something that happens to only a small group of troubled people."
