Noteboom The Law Firm

New Veteran Suicide Prevention Bill Introduced

May 18, 2010 - Veteran suicides have been on an unsettling uptick over the last two years. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has taken numerous approaches to attempt to combat these rising numbers, and some have been fairly successful.

United States Representative Rush Holt (D-12^th District) sees these suicides as happening because both the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) failed. What Rep. Holt calls "bureaucratic buckpassing" led to him introducing legislation focusing on suicide prevention in the military.

Holt's legislation zeroes in on the military's lack of suicide prevention efforts specifically among Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) soldiers and those designated as Individual Mobilization Augmentees (IMAs). The issue of concern is creeping up between deployments. IRR and IMAs do not have any direct access to the same level of suicide prevention programs as do active duty military personnel.  

Should this legislation pass, the Secretary of Defense would be responsible for charting every IRR who served a tour in either Iraq or Afghanistan. That soldier would then receive a call from a trained counselor at least once every 3 months. Any IRR raising red flags is immediately referred to the closest treatment facility. The counselor making the call would determine the IRR's: 

• Emotional needs;
• Psychological needs;
• Medical needs;
• Career needs; and
• Any other concerns.

 This bill is a good compliment to the VA's existing suicide prevention programs because of its specific focus on IRRS and IMAs. Similar legislation passed the House last year but was objected to based on cost. Maybe this legislation will do what that bill couldn't and aid in the fight to protect veterans.