Comprehensive Airman Fitness: Looking out for those 'invisible wounds'

Published March 17, 2011
By Senior Airman Abigail Klein
22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs office

MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. -- As deployment rates continue to climb and the jobs exceed the number of available workers, Airmen may forget to keep their guard up for one of their deadliest foes and greatest ally - their mental health .

"We provide our Airmen the best equipment in the entire world, without a doubt, but it's the Airmen who operate it, it's the Airmen than maintain it and it's the Airmen that support it." said Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Roy during the February 2011 Air Force Association meeting. "Our Airmen and their families are the most important asset that we have, and we have to take that into consideration."

Chief Roy's statements were in reference to the number of Air Force suicides last year. In 2010, 100 Air Force members (active duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian) committed suicide, this was a 39 percent increase from 2009. Since the New Year, there have already been 17suicides, said Capt. Christopher Button, 22nd Medical Operations Squadron, Mental Health Flight commander.

"Despite the perception that these suicides are due to higher deployment rates, most of the individuals who died by suicide had never deployed, or had only deployed once," Captain Button said.

To combat these statistics, the 22nd Medical Group Mental Health Clinic at McConnell is hosting a suicide prevention briefing entitled, "Breaking the Silence of Suicide: A Call to Action." The rise in suicides during 2010 was not the only motivation for the briefing.

"The Air Force has always been a leader [among military services] in suicide prevention," said Captain Button. "The Air Force's Suicide Prevention Program was designed with help from leading mental health experts."

The briefing will feature guest speaker Dr. Jason Deselms, Robert J. Dole Veterans Affairs Medical Center Suicide Prevention coordinator and Sedgwick County Suicide Prevention Task Force co-chair. Dr. Deselms will educate Airmen on suicide prevention and intervention, how individuals escalate from passive thoughts of death to suicidal ideation to life threatening behavior and the common reasons for suicide and how to deal with the aftermath of a suicide.

Though these themes may seem repetitive of traditional Air Force Suicide Prevention Training, the method of delivery is more personal to Airmen.

"[This briefing] will allow Airmen to see suicide from a different perspective, "Captain Button said. "The Air Force training does a good job at explaining suicide and the warning signs, but this briefing actually puts it into words and will help Airmen recognize an individual at risk for suicide when they are right in front of them."

In addition to increasing awareness, members of McConnell's Mental Health Clinic hope the presentation will lower the stigma of mental health issues that is still present today. The fact that more than 75 percent USAF personnel who completed suicide had never been seen by a mental health professional solidifies that this stigma still persists.

"I hope that by seeing this presentation, Airmen will be more willing to seek the help they need before their problems escalate," Captain Button said . "Ninety-seven percent of Airmen who seek mental health treatment see no negative career impact. For the three percent who experience negative career impact, often times they only seek help or try to resolve their problems after they have already become bigger than they would have been had they just asked for help in the first place."

In terms of Comprehensive Airman Fitness, or CAF, the briefing planned at McConnell is just one of many efforts going on in Air Mobility Command to look after the mental fitness of Airmen and their families. The CAF culture took shape in Air Mobility Command in July 2010. According to an AMC talking paper, CAF "provides the framework to create and sustain communities on AMC installations that give Airmen and their families a sense of belonging to the Air Force community in which they live, work, and play."

In defining good mental fitness, the paper also states that it's about "approaching life's challenges in a positive way by demonstrating self control, stamina and good character with choices and actions" and "seeking help and offering help" when required or needed.

"When our force is mentally fit, they are better equipped to take on the every-day challenges presented by the Air Force and the military," said Lt. Col. John Jorgensen, Air Mobility Command's Mental Health Consultant. "We face deployments, high operations tempo, and other stressors that bring us challenges every day in dealing with our mental health. We, as Airmen, have to prepare ourselves and find the right combination of things in our lives that gives us the tools to cope and manage stressors as well as do things that brings us happiness. From that, we can achieve mental fitness.

"Stay mentally fit. Stay physically fit. Stay spiritually and socially fit. Combined, this will make us all a more resilient Airman," Colonel Jorgensen said.

(Master Sgt. Scott Sturkol, Air Mobility Command Public Affairs, contributed to this report.)