AUSA Supports Bill to Improve Suicide Prevention Efforts

The Association of the U.S. Army is supporting a Senate bill requiring DoD to review military suicide prevention programs.

Sponsored by Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a retired Iowa Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, the Save Our Servicemembers Act, or S.O.S Act, directs the Pentagon to increase collaboration among the various military offices and programs involved in suicide prevention by determining which programs work the best and improving data collection.

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, identified overlapping programs and service-unique terminology as problem areas in trying to improve the effectiveness of suicide prevention programs.

AUSA is one of several military and veterans' groups supporting the S.O.S Act. The measure also has bipartisan Senate sponsorship.

The legislation comes as DoD's newest report revealed a 15% one-year increase in 2020 in military suicides.