{"id":602202,"date":"2021-07-25T14:52:02","date_gmt":"2021-07-25T18:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=602202"},"modified":"2021-07-25T14:52:12","modified_gmt":"2021-07-25T18:52:12","slug":"secy-of-defense-speaks-out-on-mental-health-in-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/secy-of-defense-speaks-out-on-mental-health-in-military\/","title":{"rendered":"Secy. of Defense speaks out on mental health in military"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsecy-of-defense-speaks-out-on-mental-health-in-military%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=602202&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div id=\"attachment_2468229\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2468229\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visits National Guard troops deployed at the U.S. Capitol and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo Manuel Balce Ceneta-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h5>OAN Newsroom<br \/>UPDATED 11:33 AM PT \u2013 Sunday, July 25, 2021<\/h5>\n<p>U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke out on the ongoing concern of mental health in our military. In a press conference on Saturday at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, he stressed the importance of addressing the issues surrounding mental health.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy first priority is to defend this nation and I\u2019ve seen a lot of things today that help us accomplish that goal,\u201d he explained. \u201cKey to achieving it, is taking care of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Austin, the number of deaths by suicide among military service members was not only concerning, but alarming as well. The fourth quarter of 2020 recorded a 25 percent increase from 2019. There were 156 deaths from October 1 to December 31, which contributed to the total of 377 for the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m mindful of the stress that they\u2019re often under,\u201d he stated. \u201cI\u2019m deeply concerned about the suicide rates not only here, but across the force. \u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Bush Institute\u2019s Military Service Initiative convened the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/StandTo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#StandTo<\/a> Health and Well-Being Task Force to recommend ways to apply innovative technology solutions to expand and improve mental health care delivery. Read the report here: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ntZH1dGlZm\">https:\/\/t.co\/ntZH1dGlZm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 George W. Bush Presidential Center (@TheBushCenter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheBushCenter\/status\/1417530265967157254?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 20, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The secretary said the Defense Department must approach suicides with the same energy as any other health issue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve heard me say before, one suit, one lost by suicide is too many,\u201d he expressed. \u201cWhile we\u2019re working hard on this problem, we have a lot more to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Austin tweeted about the importance of changing the stigma back in May during Mental Health Month.<\/p>\n<p>He went on to say, \u201cI want to be clear, maintaining and healing mental health is just as important as injuries that are easier to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lloyd vowed his commitment to making sure resources were more accessible and available for the troops.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I want to be clear: maintaining and healing mental health is just as important as injuries that are easier to see. There&#8217;s still a stigma around mental health in our nation and our military. I want to do everything I can to change that. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MentalHealthMonth?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MentalHealthMonth<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zUwllPShJ9\">pic.twitter.com\/zUwllPShJ9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecDef\/status\/1395037595273474056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 19, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h4>MORE NEWS:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/psaki-dodging-questions-highlights-biden-admins-empty-promise-of-transparency\/\">Psaki Dodging Questions Highlights Biden Admin\u2019s Empty Promise Of Transparency<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visits National Guard troops deployed at the U.S. Capitol and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo Manuel Balce Ceneta-Pool\/Getty Images) OAN NewsroomUPDATED 11:33 AM &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-602202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}