Posted on 04/01/2020 6:55:41 AM PDT by Kaslin
The Air Force Academy is easing up on social distancing restrictions following two suicides that occurred less than a week after the measures were implemented to prevent the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus, The Colorado Springs Gazette reported on Tuesday.
In the wake of the ongoing pandemic, the academy had sent freshman, sophomores, and juniors home but kept nearly 1,000 seniors on campus in an effort to push the students to graduation with just a few weeks left in the school year. The remaining students were separated across vacated dorm rooms with strict rules to keep the virus from rapidly spreading among the graduating class.
Seniors were isolated to their rooms, living on take-out food from the dining hall while going to classes online. The cadets were ordered to stay away from each other and barred from leaving campus or hosting guests in the first campus lockdown since 9/11.
According to documents reviewed by the Gazette, the academy received a plethora of complaints that the tight restrictions were making the school “prison-like” for the students left on campus.
Following a pair of suicides on Thursday and Saturday just days after measures were cast into effect, the academy is now loosening restrictions to allow cadets off campus for drive-thru food. The students may also enjoy casual Fridays in civilian clothing and may socialize in small groups that comply with state social distancing guidelines, according to the Gazette. Students will also no longer be punished for violating the social distancing measures with marching practice.
In an email sent to students Monday night, the school’s superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria also announced that alcohol would be allowed back on campus but remain prohibited in cars and dorms. In addition, Silveria encouraged staff to bring dogs to campus.
“Dogs are mission-essential and are allowed any time,” Silveria wrote.
The reduction in social distancing rules as the Wuhan coronavirus continues its rapid nationwide spread comes days after suicide hotlines across the country have reported a surge in calls amid the crisis.
Economic self-destruction through social distancing mandates coupled with the increased isolation itself have begun to exacerbate an already ongoing epidemic in suicide. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States with more than 48,000 lives lost in 2018 and 1.4 million attempts in the same year.
The national suicide hotline is 1-800-273-8255. More resources are here.
In Knox County, Tennessee last week, more people in the community died from suicide than the virus killed in the entire state.
Allysen Efferson, a therapist in east Tennessee, told The Federalist that the relationship between suicide and financial harship is a well-established link and that policymakers should be factoring in the current epidemic over suicide when crafting measures to combat the Wuhan virus.
“At the end of it all, what would be a real devastation to me is that we didn’t even consider that this would have an impact on individuals who may take their lives,” Efferson said of the government-sponsored shut-downs pursued by states and cities across the country.
The recent suicides in Tennessee prompted Knoxville Mayor Glenn Jacobs to openly question whether government mandated shut-downs are the correct answer in response to the virus.
“Makes me wonder if what we are doing now is the correct approach,” Jacobs said. “We have to determine how we can respond to COVID-19 in a way that keeps our economy intact, keeps people employed and empowers them with a feeling of hope and optimism – not desperation and despair.”
President Donald Trump acknowledged the problem last week, explaining that many will fall victim to the pandemic without ever even contracting the virus because suicides spike in an economic crisis.
“You’re going to have suicides by the thousands,” Trump said in a Fox News town hall while discussing the need to reopen the country relatively soon.
Efferson noted that the constant bombardment of doomsday predictions and uncertainty in the media have only deepened the suicide crisis by feeding more panic into an already anxious society.
“A continual barrage of just really bleak predictions doesn’t help,” Efferson said. “It’s not just ‘sit in place.’ It’s ‘sit in place and we don’t know what’s going to happen next.’”
Efferson stressed that those struggling should know they’re not alone and urged people to check in with loved ones.
“It is never wrong to ask somebody if they’re considering [suicide],” Efferson said. “If you even get a hint that someone is entertaining the idea, ask them.”
Am I alone in being concerned that a lot of us middle-aged nobodies are going to pull through from social distancing but our nation’s pool of future military leaders are this fragile?
No, you’re not alone. That was my first thought as well.
Soft living makes soft people
I agree. They had to be on the cusp to begin with.....to me, the really horrendous part of having to stay inside is not be able to save my job, my business, the whole country, etc. It’s like we’re all just sitting inside, watching society crumble.
I have to assume there are underlying reasons for the suicide that go deeper than isolation. Normal people don’t off themselves just because they’re isolated for a week. Even John McCain was tougher than that.
I guess “natural selection” has crossed off two fighter pilots that would have cracked under pressure. Insensitive, I know, but we’re talking about national defense here.
My thought too. They only had to do it for a couple fo months and then they'd graduate.
I’m with you.
I’m with you.
What would happen to these folks if you parachuted them into Afholistan with a pack of MREs a rifle a kabar and told them to conduct surveillance while remaining cover.
At the same time it sounds like the military is having a really hard time figuring out how to operate through a health crisis, e.g. the Teddy Roosevelt.
I get the problem. The peacetime qualities that lead to promotion are bureaucratic rule-following and being a workaholic operating without sleep and without regard for personal health. You are expected to tough out illnesses or lack of sleep however deleterious for overall mission effectiveness.
The two seem to be on full display in our operating forces inability to figure out how to operate and keep people healthy so they can operate.
Sending them home? This is their home.
Wonder what they're gonna do if/when assigned remote like Alaska or Iceland....
How would they deal with being a leader and having to make an unpopular decision? Or deal with combat? Or be a P.O.W. and probably not be treated nicely but not break under the pressure?
“our nation’s pool of future military leaders are this fragile?”
I’m with you. Preppies and not leaders.
“we’re talking about national defense here.”
When it comes to our military academies, we’re talking social experiments. Remember, it was the USAFA that added a Wiccan (think made up little girl witchcraft fantasies) worship circle to the academy.
When I went through Infantry OCS fifty-odd years ago, it seemed, at the time, that the entire program was structured to cause you to commit suicide. Or resign.
The times have changed.
Are these women cadets? All writing studiously avoids the question.
Are women suicides disproportionate?
Real questions “journalism” won’t touch.
These are seniors at the Air Force Academy? It sounds like the Air Force has not trained them for the reality of war and for what participation in a war might be like. Snowflakes. You’re better off without them becoming Officers if the off themselves like that because they had to sit in a dorm room for a couple of days.
I wonder if the Wiccan prayer circle is also off limits? A national embarrassment.
The commander should’ve doubled down and closed the chow hall. Two MREs a day
“... punished for violating the social distancing measures with marching practice.”
In my day, we called it “tanning your rifle”.
Bingo.
“Am I alone in being concerned that a lot of us middle-aged nobodies are going to pull through from social distancing but our nation’s pool of future military leaders are this fragile?”
I with you 1000%! How the HELL do people like this get into the AF Acadamy? Aren’t they screened for these sorts of things?
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