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> The problem of mold in barracks flared into the news again last week with a Government Accountability Office report that found barracks at 10 installations po

> The problem of mold in barracks flared into the news again last week with a Government Accountability Office report that found barracks at 10 installations posed “serious health and safety risks,” with black mold infestations, broken doors and locks and non-military people sleeping in the barracks. In some cases, troops were even left to clean up “biological waste” left by their peers who committed suicide. Maybe that last one is worth investment as well. Not just having an outside party clean it up, but prevention?

cheschire 3y ago
There's a whole list of news articles on this[0] site related to the U.S. military's efforts to prevent suicide. Not saying it's "enough" or anything. Just saying there's clearly an investment being made. 0: https://www.defense.gov/Spotlights/Suicide-Prevention/ https://www.defense.gov/Spotlights/Suicide-Prevention/
QuarterReptile 3y ago
>Maybe that last one is worth investment as well. Not just having an outside party clean it up, but prevention? The military has two readily available levers: money and mandated training. Only the latter is applicable, so we spend hours each year sitting in training full of trigger warnings and trying to destigmatize Discussion about suicide. Young men have a fairly high rate of completed suicide, and removing them from their social fabric must exacerbate the problem. There may be correlated socio-economic factors between completed suicides and the men who go into the military. The powerful factors are the work environment and leadership, which the military works desperately to improve by any means they can contrive, and culture, which the military would be powerless to fix, even if underlying society could agree on how to stop funneling people into suicide. So, if you ever recommend more suicide prevention around servicemen, know that that is why you'll likely earn a rousing, "fuck off."
- yellow_lead 3y ago
  How is money not applicable? Money can be used to pay for training, interventions, research, etc. 400k would be much better used here than on a custom humidity sensor.
  - QuarterReptile 3y ago
    First, you are wrong to say that 400k would be better spent on more suicide prevention than on humidity sensors (no matter how expensively implemented, like here.) By all accounts, that's the only money being spent on humidity sensing; with suicide prevention you're very far down the curve of diminishing returns. Do you have any examples of suicide training or intervention services that need more funding? Are the 24 hour hotlines over-utilized? Do you propose to move the needle by hiring some consultants for flashier training powerpoints? As to the research part, I'm a little curious which aspects of the DoD's suicide research you think need to be enhanced. For my part, I'd like to see base rate data alongside demographic and other statistics in the annual report.
aaron695 3y ago
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cheschire 3y ago

There's a whole list of news articles on this[0] site related to the U.S. military's efforts to prevent suicide. Not saying it's "enough" or anything. Just saying there's clearly an investment being made. 0: https://www.defense.gov/Spotlights/Suicide-Prevention/ https://www.defense.gov/Spotlights/Suicide-Prevention/

QuarterReptile 3y ago

>Maybe that last one is worth investment as well. Not just having an outside party clean it up, but prevention? The military has two readily available levers: money and mandated training. Only the latter is applicable, so we spend hours each year sitting in training full of trigger warnings and trying to destigmatize Discussion about suicide. Young men have a fairly high rate of completed suicide, and removing them from their social fabric must exacerbate the problem. There may be correlated socio-economic factors between completed suicides and the men who go into the military. The powerful factors are the work environment and leadership, which the military works desperately to improve by any means they can contrive, and culture, which the military would be powerless to fix, even if underlying society could agree on how to stop funneling people into suicide. So, if you ever recommend more suicide prevention around servicemen, know that that is why you'll likely earn a rousing, "fuck off."

yellow_lead 3y ago
How is money not applicable? Money can be used to pay for training, interventions, research, etc. 400k would be much better used here than on a custom humidity sensor.
- QuarterReptile 3y ago
  First, you are wrong to say that 400k would be better spent on more suicide prevention than on humidity sensors (no matter how expensively implemented, like here.) By all accounts, that's the only money being spent on humidity sensing; with suicide prevention you're very far down the curve of diminishing returns. Do you have any examples of suicide training or intervention services that need more funding? Are the 24 hour hotlines over-utilized? Do you propose to move the needle by hiring some consultants for flashier training powerpoints? As to the research part, I'm a little curious which aspects of the DoD's suicide research you think need to be enhanced. For my part, I'd like to see base rate data alongside demographic and other statistics in the annual report.

aaron695 3y ago

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