Fellow Graduates, As you may have heard, or read in today’s Washington Post, in the past two months, there have been two cadet suicides, one while home on a medical leave of absence, and two suicide attempts or gestures. Let me assure you that I am taking this very seriously. We are and have been providing resources for awareness, intervention, prevention and follow-up necessary to help our fellow team members overcome difficult times. We are committed to reduce the perceived stigma that can accompany seeking mental health care. We have found that a number of cadets who have exhibited suicidal tendencies had undisclosed prior psychological conditions. We are relooking at our admissions process to ensure that every cadet candidate is prepared not only for the rigors of West Point, but also for the rigors of a life as a leader in our Army. Beyond these preexisting conditions, we have found no common thread among these incidents. One data point we use as we analyze the situation is how we compare to other colleges. An American College Health Association (ACHA) survey showed that 9.5% of the college students have seriously contemplated suicide and 1.5% have made a suicide attempt. Data also shows that the national average is 7.5 suicides per 100,000 students. The American College Health Association reports that one in ten college students seriously considers suicide and nearly half suffer from significant depression. About 95 percent of students who commit suicide are clinically depressed. We are well below that—we have had 5 cadet suicides in the past two decades--but those numbers are no comfort to us. Our goal is to prevent all further suicides. As you know, West Point already has a robust mental health program that includes: · Close supervision of and interaction with all cadets by their tactical officers and NCOs, their cadet chain of command, their professors and coaches, and their sponsors. · A college-wide focus on intellectual, physical, ethical, social and spiritual well-being · A rich, but voluntary, religious program including involved chaplains, as well as organizations and clubs such as the Gospel, Jewish, and Catholic choirs · Annual suicide prevention training · Mental health professionals at our on-post Keller Army Community Hospital and at the Center for Personal Development in Scott Barracks. Here are some of the steps we have taken in the past 30 days: · 14-20 Dec TACs gave safety briefings to all Cadets prior to departing on winter leave. The briefing also focused on suicide prevention. · 05-06 Jan Immediately upon their return from winter leave, the Commandant spoke to every cadet on suicide prevention and all received a formal suicide briefing. · 09 Jan I convened a meeting of his senior leaders on suicide prevention. This is clearly a command program and our Subject matter Experts are Chaplain (COL) John Cook ’79 (you Top of the Line grads remember him as your first captain) and COL (Dr.) Mike Deaton, the Academy Surgeon and MEDDAC Commander here. The Superintendent directed the following actions: · 09 Jan Ordered from USACHPPM enough suicide prevention cards to give to every cadet, Soldier and civilian employee here. Also ordered leader tip sheets and hundreds of posters. These were all received and distributed by mid-January. · 09 Jan Began relooking the 17Sep03 U.S. Military Academy regulation “Suicide Prevention Program” to see if it needs updating. · 11 Jan Added suicide prevention resources to the USCC Intranet homepage · 12 Jan Directed all units to complete the annual suicide prevention training by 31Jan · 15 Jan I published a suicide prevention commentary in our post newspaper (page 2 here http://www.usma.edu/publicaffairs/PV/yr2009/09JAN15.pdf ) and the paper continues to run suicide prevention stories as part of our STRATCOM. · 16 Jan The Comm led a Mental Health Tiger Team to address this issue, specifically information sharing between mental health professionals and the chain of command · 30 Jan The OTSG Behavioral Health team we requested is conducting a day-long review of our suicide prevention activities · 30 Jan WTU West Point safety stand down to address needs and risks of high risk WTs. As directed by the VCSA for all Army units, we will conduct a suicide prevention stand-down within a 30-day window running 15 February to 15 March 2009. The stand-down will be followed by a chain-teaching program focused on suicide prevention that allows leaders to communicate with every Soldier. The chain-teach period will run 15 March to 15 June 2009. Let me assure you that everyone here is working to protect the young men and women America entrusts to us. Finally, if you read the Washington Post article, you may have noted references to hazing. Not surprisingly, not everything in that article was correct, and certainly the allegation that hazing is going on here is not true. The Corps does have fewer three day weekends, but that allowed us to increase summer military training—and ensure every cadet got a chance to take leave. Two day weekends remain, and with two weeks for Winter leave and a week for Spring leave, I am confident the Corps has adequate time for R&R. LT. Gen. Buster Hagenbeck
Superintendent
 Follow Up Letter from WPAOG President & CEO (added 04 February 2009)
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