Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

As veteran suicide grows, National Guard highest in active military

  • Health
  • by Peggy McCarthy | C-HIT.ORG
  • August 15, 2020
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Contributed photo

Donna Chapman gives her son, Sergeant William Davidson a kiss. Davidson struggled with mental health disorders after his deployment in Afghanistan and killed himself in 2017.

Sgt. William Davidson had been struggling with mental health problems since his deployment to Afghanistan. When he didn’t attend at least one of his Connecticut National Guard drill weekends, the Guard declared him AWOL (absent without leave) and discharged him with a “bad paper” separation. Four months after his discharge, Davidson, 24, fatally shot himself.

Davidson, who had two younger sisters, is one among thousands of veterans who die by suicide each year. Despite national goals to prevent veteran suicides, they occur at disproportionately higher rates than in the general population.

More than 78,000 veterans died by suicide between 2005 and 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Veteran suicide deaths rose from 5,787 in 2005 to 6,139 in 2017. In the active military, the National Guard, with a suicide rate of 30.6 per 100,000, has the highest rate of any branch, according to the most recent Department of Defense Annual Suicide Report. The overall rate among all active military components was 24.8. This is occurring against a backdrop of rising suicides among all Americans.

“The numbers don’t do anything but grow,” said Davidson’s mother, Donna Chapman of Suffield. “We’re continuing to fail. I’m sick of it. Everyone’s sick of it,” she said.

Serving in the Guard is unlike other military service. Guard members don’t live on bases. Most are part-time, typically attending monthly weekend drills and two weeks of training in the summer, leaving them isolated from military leaders and empathetic peers.

In the last year, the National Guard has stepped up suicide prevention and wellness efforts. The goal is to get ahead of the suicide problem by providing support long before people get suicide ideations, officials said. It awarded the Connecticut Guard $225,500 for a program designed to mitigate behaviors that increase suicide risk and for conferences on suicide prevention and military culture for community clinicians and counselors who work with the Guard through the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

Last year, the VA’s Vet Centers agreed to provide counseling and referral services at Guard drill weekends, including for Guard families and veterans. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented many in-person meetings. Under the arrangement, if veterans don’t meet eligibility requirements for continuous VA health care, counselors “will make every effort” to connect them to other resources. Guard veterans who have not been federally activated for service in places like Iraq aren’t eligible for VA health care.

In Connecticut, active Guard members have had access to counselors from Vet Centers and from the state mental health department for years, officials said.

Jolene Montalvo, of Middletown, was a full-time Connecticut National Guard member. She attempted suicide twice in 2013, a year after she retired. The first time, she called a friend to say goodbye. The friend contacted 911, saving Montalvo’s life. The next time, Montalvo was discreet and walked to a cemetery to overdose on vodka and pills. After about 18 hours, state police found her “in pretty bad condition,” she said.

Montalvo, who was born on the Groton Submarine Base, said that after serving in Iraq, she suffered from anxiety, depression, insomnia and bipolar disorder, and began drinking heavily. The transition home to motherhood and her Guard job as a recruiter was a “culture shock” after the constant noise from mortars in Iraq and continuous worry about the safety of people in her command. “I was having a really hard time with reintegration,” she said.

She retired in 2012, but a miscalculation put her retirement date two days short of a 20-year career and retirement pay. “I was in no state of mind to be representing myself during that time,” she said. She is now appealing the date with help from the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center.

Montalvo, 45, receives counseling and medical care through a VA program that helps patients live independently. She said her counselor “has saved my life many times. I love this woman.”

In Connecticut, from 2015 to 2019, VA suicide prevention coordinators helped more than 2,500 veterans or families of veterans who sought assistance from the national Veterans Crisis Line, according to Jessica Loss, a coordinator. She said emergency responders rescued 345 veterans from taking their own lives, adding that 716 callers reported a history of suicide attempts, and 746 reported suicidal thoughts. Her team helped train some local police about veterans with mental health problems.

“What we’re doing is equipping veterans, families and communities with tools to identify signs of suicide,” she said.

In a survey taken last December and January of members of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), 44% reported suicide ideation since joining the military, and 62% said they know a veteran who has died by suicide, a 22% increase since 2014. Thomas Porter, an IAVA executive vice president, called that increase “really shocking” and “huge.”

In June, the Trump administration issued a veterans’ suicide prevention plan designed to raise public awareness, encourage safe firearms storage, identify effective research and increase federal coordination with community mental health providers. About 70% of veterans who die by suicide use firearms, according to the VA.

Proposals in Congress to address veteran suicide include grants to community organizations that treat veterans; automatic one-year eligibility for VA health care; and training in suicide prevention and military culture for community providers that contract with the VA.

Chapman, Davidson’s mother, said Guard leadership missed “red flags” that pointed to her son’s problems. In 2016, Davidson appealed his less than honorable discharge status and requested a medical discharge with full benefits. The VA had diagnosed him with combat-related post-traumatic stress. The appeal was denied, but he never knew. The Army Board for Corrections of Military Records issued an advisory decision in May, 2017, four months after his death the previous January. His mother received the final decision last December.

Chapman has made the prevention of veterans’ suicide her mission. She is raising money to build a veterans’ retreat center in her son’s honor and does public speaking about veteran suicide. “We’ve lost so many this way. It’s unacceptable,” she said.

HELP IS AVAILABLE

Call: Veterans Crisis Line: 1-800-273-8255 and Press 1

Text: 838255

Or chat online at this link: https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/get-help/chat

IAVA Quick Reaction Force: 855-91RAPID (72743)

Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors: CALL 24/7  800-959-TAPS (8277)

This story was first published Aug. 12, 2020, by the Connecticut Health Investigative Team.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peggy McCarthy | C-HIT.ORG

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
What we’ve lost, what we’ve learned during our year of COVID
by CT Mirror Staff

On March 6, 2020, Gov. Ned Lamont announced that the first case of COVID-19 had been detected in Connecticut, and within weeks, life as we knew it was a memory. Schools were shut down, universities emptied, businesses shuttered. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be able to work from home set up shop at our […]

Plan to expand child tax credit offers hope along with direct payments
by Lisa Backus | C-HIT.ORG

When her car started making a noise more than a year ago, Chinara Johnson parked the vehicle and hasn’t used it since. As a New Haven mother of 5-year-old twin boys, one of whom is on the autism spectrum, and an 8-year-old daughter, Johnson doesn’t have the money to get the car running properly again. […]

Aid-in-dying bill clears key hurdle with committee passage
by Jenna Carlesso

The bill would let terminally ill patients access medication to end their lives.

With billions in federal relief on the way to CT, legislators assert their role in deciding how to spend it
by Keith M. Phaneuf and Mark Pazniokas

With an unusual bill, state legislators are reminding Gov. Ned Lamont they have significant role in disbursing federal coronavirus relief.

How does the public option bill differ from Gov. Ned Lamont’s health care plan? Here’s a look at the two proposals.
by Jenna Carlesso

With the rising cost of care a central issue this legislative session, lawmakers and Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration have each moved ahead with their own plans aimed at driving down prices.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Assisted suicide lobby spreads falsehoods to promote systemic ableism
by Stephen Mendelsohn

Proponents of assisted suicide repeatedly spread falsehoods to promote their lethal and ableist agenda.  The February 8 op-ed, “Aid in dying is not assisted suicide” is no exception. Suicide is defined as the act of taking one’s life intentionally.  The person who intentionally ingests a prescribed lethal overdose more closely fits the dictionary definition of suicide than the despondent person who jumps off a bridge.  The desire for suicide is a cry for help, even when redefined as a “medical treatment option.”

Opinion TCI will create a fourth gasoline tax
by Christian A. Herb

The Transportation Climate Initiative, or TCI, calls for a proposed emissions fee on gasoline to help battle climate change. On the surface, supporters say it is a small price to pay to help save the planet; and if you truly believe that this is the case, then you should consider voting for it. Despite the administration’s efforts to go out of their way to not call TCI a tax, the simple truth is that it will only create additional financial hardships on lower- and middle-income families struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.

Opinion Let’s keep telehealth when the pandemic ends
by Steven Madonick, MD

Telehealth may lead to positive, even transformational changes in psychiatric care, and Connecticut needs to keep it after the pandemic. Connecticut needs to pass the necessary laws to continue telehealth and telephonic care.

Opinion The public health bill no one is talking about, but should be
by Brian Festa

On February 16,  the legislature's Public Health Committee conducted a public hearing on two bills, S.B. 568 and H.B. 6423, both of which would eliminate the religious exemption to mandatory vaccinations for Connecticut schoolchildren.  The hearing was capped at 24 hours, depriving nearly 1,500 members of the public who had registered for the hearing their opportunity to be heard.  The vast majority of those who did testify, and who submitted written testimony, opposed the bill.  The committee is expected to vote on the bill as early as  today. 

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO