European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 30, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday August 30, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 9 increased suicide rate puzzles army by Chuck Vinc Washington Bureau Washington the suicide rat among soldiers up almost 40 percent in 1985, is running at about the same Pace this year. Maj. Bob Thomas of the special actions office under the army Deputy chief of staff for personnel said the number of Soldier suicides held steady from 1980 through 1984 at about 84 per year a rate of 11.2 per 100,000. Last year the figure jumped to 116, or k9 per 100,000. Thomas who briefed army Community services personnel on the army Sui cide prevention program at a recent train ing workshop said officials arc unsure of the cause of the increase. However he offered two possible explanations. One is that we be started talking about suicides and have been launching education and treatment programs since Early 198s, which May make More people tend to feel it s of to re port suicides he said. Or it May be that our programs make More soldiers who have been thinking about suicide actually kill themselves he said. We be sweated bullets Over that possibility. But the numbers Are not fluctuating wildly and our data leads me to suspect that now we re getting True num Bers whereas suicides May have been in de reported in the  Thomas said family and marital prob lems Are by far the most common reasons for Soldier suicides. Legal problems account for 11 percent while Only 2 percent appear to be Job related. He said More than half have no discernible cause. Last year suicide victims ranged in age from 17 to 52, but Thomas said the average is about 21 years of age. Rank does not seem to be a Factor he said. The suicide rate among soldiers in Europe is Only about half the rate in the states he said. On the surface that seems unusual. You would think the because these sol Diers arc away from Home away from family support systems the suicide rate there would be higher. But then you can also say that the communities overseas arc closer and More tight knit than in the  Thomas said the rate in South Korea is also much lower than in the states. In fact i Don t think we be had on suicide there this year but their suicide attempt rate seems to be much higher. We Don t track suicide attempts so we Don t have hard numbers but 1 hear through the Grapevine that it s a prob Lem Over there. Suicide prevention programs required by 87 by Chuck Vinc Washington Bureau Washington the army Model suicide prevention program has been in the Field for almost a year but some communities have been slow to implement it according to army officials. The service recently sent two inspector general teams to 10 installations in the United states to Monitor the Suc Cess of their programs. Some posts had very healthy pro trams but others were doing nothing at00," said maj. Bob Thomas who Over sees the army suicide prevention pro Gram for the office of the Deputy chief of staff for personnel. Thomas said the situation will change when the army publishes its suicide prevention regulation next Spring. All communities then will be required to launch programs based on the current Model the Model requires each Community to establish a suicide prevention taskforce to be made up of senior officials including the Provost marshal staff judge advocate the medical commander and the Deputy for Community activities. Their Job will be to see what needs to be done and who should do it he said. Well make suggestions but it s up to them to decide who gets trained in Sui cide prevention and who does the train  Thomas said the army still has much to learn about suicide. For instance we want to train peo ple to spot warning signs but Many suicide victims never show any signs at All. How do we handle that he said the process of identifying and treating a potential suicide is also less than  people just can t be helped he said. About 15 percent of All Sui cide victims Are determined to kill themselves no matter what that can put stress on care givers who see suicides As a sign of their fail ure he said. But if we train our Lead ers to spot a potential suicide get that person help and still lose that person we can t say we failed. There Are suicides who have fooled even the Best mental health  officials have directed army Community services to carry the program to family members. The Job of acs will be to implement the education aspect of the pro Gram among family members basically explaining the problem of suicide and the details of the Model program Thomas  and treatment of family members considered to be at risk will be done through the same process used for soldiers he said. Military Roundup nato Maneu vers beginning in Norway Oslo Norway up the largest combined Force nato Maneu vers in Norway since the 1950sbegan Friday under the code name Northern wedding 86. Some 35,000 troops 250 ships and an undisclosed number of nato aircraft converged on Norway the North Atlantic and the Baltic sea to practice reinforce ment of nato s Northern flank in a crisis. Coupled with Maneu vers in the Baltic next week Northern wedding forms the thrust of the autumn forge exercise in Norway Denmark North Germany and maritime areas Between Europe and the United  Friday and monday a . Contingent of 36 vessels led by the aircraft Carrier Nimitz and the battleship Iowa will try to reach Northern Norway without being detected. . C-130s will deploy to Pisa for exercise series Ramstein a Germany . Air Force cd 30 aircraft will deploy to Pisa a Italy sept 21 through oct. 4 for the exercise series Volant partner according to an air Force news release. The eight air Force Reserve aircraft belong to the 439th tac Airlift Wing Westover fab mass., and the 913th tac Airlift group Willow Grove a. During the deployment the units will train under european flying conditions while providing Murat Lieut or Airlift support. They will be under the operational control of the . European come and Safe the units assignments will come from the military Airlift come s 322nd Airlift div Ramstein a. 2 . Carriers anchored off joint Navy base at Rota Rota Spain a two . Navy aircraft carriers were anchored Friday off the joint use Spanish american Navy base at this Mediterranean port a Navy spokesman said. In London . Navy spokesman it. Cmdr. Alan Dooley said the Kennedy and the America and their a Manying task forces had arrived thursday a Routhe said he could not comment on future Fleet movements. Army program monitors Quality of child care provided in Homes Byton Nauroth Nuernberg Bureau Nuernberg in 1980, army officials had no idea How Many paid baby Sitters were taking care of children in government quarters. Now they do and they re watching it closely. Child development service figures show a trend of in Home care that has mushroomed from 1,600 pro viders caring for 5,300 kids in 1983 to 3,600 Homes with 14,500 kids last year. Today a program called family child care acc is maturing into a Well monitored system designed to reassure parents that their children Are receiving care that is equal to that found in child development Cen ters. In a workshop for Community child development coordinators this week 1st personnel come acc coordinator Penny Schneider called the program a tremendous Relief of the waiting lists at child development  she said 48 centers with a capacity of 300 children each would have to be built to handle the number of children cared for by Home providers. One Center costs about $3 million. The training level of providers has improved. Schneider said. In 1980, provider training amounted to two hours of sitting Over Coulee and sharing Par enting experiences. Now a provider must have 20 hours of training before he or she can be certified to care for children. Within six months the provider must train for 18 additional hours. In the second six months 12 hours followed by 24 hours of in service training annually for the next two years. Acc directors outreach monitors and health and safety officials pay Home visits to make sure providers comply with army requirements. It s a Long cry from simple baby sitting. Problems still to be worked out include insurance. About half of a $10 fee paid by providers goes to Ward liability insurance. They Are insured by the army under its own risk management program Rimp. Kenneth r. Harris the army s Rimp manager in Washington said comparable insurance with a private firm could run As High As $1,000 per year. Insurance carriers who read All about the child abuse cases in the Media Are hesitant to insure care  because strict compliance with the army regulation that guides the acc program is a prerequisite to hav ing Rimp coverage child care under acc is not permitted in quarters not owned or controlled by the government. This includes housing built or run by private firms on army posts. Harris said the army is looking for a Way to Clear that obstacle. It s also focusing on the problem of in Suring providers who use their cars to transport Chil Dren under their care. But As of now those areas Are not covered. If a child gets injured or killed he said it could bring a lawsuit against the provider the local com Mander and the army. Usually the deepest pockets those with the most Money get  during his presentation Harris Learned of a new problem. In communities where service members from the air Force Navy or marines share space with the army the army s Rimp does not cover providers connected to the other services. As it stands now they Are not covered Harris told gape mouthed coordinators from dual service communities. He said the air Force is working on similar coverage through a private Carrier but it is not yet in place. He said he would address the Issue when he returned to Washington. Schneider said local commanders can shut Down unauthorized providers who Are not in the acc pro Gram. One conference member called them Black Market baby  two factors determine if a provider Falls into this group. If unrelated children Are cared for under the same roof Schneider said the provider must be acc  the second determiner is if the pro Vider is making a regular business of child care. Schneider said she does t want to see parents choosing a Home provider instead of the regular child development Center based solely on Cost. We encourage the providers to set competitive Rales. They Are Para professionals and should be justly compensated for their work she said. Rates run anywhere from $20 to $100 per week for each child the average is $44