Airman and Guardians seeking mental health care have access to a new referral system, as the Department of the Air Force announced Aug. 7 that it is implementing the Brandon Act across its installations.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced new steps in a multiyear plan to improve mental health and suicide prevention in the military on March 16—issuing a memo outlining 10 steps the Pentagon will take at the recommendation of an independent review committee. However, ...
The total number and rate of suicides among service members, particularly among Active-duty troops, declined from 2020 to 2021, the Pentagon announced in its annual suicide report—a small sign of progress amid a general trend upward in the past decade. In particular, the Air Force—including ...
While the Defense Department is looking to expand opportunities for service members to seek professional help for mental health issues, the DOD is still struggling with institutional policies and norms that wind up hurting those who do get help and discouraging others, lawmakers and advocates ...
The Department of the Air Force’s recently released reports on interpersonal violence and on gender, race, and ethnic disparities are linked to the issue of suicide in the military, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a Facebook town hall Nov. 18.
Alex Wagner, the openly gay nominee to be assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, said in his confirmation hearing that he'll make expanding diversity in the ranks a priority if confirmed. Wagner said he's also willing to look at taking ...
The number of U.S. military service members and veterans who have killed themselves since Sept. 11, 2001, is more than four times the number of service members who have been killed in war operations, according to a report released June 21. Data compiled by the ...
Suicide rates in the Air Force are starting to drop after back-to-back years of exceptionally high rates as the department enacts new policies to address the problem. There were more than 100 suicides in the Air Force in both 2019 and 2020, causing leaders to ...
The Department of the Air Force is launching a review of its mental health, family advocacy, and other support programs for Airmen and Guardians, as part of an ongoing struggle with suicide in the ranks and to offer better care during the coronavirus pandemic. The ...
The Department of the Air Force has released its first-ever video-based suicide prevention training for USAF and Space Force families. The online course, entitled “Equipping Family Members to Help Airmen in Distress,” educates viewers on different ways they can intervene and how to access resources ...
The Air Force is on a path to match its 2019 suicide level, despite a service-wide tactical pause and efforts to curb the spread, as stresses related to COVID-19 have added to the problem, the service’s top officer said Aug. 26. “One of my concerns ...
Service members will be able to anonymously seek mental health treatment, without their chain of command being notified, under new proposed legislation. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) introduced the “Brandon Act,” which aims to protect service members from hazing, bullying, and any other issue if they ...