In college we had a “block rep” system, kind of like an RA I guess, but the block rep didn’t live in the dorms or organize big events or anything (that was done separately). The block rep would stop by the dorms every week or couple of weeks, sometimes just for a cup of tea and a chat. sometimes with pizza. sometimes they’d plan a happy hour or similar informal activity. The groups they visited were around 30 people, but usually it was 10 at a time, or one on one visits. When I was a rep I found that I developed relationships with each of my freshmen that were so different from each other. Some would talk to me as a friend, others would come to me as an advisor, others just saw me as a source of information about campus. The idea was (and I think it worked) that if any of these kids had a serious issue (and a few of them did at various times in the two years I acted as a rep) that they had someone closer to them than a professor or generic school counsellor that they would hopefully feel comfortable talking to. I don’t know much about the army but if there was a way there could be some kind of system similar to that I think it would help.

And no, I can’t imagine going through it all alone. I really hope that someone with some authority in the Army can make truly positive and effective changes to start helping soldiers and their families deal with this.

I agree that labeling it all “suicide prevention” is probably a detriment. I love your idea of providing a community. I think that it’s extremely important because a therapist isn’t going to know what the soldiers go through but fellow soldiers do. And while many soldiers are lucky to have family support, some don’t. Can you imagine going through it all alone? I’m curious to see if anyone else has thoughts or ideas.