6.5 Suicide Prevention, Behavioral Health, and Resilience
Key Takeaways
- AR 600-8-19 paragraph 3-11a makes suicide a mandatory situational subject area for every unit-level promotion board.
- The Army's intervention model is ACE - Ask directly, Care for the Soldier, and Escort them to help - and asking the question directly does not plant the idea.
- The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline reaches the Veterans and Military Crisis Line when the caller presses 1; the same service is reachable by text to 838255 and by online chat.
- Lethal means safety - working through the chain of command to create time and distance between a Soldier in crisis and firearms or medication - is the single most effective preventive action a first-line leader can take.
- A leader never leaves a Soldier in crisis alone, never promises confidentiality they cannot keep, and follows up in writing on DA Form 4856 after the immediate crisis passes.
Suicide Prevention, Behavioral Health, and Resilience
Core Doctrine: AR 600-8-19, paragraph 3-11a requires unit-level promotion boards to ask situational questions about suicide. It also tells the board what a good answer contains: not a regulatory citation, but how the candidate "would react with their Soldiers when leading them through these issues" and their awareness and use of available community resources.
1. The First-Line Leader Is the Prevention Program
A team leader sees a Soldier every duty day. Nobody else in the Army — not the commander, not behavioral health, not the chaplain — has that access. That is why the Army builds its intervention model around the first-line leader rather than a clinician.
The two questions a board wants answered are simple: Would you notice? And would you act?
2. ACE: Ask, Care, Escort
| Step | What it means | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| ASK | Ask directly whether the Soldier is thinking about killing themselves. | "Are you thinking about killing yourself?" Not "You're not thinking about doing anything stupid, are you?" |
| CARE | Stay with the Soldier. Listen without judging, arguing, or minimizing. Remove access to lethal means. | Sit down. Put the phone away. Do not leave them alone. |
| ESCORT | Physically take the Soldier to help, or bring help to the Soldier. | Walk them to behavioral health, the emergency room, or the chaplain. Notify the chain of command. |
Asking directly does not plant the idea. This is the single most important teaching point in Army suicide prevention training, and it is a common board question. A direct question gives the Soldier permission to answer honestly, and an honest answer is what lets you act.
3. Warning Signs and Risk Factors
Warning signs — act now:
- Talking or writing about wanting to die, being a burden, or having no reason to live
- Seeking access to firearms, medication, or other means
- Giving away possessions, settling affairs, or saying goodbye
- Sudden calm after a period of depression
- Withdrawal from the squad, sharp increase in alcohol use, reckless behavior
- A dramatic change in mood, performance, or appearance
Risk factors — increase vulnerability:
- Relationship loss, divorce, or family crisis
- Legal or financial trouble, including a pending UCMJ action or an adverse administrative action
- Loss of status: a failed board, an adverse evaluation, a bar, or a career-ending profile
- Chronic pain, traumatic brain injury, or sleep deprivation
- Prior attempt or a family history of suicide
- Transition points — a permanent change of station, redeployment, or separation
Protective factors are what leaders can build: unit cohesion, a sense of purpose, physical fitness, sleep, financial stability, connection to family, and confidence that seeking help will not end a career.
4. Lethal Means Safety
Most suicide crises are short. Creating time and distance between a Soldier in crisis and the means to act is the highest-leverage preventive step available to a squad leader.
- Work through the chain of command. A commander has authority a squad leader does not; do not attempt to seize a personally owned weapon on your own initiative.
- Options include voluntary storage of a personally owned firearm with the unit arms room or an installation storage facility, a trusted friend or family member holding it, gun locks, and safe storage of medication.
- Frame it as temporary and reversible. The Soldier is not losing their weapon; they are parking it while things are hard.
- Never make removal a punishment or a condition of remaining in the squad.
5. Resources a Candidate Must Be Able to Name
| Resource | How to reach it |
|---|---|
| 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline | Dial 988, then press 1 for the Veterans and Military Crisis Line |
| Veterans and Military Crisis Line (text) | Text 838255 |
| Veterans and Military Crisis Line (chat) | Online chat, 24/7 |
| Unit chaplain | 100 percent confidentiality; the only fully privileged conversation in the unit |
| Behavioral health | Embedded behavioral health teams at brigade level; installation behavioral health clinic |
| Military and Family Life Counseling (MFLC) | Non-medical, non-record counseling for Soldiers and Families |
| Military OneSource | 1-800-342-9647, 24/7, worldwide |
| Army Community Service (ACS) | Financial readiness, family advocacy, relocation, and employment support |
| Army Emergency Relief (AER) | Emergency financial assistance — often the fastest way to relieve an acute stressor |
Know the chaplain distinction. A conversation with a chaplain is privileged; a conversation with you is not. If a Soldier needs absolute confidentiality, the chaplain is the answer — and you can walk them there yourself.
6. What a Leader Does Not Do
| Never | Why |
|---|---|
| Leave the Soldier alone | The crisis window is short and access to means is the decisive variable |
| Promise confidentiality | You are not a chaplain and you cannot keep that promise |
| Argue, debate, or minimize | "You've got so much to live for" ends the conversation |
| Swear the squad to secrecy | Concealment kills; the chain of command must know |
| Treat help-seeking as weakness | Stigma is the barrier the Army is actively trying to remove |
| Stop caring once the crisis passes | The period after an intervention is high risk |
7. After the Crisis: Reintegration and Follow-Up
- Keep the Soldier connected. Isolation after a crisis is a risk multiplier. Give them a job, a battle buddy, and a reason to show up.
- Manage the squad. Shut down speculation and gossip immediately. Protect the Soldier's privacy the same way you would protect medical information.
- Follow up in writing. Document your plan of action on DA Form 4856, with a specific follow-up date, and keep the appointment.
- Check in on yourself and the squad. Leaders and peers exposed to a crisis need support too; the chaplain and MFLC serve them as well.
- Watch anniversaries and transitions. Court dates, separations, and holidays are predictable spikes.
8. Answering the Board Question
"Sergeant Major, if my Soldier told me they did not want to be here anymore, I would ask them directly whether they are thinking about killing themselves. I would stay with them and not leave them alone, and I would work with my chain of command to put time and distance between them and any weapon or medication. I would escort them to behavioral health or the emergency room, or call 988 and press 1 if it was after hours, and I would notify my platoon sergeant and first sergeant immediately. Once they were safe I would counsel them on a plan of action, keep checking on them, and make sure the squad supported them instead of talking about them, Sergeant Major."
That answer contains all five graded elements: ask directly, do not leave them alone, limit access to means, escort and notify, follow up.
What do the letters in the Army's ACE suicide intervention model stand for?
A Soldier tells their squad leader they do not want to be here anymore. What is the correct first action?
How does a Soldier reach the Veterans and Military Crisis Line?
Which conversation about a Soldier in crisis is fully privileged and confidential?