WASHINGTON — Despite some progress, suicide continues to be major problem for the U.S. military.
According to the Defense Department, the number of suicides among U.S. military members dipped slightly in 2022, compared with the previous year.
There were 492 deaths by suicide in 2022 among active duty, Guard, and Reserve troops. That compares with 524 deaths in 2021.
Even though Congress passed the Brandon Act to improve the process for service members to seek mental health support as part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, it wasn't until this August that Undersecretary of Defense Gilbert Cisneros, Jr. finally signed the policy for the military branches to actually implement the law.
Virginia Senator Tim Kaine said much work remains.
"We're making these incremental improvements. We see problems, we try to improve it," he said Wednesday, in an interview with 13News Now.
Kaine said, it's one thing to dream up new laws. It's another thing making sure that they actually work.
"In some ways, if you ask, like, what's the biggest challenge it's probably not you don't yet have the right process. The challenges are moreover in the implementation side. And are people read into the mission? And do they embrace it. Is it something that they have to do versus we really want to do? So, it's a culture change," he said.
Kaine said he and his colleagues will continue to do everything they can to help.
"You're going to see us doing more mental health oversight and probably more mental health policy in the NDAA we're already starting to work on for next year," he said.