The Air Force’s top enlisted leader is looking into an incident involving an airman who was sent a Letter of Reprimand and a Letter of Counseling shortly after attempting suicide, so reports Task & Purpose.
The airman said their unit, the 460th Space Wing’s Dental Flight based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., was plagued by toxic leadership problems and a hostile work environment, and other airmen stepped up on Facebook to share their own horror stories from the unit.
The situation came to light on Friday, when the popular Facebook page Air Force amn/nco/snco shared a message from an airman who was sent to a psychiatric facility for a week after attempting suicide with an IV catheter needle. The airman said they were sent to a facility by unit leadership not because they had attempted suicide, but because they showed up to work seven minutes late the day after the attempt.
Military suicide is a problem that needs continued attention. Old fashioned ways of dealing with it or ignoring aren’t working.