Fort Leonard Wood Stands Down for Suicide Prevention

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- Soldier suicides are rising at such an alarming rate, the entire Army halted all training Thursday to focus on prevention and soldier support.

The suicide rate has plagued the military since just after 9/11.

Sergeant First Class Derrick Jordan lost two soldiers in his unit to suicide after they returned from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We had some incidents where soldiers came back from down range and the normal stressors of coming back and reintegrating back with their families may have pushed them a little bit farther than they could handle."

Jordan says the soldiers were only in their mid-20s. Their deaths are felt by their loved ones and their unit.

"Like a missing link in the chain," he says. "Just, you know, been broken."

Jordan says other soldiers in the unit also struggle.

"With any type of suicide, that feeling of guilt especially people that knew him closely."

So while the obstacle courses stood empty Thursday, soldiers take in vital training about spotting signs of a soldier in trouble.

"Vital, because unfortunately we have had a huge increase in the number of suicides our soldiers are experiencing," says Chaplain Lt. Col. Michael King.

King helped coordinate dozens of sessions all over post. They're working to prevent the number of 131 suicides nationwide in 2012 from going up.

"We mourn for all their losses and we mourn for their families as well, but we want to mitigate that and we want to reduce those numbers so we can take care of our own people."

Psychology tech Angela Garrett says each soldier must be met with respect.

"It's important because the person has had the courage to come into our office and we're the first person that they see, so we have to be positive about it. We are also the gateway to their experience, so we want to help them be comfortable and to be open and share their story."

Because these soldiers want the others to know no one stands alone.

"You can always depend on people to your left and your right to help you pick you up."

The last stand down they had was in 2009. But, this suicide prevention training is an annual event -- training, they hope, reaches every soldier.

So far in 2012, Fort Leonard Wood has had one confirmed suicide and three incidents that are under investigation. In 2011, the post had five suicides.