Why soldiers kill themselves: They know how to do it, they don't feel like part of the team, and they feel burdensome to others

By Maj.
Ryan Kranc

Best
Defense guest contributor

Combat deployments are
but one of many contributing factors but not the factor. I suspect
ARFORGEN cycles have had a bit of an impact and suspect lowered entry standards
during a period of time in the last decade is likely a contributing factor as
well. Many of the suicidal ideations or self-harm are made by soldiers
with no deployment history. However, when you peel back the onion you
find a history of sexual assaults, physical and mental abuse, or behavioral
issues, many of which predate their service. 

Thomas Joiner's
interpersonal-psychology theory posits three prerequisites for suicidal
behaviors:

1. Individuals perceive
themselves as a burden to others

2. They exhibit a
disenchanted sense of belongingness

3. They possess the
capability to employ lethal means to facilitate their death "as a result of
earlier experiences that have habituated them to pain and fear"

So we find that if people
have acquired a capability to kill (to include a mindset that allows them to
kill), don't feel part of a team, and feel as if they place unnecessary strains
on others they are more inclined to engage in suicidal ideation, suicidal
gestures, or suicide completion. The military clearly gives a stronger
acquired capability to kill over other professions.  

The belongingness and burdensomeness
aspects have puzzled me for quite some time. The monthly stats paint a
picture lending to a theory. If you look at the overall trends, our
greatest spikes occur during leave and PCS densities -- a time when soldiers
burden their families with a myriad of change (kids' schools, moving stresses,
anxiety of new jobs for both the soldier and spouse, new friends for the
kids, etc.). Not only that, the soldiers departing leave an established team, a
system they know well, and in some cases a team they deployed with. At a bare minimum, there's 2 or 3 years of familiarity that fractures
quickly. They have to find a new belonging, a new team, and no one is
ever certain that they'll have things as good as they understand it to be right
now.

Stigmatization of mental
health issues remains a touchy subject and can't be ruled out as a possible
contributing factor. While we may be better off at ventilating avenues
for assistance than we once were, we still have a ways to go. The fact is
that some people still do feel stigmatized in asking for help. We, as an
Army, need to continue to work on supplementing words with actions in this
regard. 

Lastly, I'm no
psychologist or social scientist -- I'm a dumb cavalryman who researched this
issue for my Master's project for 18 months. I've also seen this issue
from the aspects of a platoon leader, commander, staff officer, peer,
friend, mentor, outpatient, and subordinate. Many units have sought
different means to evaluate wellness within their organization focusing on the
five dimensions of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (spiritual, social, family,
emotional, and physical). It is entirely possible (and probably likely)
that there may not be a "one size fits all" solution to this issue. Further, maintaining an open mind while surveying and evaluating
causation is incredibly important so as not to become susceptible to
confirmation bias. Complicated issues have multi-faceted and complicated
causes.

Ryan T. Kranc is a cavalryman in the
United States Army currently assigned as the Regimental Operations Officer for
the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Irwin and the National Training
Center, California. The views expressed in this blog post are those of the
author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of
the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.