Tenth Mountain Division Command Sergeant Major Mario Terenas got a call over the weekend. Three soldiers in three days had died by suicide.
“Honestly, it just crushes my soul, to tell you the truth. Every single time,” Terenas said.
What You Need To Know
- Fort Drum is grieving the loss of three soldiers who died this past weekend
- All three took their own lives in what are believed to be unrelated circumstances
- Fort Drum officials are asking what they did wrong and what more they could have done
The sadness will never fade, and it’s left the division searching for answers: what it failed to do and how individual situations are able to reach this tipping point for a division that has the lowest suicide rate in the Army.
“What are we not … How distracted are we that we are not picking up on the issues that we have as it pertains to the situation at hand, and … we have the lowest suicide rate of all divisions, and maybe we were having a little bit of a false sense of security,” Terenas said.
They are concerns leadership says will demand immediate attention.
Initial investigations are not yet entirely clear, but Terenas says it appears the mission was not the case and perhaps things were more personal.
Personal is something COVID-19 has largely taken away, and the Army is no different than any other area. Personal relationships between soldiers may not be given the chance to grow.
“Why didn’t I do it? Well, you know why? I didn’t do it because I had somebody to call, and because I went to the person I trusted the most,” Terenas recalled.
The post does have a number of valuable resources available to soldiers suffering through any number mental health issues, and is now beginning a program called TRUST to allow soldiers to get back to connecting on a deeper, personal level.
“It’s one thing to talk to your buddy in the workplace about, ‘How is your day going?’ It’s another thing to say, ‘How is your day going? I’m seeing, I’m recognizing, I’m understanding. We have a lot of challenging things going on in the environment. I am here for you,’ ” Chief of Soldier Family Readiness Division Lorilyn Starr said.
Because so many Fort Drum families live off post, it also works with a number of services in the local community. And they’re not just for soldiers. It’s meant for anyone, including civilian staff and families.
“It’s kind of like a team. It’s part of their team. It’s part of their squad,” Starr said. “If my soldier is not doing well, I want to be able to be educated on what that looks like, how can I help an end where I can connect them to, and vice versa.”
Terenas says the Army is long past the point where admitting help is needed is a sign of weakness. In his eyes, it’s become a sign of strength – and when help is asked for, or a need is spotted, action is taken immediately.
