The Pentagon on Tuesday outlined its strategy to address the record-high veteran and military member suicide rates that both the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have struggled to address, a crisis hampered by leadership turnover and poor management in both departments.
The Pentagon’s evolving initiative involves gathering better, standardized data, which will be released in the department’s first annual suicide report later this year; evaluating prevention programs and outcomes; and increasing collaboration with other agencies and organizations, said Karin Orvis, director of the Defense Suicide Prevention Office, at the annual Department of Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense Suicide Prevention Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.