B.D.F Making Positive Strides to Help Suicidal Soldiers

Brigadier-General Azariel Loria

The Belize Defense Force lost two of its soldiers to suicide in a matter of months last year, and a subsequent assessment of its enrollment yielded that a significant percentage of its soldiers had suicidal tendencies. It was alarming news for a nation whose military personnel number fewer than two thousand. But since then the B.D.F has made positive strides in getting adequate help for those soldiers. Commandant Loria explains.

Brigadier-General Azariel Loria, Commandant, B.D.F

“Back in June, thereabout we had two suicides, a female and a male – unfortunate cases. But prior to that we had very minimal policies in place to, to deal with situations like that – P.T.S.D, stress, and the like. At the time we only had a counselor and she was dealing with a gamut of experiences from these soldiers. And we quickly realized that that was not good enough, so now we have implemented, we have put in measures in place. We have put in more directives. We have established a force wellness center that deals specifically with the mental aspect of the soldier. Time and time again, we do our physicals. We ensure that physical assessment is a must, but we tend to forget the mental and the spiritual values that we may lack. And, hence the reason we have devised this building that is there now. It is commanded by Major Aspinall and she is trying to get in more and more professional people on board to deal with the cases. But we we’re – it’s a work in progress. And we invited our Mexican counterparts to come and give us some classes, some workshops on how to stem or to deal with these mental health. We have also engaged our Canadians and American brothers to come to Belize and impart their knowledge because they have been through many wars, then they are first world countries and always at wars. And they know how to deal with it. We are just finding out what it is. We have not had many suicides, or persons committing suicides in Belize, so it’s something relatively new to us. We were mostly dealing with stress, but not to the next step that involves a person wanting to take his own life.”