HILL AIR FORCE BASE — In the wake of another suicide last weekend, HAFB continues to struggle to stem the growing issue for its military and civilian populations. As more deaths are counted, leadership on the base is focusing its efforts to prevent the number from rising.
"There are no common threads or single contributing factors to these issues that we're managing here," Gen. Andrew Busch, commander of the Ogden Air Logistics Center, said Friday in a news conference focused on the issue.
Impetus for the news conference was the growing concern about suicides at the base, rekindled recently when a base employee wielding a knife attempted to kill himself at work. Less than two weeks later, two more deaths were noted, including one that occurred last weekend in Layton.
Busch's comments reflected the frustrations surrounding the deaths. How does the base fight a problem it does not understand? That's the issue with which base leadership is coping, he said.
Four confirmed suicides this year involving three civilian employees and one airman bring the HAFB rates above the general state rate, which also is among the highest in the country.
Suicide rates have steadily climbed on the base since 2005. From 2001 to 2004, base suicides ranged between two and three employees. In 2005, the base had a record low for recent years, with zero suicides recorded.
Since then, the rate has increased. In 2008, five suicides occurred, followed by eight last year, and the numbers aren't slowing down.
"What we are discovering here continues to support what we are seeing in the national trends for suicides," Busch said.
Among steps HAFB has taken to address the problem is creation of the Wingman Advocate Program, a support system that encourages civilians and military to contact one of 18 designated employees to discuss issues they are having at work or home. The program has been in place for only three years, but it has seen an increase in demand this year.
Sue Dryden, vice director of the 309th Maintenance Wing, which has seen the majority of the deaths that have occurred on the base, is a firm advocate of the program.
She expressed serious concern for the employees she has lost. (The majority of the suicides in the past three years have involved civilian employees.) "These are my people," she said. "These are our family and friends, and you see the hurt that takes place here. We just want to get it right."
Besides the support program, the base hired a new psychologist to help deal with problems that could lead to suicide. In addition, supervisors are now required to take safety and suicide-intervention training. Basewide training days have focused on the problem.
The issue now is whether the message is getting through to personnel.
Busch expressed concern that there will be no simple solution. "We've tried to identify (a root cause). Have we identified it? No. And I don't think we'll ever empirically determine a single cause."
Still, out of each suicide, one mantra is consistent. The one conclusion leaders all agree on is "one suicide is too many," but the ability of leaders to keep suicide from recurring remains an elusive goal.
e-mail: gbarker@desnews.com