Category: defence suicide

New Committee Head Appointed by Department of Defense to Address Military Suicides

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced May 17 that Gayle Iwamasa will lead the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee, which addresses the issue of suicides in the American military. Iwamasa has served as a national director in the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs…


Soldiers Felt Like ‘Villains’ When Returning Home: Veteran Suicide Commission

Australian Lance Corporal Ryan Goodwin returned home from Afghanistan in 2012 with no welcome-home parade, no fanfare, and no support for the traumatic injuries he suffered. Tormented by the horrors of war and unable to seek help from the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Goodwin took his own life in December 2019. Goodwin’s family told his…


‘Endless Torment’: Soldier’s Mum Speaks of Culture of Bullying at Veteran Suicide Inquiry

When Nikki Jamieson saw her son, Daniel Garforth, go off to join the Australian Defence Forces in 2012, she did not expect it would set him on a course that would end with him dying by suicide. However, in November 2014, the 21-year-old army private took his own life at Darwin’s Robertson Barracks. He left a…