LITTLE ROCK, Ark., - It’s 4:30 p.m., on a Saturday afternoon, and the adjutant general of the Arkansas National Guard has worked a 60-plus hour week, but he has one more meeting – with a lower-enlisted Soldier.
The Soldier does not know Army Maj. Gen. William Wofford is coming to visit him at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System’s Eugene J. Towbin Healthcare Center here, but the general has a message to deliver:
There is hope, and we care at the very highest levels of your chain of command.
“It takes the strength and courage of a warrior to ask for help,” Wofford says, echoing a Department of Veterans Affairs slogan.
The Soldier is being cared for and remains under close observation after the Arkansas National Guard received a phone call of concern from a civilian friend. The Guard, assisted by both local and national civilian agencies, went to extraordinary lengths to find him.
The case mirrors many others worked by the Arkansas National Guard’s suicide prevention program: A combat veteran, unemployed, with no money and no place to go, and – to top it off – relationship problems that seem overwhelming.
He did not ask for help.
“It’s a tough thing for a guy – it’s a macho thing – to admit he’s got a problem he can’t fix himself,” Wofford said. “They either ignore the problem, or they try to fix it themselves.
“It’s all right to get help; it’s all right to ask for help; if you don’t get help, and you can’t meet the standards, we can’t help you – but there is a way to do that.
“I want to be sure we’re catching these folks before they self-destruct. It’s not that the Guard’s going to do something to them. We’re not going to put them out: They’re going to put themselves out if they don’t turn their lives around.
“Is it a career-killer? Not if we catch it soon enough.”
Now Wofford and Army Capt. Tanya Phillips, the Arkansas National Guard’s state suicide prevention program manager, are bringing the Soldier concrete hope.
It comes not as a hand-out, rather a boost up.
If the Soldier successfully completes treatment, he has offers of jobs, including room and board, and assistance with legal issues stemming from delinquent bills. All of this provided by the Arkansas Suicide Prevention Network, a civilian and military partnership created in February.
“We’ve got some very good programs here in Arkansas,” Wofford said. “They were developed and designed out of necessity. It’s not something because we’re brilliant, it’s … because we recognize there is a valid need, that our Soldiers and Airmen need help.”
The Arkansas National Guard has taken a team approach to operational stress, reaching out to the entire state, in part because of the unique nature of the National Guard.
Unlike the active-duty force, Guard leaders see some Soldiers and Airmen as few as two days a month. That means there are at least 28 days when leaders do not have eyes on their Guardmembers.
The first solution lies within the Guard. First-line leaders should take the initiative to call their Soldiers and Airmen between monthly drills, Wofford said.
“That’s the mark of a good [noncommissioned officer],” he said. “It demonstrates that their leadership really cares. It demonstrates that this is the way leaders are supposed to perform.”
The second solution involves teamwork. Guardmembers also are family members, community members and employees.
So, Wofford has reached out to Arkansas families, communities and businesses, who often see Guardmembers more frequently than their military chain of command does.
“We don’t like to admit that we’ve got challenges, that we’ve got problems with suicide in the Guard,” he said. “But that’s the only way we’re going to be able to help our Soldiers and Airmen.”
According to coroners’ findings and police reports, nine Arkansas National Guardmembers have killed themselves since Jan. 1, 2009, including five who had never deployed. A year earlier, one Guardmember died by suicide.
Wofford wants more people to take action like the Soldier’s civilian friend, alerting the Guard if they see a Soldier or Airman struggling.
“Let us know, and we will get them some help,” he said.
The Arkansas National Guard has taken the lead in addressing suicidal behavior statewide. The state loses about 400 residents annually to suicide. Confronted with its own problem, the Guard surveyed existing resources – and found that, although Arkansas had many organizations bent on reducing suicides, the state had no unified approach.
“Arkansas did not have a suicide prevention plan,” Phillips said. “Only one of three states that did not have one. Because of that, our state was not eligible for any of the [federal] grants or anything pertaining to suicide prevention.
“None of the agencies appeared to have any link together. They were all working toward the same goal, but they weren’t working in cooperation at all, because they didn’t even know what else was out there.”
So the Guard took the lead, teaming with other agencies to establish the Arkansas Suicide Prevention Network, which serves all state residents, not just the military.
Since active-duty facilities may not be within easy reach, Wofford further directed that the Arkansas National Guard’s own Suicide Prevention Program be available 24-hours, 365-days to any servicemember within the state, from any component, without question – active, Reserve or retired.
The Arkansas Guard signed a unique memorandum of understanding with Veterans Affairs that gives the Guard increased ability to ensure treatment for servicemembers, in part because Guard leaders have agreed to provide a case manager and testify in court when it becomes necessary for Soldiers or Airmen to be held against their will for their own protection.
Last September, Wofford held a joint press conference with Gov. Mike Beebe to increase awareness and request the assistance of the community in combating suicide.
During that press conference, Arkansas residents were reminded that the National Guard is always there to help during a crisis, be it a natural disaster, state emergency or deployment to combat. Now, their National Guard needed each person in the state to step up and help if they knew of a servicemember in need.
Actor Judge Rheinhold and his staff called to see how they could help. They recorded two public service announcements that run on television daily.
The Arkansas National Guard Suicide Prevention Program has also partnered with other agencies to designate September as suicide prevention month in Arkansas. The month will be filled with activities and events to continue the statewide awareness campaign.
“I’m still alarmed at the number of suicides that we’ve got, but I’m very thankful at the number of suicides that [we’ve] averted, the ones we’ve prevented,” Wofford said.
Wofford is deeply troubled by suicides, attempted suicides and mental health crises, and he sees distress within the ranks as a symptom of a wider national problem.
“We’re representative,” he said. “We’re a cross-section of what’s going on in society.”
Instant messaging, texting, e-mails, ubiquitous cell phones, 24-hour shopping and round-the-clock entertainment have created the illusion that any problem can be resolved almost instantly, Wofford suggested.
The pace of life also may have increased superficial acquaintances – measured in Facebook “friend” counts – and diminished meaningful relationships.
Some people leap too quickly to the conclusion, “I have no hope, because my girlfriend broke up with me,” Wofford said. “They want immediate gratification. There’s something missing there. I try to instill patience.”
Wofford and some of his staff who are focusing on suicide prevention have even noticed that it seems some people find it easier to communicate through a computer than in a face-to-face conversation. His chaplain tells a story of a suicidal Soldier who terminated phone calls aimed at intervention but was happy to exchange text messages.
“Talk to them,” Wofford said. “Sit down and visit with them. See what’s going on in their life. A lot of times, that’s all it takes to turn somebody around. … If we catch it soon enough, we can help that Soldier or Airman. My concern is they let it go too far.”
The bottom line is resilience and coping skills – tools the Guard can teach well.
“We’ve got untold numbers of examples of young men and women that have come into the Guard that came from a less than perfect family life and environment in which they grew up and finally found themselves and found hope in the Guard,” Wofford said.
“We try to focus on resilience long before a unit ever deploys. It also takes the strength and courage of a warrior to prepare yourself and to prepare your family to be mentally tough before you deploy.
“Just the day-to-day stress, without even having to worry about a deployment. Trying to balance a civilian job, your military responsibilities, your family responsibilities … and then have any kind of social life – it’s tough, it’s challenging, and the economy doesn’t help. By being a Guardmember, you’re pretty tough.”
The Soldier had not asked for help – now, it surrounds him anyway.
“We give them the best equipment, the best body armor, the best Kevlar that is out there,” Wofford said. “Now, we’ve got to fix them inside.”
Now, it’s up to the Soldier to help himself. He has been provided with the tools for success, and it is up to him to decide whether or not he will be successful.
During Wofford’s visit, the Soldier asks about dental treatment. He leaps at the job offer that involves the most responsibility and helping others. He commits to an eight-week in-patient treatment program. He talks about conversations he has had with the civilian friend who intervened, now recognizing them as someone who cares, though he had been initially infuriated. He eats, which he had not for days.
Wofford and Phillips leave with their own spirits lifted, seeing in all this talk about the future exactly what they intended to deliver.
Hope.