ABSTRACT
Suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide in the military have often
been described as being manipulative acts. “It is just to get attention” is a
common belief. The suicidal soldier is seen as just weak and is often described
as a soldier who is actually just dissatisfied with military life. He or she is
a coward, not a warrior. Gaines and Richmond (1980) note that suicidal
soldiers are often described as “immature, inadequate, and sociopathic.” There
is stigma and very high green walls. (In such a culture, would you reveal your
“cowardly weakness”?)
Like me, Gaines and Richmond (1980) argue that we have to see the suicidal
soldier differently. It is not merely for attention. There are many ways to get
attention in the military, just think of the massacre at Fort Hood. The question
is why this lethal way? Gaines and Richmond, for example, show that suicidal
soldiers experience significant feelings of depression, worry, and pessimism.
They note that this is one key way that suicidal and nonsuicidal groups in
the military differ-the pain. It is the nature and experience of perturbation that
differ. The pain, such as anxiety, is unendurable.
