White Male Suicide in the Military - Assignment Example

 White Male Suicide in the Military Abstract Suicide defines as intentional self imposed death. Recently, there is increased number of white male suicides in the military. Suicide is nature, and it is multi-factorial. The research will seek to explain why the number of white male suicides in the military has increased immensely. Different data and information leading to suicides in the military will be discussed. Evidence to support different suicidal factors in the army will be explores to determine variables and underlying cause of suicide. White male soldiers have the highest suicide risk perspective. Preventive strategies will also discuss to ensure that this issue will deal with appropriately. Section One The suicide cases amongst the U.S. soldiers have significantly increased in the recent past. An increase on these rates was first witnessed in the year 2005 when they rose from 10.5 per a hundred thousand troops to 16.3 per a hundred troops in the year 2008 (Leardmann et.al, 2013). According to Helkamp (1996), the suicide cases are common among the white male service men more than any other group in the military. This is as a result of certain life factors that have been proved by different psychologists to have substantial influence on the acts of these individuals. These factors have further resulted to the rise in number of the suicide cases. According to the Allen, Cross and Swanner (2005), the young soldiers of under the age of twenty five years who are white non-Hispanic males are the most affected. The American Defense Department has further indicated that the suicides cases in the military rose to approximately fifteen percent in the year 2012 with the active-duty suicides exceeding the non-active-duty ones with more than a three percent rate a case highly attributable to the US military operations in Afghanistan (Cross and Swanner, 2005). Basically, the suicide victims bared similar characteristics. Most of these victims apart from being male and white were also unmarried or divorcees. This is something very common with the military service men and women following the fact that they are always away from home and therefore spends very little time with their partners and families. The casualties further suffered from depression. Also, these young service men had very little education achievements with the highest having attained college education (Leardmann et.al, 2013). These suicide casualties were further established to be of the ages of between seventeen and twenty four. Griffith and Vaitkus (2013), articulate that among the reported cases of Army National Guard the most common characteristics that were clearly linked to the suicides were young, male and white. This further establishes the fact that persons in the army who are young, male and white are a more prone to suicide than the other groups of individuals in the army. Helkamp (1996) suggests that from a data that was extracted from the report of casualties between 1980 and 1992, young white males accounted for more than seventy nine percent of all the reported cases of suicide with suicides committed by use of fire arms accounting for approximately sixty percent of the overall total. The number of suicide casualties in the military today is on the rise having reached eighteen cases to every a hundred thousand troops by the year 2012 (Helmkamp, 1995). The medical officers across the different American medical facilities have further emphasized that most of the suicide casualties in the military in America are young, male and Non-Hispanic persons and that most of the suicides are as a result of the unstable mental health. Mental health problems as well as the intimacy problems with partners are some of the main risk factors to unstable mental health conditions (Helmkamp, 1995). Both the mental health problems and the intimacy problems result to depression to different individual persons. Suicide is highly linked to depression. According to Leardmann et.al (2013), cases of depression, drug abuse as well as substance abuse are high risk factors that influence suicide and suicide attempts in different persons. Persons struggling with depression or under influence of drugs or substance use are more susceptible to committing suicide than individuals who are free from depression, drug use or even substance use. According to the Allen, Cross and Swanner (2005), the number of the US military officers recently on prescribed medications has risen to approximately a hundred and ten thousand. These are signs of the increase on the number of the depression cases in the military. Different psychiatrists have further revealed that the Afghanistan War as well as the Iraq War may have a stake on the rising number of suicide casualties in the American troops. The war veterans are more likely to get more depressed than the other members of the troop following the ill things they see while undertaking the missions. According to different experts, immediately after the war, these individuals are likely to show mild symptoms of depression. So as to adequately cope up with life these individuals are likely to abuse drugs such as alcohol and other substances that may lead them to commit suicide. Other individuals in the military are likely to commit suicide following difficulties in relationships, finances or even problems with the law (Helmkamp, 1995). The reason why there are more young male white suicide casualties than the other groups of individuals in the American troops is attributable to genetic predisposition in science. It may be because psychologically the young male white individuals are weaker than the other individuals in the troops (Griffith and Vaitkus, 2013). Having witnessed inhumane acts of killings of men, women and even innocent children may trigger depression in such persons following the fact that the act itself goes against human moral fiber. Section Two Objective of the plan The objective of the plan is to identify the issue at hand which is white male suicides in the military. By recognizing as well as defining the problem, it will ensure that the objectives are clear to everybody (Hogan, 2012). For instance, the program will mainly be designed to reach out to the young white male service men in the American troops who are currently in the line of duty or war veterans. The other objective will be identifying possible solutions for the issue. For instance white male military personnel should receive more psychological help by use of more friendly and professional means (Hogan, 2012). This program is therefore aimed at increasing the efforts made by different government medical institutions in addressing the rise in military suicide cases. Through this plan, the more vulnerable group; young white males who have in the recent past proved to be more vulnerable than the other groups of individuals in the American troops will be targeted. In fact, the program will be designed to only handle white male persons in the military who are of ages seventeen to twenty five. Action steps This plan will involve various trained consultants on the ground targeting young white male service men either on duty or off duty since recent statistics have revealed that the suicides happen to officers either on duty or off duty. These consultants will therefore blend ways and become very close to these individuals so as to adequately offer substantial psychological help. The psychological help will incorporate guidance and counseling as well as proper medical care for the persons already showing signs of depression, drug abuse or even substance abuse. The trained consultants will therefore be like a family to the targeted individuals. Organization strategies and personal competence Organization strategies According to Hogan (2012), organizational strategies entail pulling together skills that will assist in solving organizational problems. Employees should therefore, focus more on improving personal and interpersonal skills as well as skill development and system wide thinking. This is extremely imperative in developing an action plan because these strategies will be utilized in the intervention process. The first strategy of the organization is to make sure that the working environment is multicultural and with no prejudice and free of discrimination. This will ensure that the white male military personnel will have the necessary assistance without being discriminated against by the employees (Hogan, 2012). Cultural mindedness is another is another strategy that the organization should adopt. This will not only assist in identifying cultural aspects but will also help in identifying different skills. This is a strategy that will assist on embedding cultural dynamics as well as interactions between the people involved. Communication skills form another imperative strategy that should be utilized. This strategy is of importance in the plan since it will help in establishing crucial interpersonal behaviors that will help them get along with the young white male service men. It further helps create a mutual understanding to deal with the different issues, motivate, advise and even manage different individual persons. This is crucial for the trained consultants who will be handling the different young white male service men since it will help the find some of the answers as to why these individuals are vulnerable to suicide more than the other groups of individuals in the American troops (Hogan, 2012). Personal competence Personal skills are imperative in implementing the plan. This is because they will assist in developing dialogue skills, recovering from conflict as well as solving problems. An individual working towards implementing change in the action plan should therefore, posses a variety of skills as discussed herein. An individual is supposed to be non-judgmental (Hogan, 2012). It is imperative to know that white males in the military persons are not necessarily trying to commit suicide because they are helpless. When working in such an area one should not focus on being judgmental because one might be suffering from PTSD. PTSD might lead to suicidal tendencies, which is not their fault. Therefore, an individual that is working in the program should not judge anyone f them and should treat them in the same way. The other major personal competence is showing respect (Hogan, 2012). One should make sure that they express their genuine understanding of what the military men have gone through. This means that the professionals that are in the program will not only interact with the white military suicide victims but will also be careful with their expressions. Keeping sense of humor is another principal competence. It is imperative t make the victims feel they are not different and one is acceptable in a social and interactive aspect. Cultivation of humor is crucial because it gives people a notion that they belong in same social circle that they belonged to before (Hogan, 2012). Time Frame The entire young white male suicide prevention program will run for approximately five years. The first year will be dedicated to plainly identifying the target group in the American troops in the country and even outside country in the foreign lands where they may be on foreign missions. This will be aimed at establishing the total number of the target group. This way, careful planning and allocation of the resources can be achieved. Also, the trained consultants can as well be properly dispersed to their respective work fields. The second and the third year will involve intensified work campaigns by the respective consultants on the targeted group of individuals. The work campaign will involve proper guidance and counseling as well as adequate treatment for the persons already suffering from depression. The other years will entail intensified follow ups by the consultants. This will ensure that the treated persons do not get back to the usual behaviors and also ensure that all of the targeted individuals continue practicing necessary measures to avoid depression, drug abuse or even substance abuse. Evaluation Description Proper evaluation of a project is vital for the achievement of the set goals and objectives. In this case, proper evaluation and monitoring will be to establish the achievements of the program. Every year, a field survey will be undertaken to adequately evaluate reported cases of suicide in relation to the white male victims. This will further help monitor the numbers and make changes on the tactics used by the consultants where necessary. Careful monitoring of the activities by the consultants after every year will also be undertaken to ensure that their activities stay in line with the goals and objectives of the program (Hogan, 2012). The Organizer Cultural Awareness, Understanding, and Skills The organizer of the young white male suicide prevention program is adequately aware of the beliefs, norms and even values in relation to the American society (Hogan, 2012). The American society is a diverse society in nature for it comprises of different individuals with diverse origins. He therefore knows the rights and wrongs of the different acts in relation to the American society. This is quite important since he does not stand a position to violate the beliefs and perceptions of the different individuals as well as the societal values in the process of implementing the program. This is also vital to the achievement of the goals and objectives. He is further a self-aware person, self confident and self-invested. He is perfectly aware of himself and the environment around him. He has the ability to make impressive personal judgments as well as the ability of making crucial personal decisions. Section Three Conclusion This paper articulates the number of suicide cases in relation to the white male persons in the military. The information in this paper has been collected from the different journal articles by different scholars of the world as well as the data from the US Department of Defense. The paper addresses a plan that can be integrated by the US government in helping curb the increasing number of white male suicides in the military. The paper further develops crucial strategies than can be used by the US government in achieving the goals and objectives of the plan. The paper also addresses the different ways in which the plan can be evaluated and monitored by the organizer. This paper addresses quite a touching issue in our country. It is quite sad to know that the young white male individuals in the military are the most vulnerable to suicide. This means that the country is losing a lot of productive persons through suicides in the military at a very high rate. It is therefore important for the government to address the rising number of suicide cases. Through cultural competent interventions one is able to define behaviors, policies and even attitudes that can help one work effectively and professionally even in situations that are of a cross-cultural nature. In real life, this can be used in the line of work for example as a doctor where one establishes trust with another person who does not necessarily belong to his or her culture; age, race, ethnic group, religion, language, education, occupation or even physical abilities and mental abilities. References Griffith, J., & Vaitkus, M. (2013). Perspectives on Suicide in the Army National Guard. Armed Forces & Society, 0(0), 1-26. Helmkamp, J. C. (1996). Occupation and suicide among males in the US Armed Forces. Ann Epidemiol, 6(1):83-88. LeardMann, C et al. (2013). Risk factors associated with suicide in current and former US military personnel. JAMA, 310(5), 496-506. Allen, J. P., Cross, G., & Swanner, J. (2005). Suicide in the Army: a review of current information. Military Medicine, 170, 580-584. Helmkamp, J. C. (1995). Suicides in the military: 1980–1992. Mil Med, 160(2), 45-50. Hogan, M. (2012). The four skills of Cultural Diversity Competence. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Read More