United States Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Military Personnel, delivered the following opening remarks at a hearing assessing the effectiveness of suicide prevention programs.
Rep. Gallagher's remarks as prepared for delivery:
Thank you, Chairwoman Speier. I also want to thank our witnesses for being with us today to discuss the topic of suicide prevention programs in the military. I especially want to thank… our Survivor Families for participating in today's hearing. Let me begin by providing some sobering statistics from the CDC. They found that suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States, with 45,979 deaths in 2020. This is about one death every 11 minutes.
In Wisconsin the suicide rate, ranks 2nd highest among the Midwestern states… and in 2020, 861 Wisconsin residents died by suicide according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
And for the military, in 2020, 580 troops died by suicide, compared to 504 in 2019… a roughly 15% increase.
We tend to talk about suicide from a macro perspective when we look at aggregate numbers… In fact, I just gave you national, state and military wide suicide numbers.
And while it's true… numbers provide us information on the magnitude of suicide… what they don't do well…. is drill down and look at how this affects individuals. Think about where our service-members do most of their work… the squad bay, the flight line, the mess decks and the front line of any military operation… all of those units are dramatically impacted…. Now think about the family, the loved ones and all the communities affected… The one certainty… is that suicide affects ALL OF US.
I often use my voice on this Committee to speak about the threats posed by China, Russia, COVID-19 and other important issues affecting national security. But today I am using my voice to say WE MUST DO MORE to combat suicide in the Armed Forces.
We CANNOT accept a new normal … if that means more service-members dying by suicide. We MUST take the steps needed to look at this holistically and take action. And from a personal perspective, many of the brave men and women with whom I served in Iraq suffer from the invisible wounds of war that… too often lead to suicide.
I look forward to hearing from both of our panels today. On Panel 1, I'd like to hear your stories and understand what you think the Department of Defense should be doing better.
On Panel 2, I'd like to hear how the Department of Defense is approaching suicide prevention and what else needs to be done.
One thing I know is that WE MUST DO BETTER… Thank you and I yield back.
