Army’s prescription for solider suicides? Christianity

Here we go again… the U.S. military again fails to address the psychological needs of its soldiers:

A recent edition of the U.S. Army’s suicide prevention manual advises military chaplains to promote “religiosity,” specifically Christianity, as a way to deter distraught soldiers from committing suicide, which in recent months, according to one veterans advocacy group, has reached epidemic proportions.

The Army Suicide Prevention Manual says “Chaplains… need to openly advocate behavioral health as a resource” to treat suicidal soldiers and instructs behavioral health providers “to openly advocate spirituality and religiosity as resiliency factors.”

Here is the official Suicide Awareness for Soldiers 2008 (PPT) presentation at the U.S. Army center’s website.

The Army says:

Chaplain may want to state the following: Spiritual faith looks outside of oneself for meaning and provides resiliency for failures in life experiences. Religious belief adds the dimension of a supportive community to help one deal with crises. Both can be expressions of a relationship with God, or a higher power, that is everlasting. The bottom line is that Soldiers should not base their reason for living in the success of a relationship with another human being!

Soldiers need to take care of each other and rid any thoughts of survival of the fittest. Almost all religions adhere to some form of Christianity’s Golden Rule…

“Soldiers should not base their reason for living in the success of a relationship with another human being!”?

Soldiers don’t need God. In fact, they DO need to base their reason for living on a relationship with another human being. They need to appropriate mental health care. They need effective PTSD diagnosis. They need to not be stop-lossed… AGAIN.

What do our members of the Armed Forces in Tacoma Atheists say to this?