captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2008 i think more importantly, having that concerned intrusive leadership, it's one thing to walk up and ask a person, hey, how are you doing today but it is really difficult and i'm sure most of you will agree the difficult piece of that is to look another person in the eye and literally ask them, are you thinking of killing yourself? so getting that message out there and communicating, that's, i'm going to leave it at that. that's where we are with that thing. >> back to me, soibecause we al have to say something. most of it's already been covered. i have a lot of notes to answer what was an excellent question and a lot of things that i could go in different directions but i think the key has been said again and again and again is for leadership and fellow sailors to understand and know their

people. as a chief petty officer of the united states navy we grew up in a world where we are taught to in every signature in my charge book take care of your troops, take care of your troops, take care of your troops, that means knowing them. as a leader in the united states navy and in almost every case the post part where they interviewed people did see signs, knew a person was having financial trouble, showing up late for work. intrusive leadership, writing it on evaluations in the navy, used to be a term taken the wrong way, the leaders needed to get in there like mom and dad. our young men and women of the united states navy represent the best that this country has to offer, the best 1% that are available to join the service, but many of them don't come from your typical mom and dad home. therefore, their first experiences with natheir recruir followed by recruit division

commanders who serve as their moms and dads. boot camp problems aren't often identified because they're in an environment controlled, at the a schools and c schools when the freedom part comes and that's where the csad program i mentioned comes in and the ten other phenomenal programs, because we know that we've put a web of programs together. that along with that intrusive leadership with where those chiefs and leaders are getting in their face and saying let me see your budget. did you talk to your mom and dad today? when is the last time you took vacation? the things we don't often think about because we're at war for 11 years but all those are key factors in getting to that problem, and every case is different. >> thank you, panel. i'm going to apologize to those folks who are waiting to ask more questions. let's hold off right now just for a second on the q&a because i still have another portion of, that needs to be added to the

panels up here, as i'm bringing another senior enlisted adviser to the panel, and it is my great privilege and pleasure to bring up here the senior enlisted adviser to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the senior commission officer in the united states marine corps sergeant major bryan battaglia, please. >> well, good morning everyone and again, i apologize for the lack of time or the time we ran out to ask questions and we'll make these panelists available after the fact, if you wish to come up and address your questions at that time as well. so before we wrap this up, i think it's a great place to yet again throw out a much deserved thanks to the va, dod, dco team and supporting elements and sponsors in making this

conference really a reality so thank you, again, ladies and gentlemen, for all your efforts there. okay, you can see that this is a slight twist to a normal panel format, but hey, there's not a whole lot of normalcy up here anyway so it fits in nicely with our scheme of maneuver i believe and what i'm hoping to do here by speaking on the heels of both the services comments and the q&a is, one, now that you've heard on both monday and this morning the services programs and their prevention, intervention and postvention efforts i'm going to wrap up things with an overarching perspective if you will have an armed forces standpoint, and then share some thoughts and clarify a few things that i've picked up along the way especially during the course of this conference as well. so my thoughts and observations are not meant to be critical, and we're all big boys and girls and must have some thick skin

but i want to be sure that we help shape and prevent any administrative or strategic fratricide in our efforts and you know, in our continuing efforts to reduce suicide in our military, and i'm going to start by poking myself in the chest, so jennifer, if you'd be so kind as to play that video. >> over the years and specifically this year, suicides within our ranks and across the total force are sadly on the rise. as an ongoing effort and reduction of suicide across our force one of my priorities is the persistent and continued implementation of our resiliency programs that are a target to award the service member, family, unit, and organization. working in concert with the senior enlisted advisers of the army, marines, navy, air force, coast guard, and national guard, we are confident that our various resiliency programs

effectively guide us in methods to overcome adversity and sustain optimal performance. from private to general, we shoulder an obligation to look and listen for signs, and we stand ready to intervene and assist our fellow service member or battle buddy in time of need. let's turn this around and reduce suicides in our armed forces. i'd like to project three key points and want to you remember the acronym n.o.w., no problem is too big that would drive one to use suicide as a solution. we'll find a better way and we can do it together. outreach for help is literally a fingertip away. whether it's pushing a button on a telephone, knocking on the chaplain's door or texting your team leader, help is readily available and lastly, we care. we clearly recognize that as members of this professional organization, you have committed to our country, and we are committed to you. now is the time. stay fit, stay strong, stay resilient.

>> so ladies and gentlemen, maybe some of you have seen this before, and if you have, my apologies for yet again putting you through more agony but i show you this because of that message and acronym n.o.w. it's resonated positively around the force but a few have come back and you know, we're afraid that there's a portion of this acronym that's not being used to its fullest extent, while the "o" for outreach has to work in order for to us get on the left side of one's decision cycle, when you hear comments like, i tried to get help, but waited for six hours in the waiting room, or my first sergeant told me to stop wasting his time and if i'm going to do it, do it right, that means that the "o" is simply ineffective and not working. it causes the entire process to break down. it raises the risk of, for potential for injury, and sadly, death. so as chief roy alluded to

earlier, we do have work to do and it's not only educating our force on where to go and what to do, if they feel bad, but rather continue to educate our leaders. more importantly action like in the case of the first sergeant, holding those leaders accountable who take their leadership responsibilities in such a collous and unprofessional and inresponsible manner. those are, he's probably the exception rather than the rule. nevertheless let me say it's easy to pick up on the heavy load of medical expertise within the course of this conference, but i hope you agree that it's going to take a combination as alluded to earlier of both art and science to reduce suicides to maintain readiness, resiliency and wellness across our force and so i feel that our resiliency programs that our services have, which are designed to provide a lot of the art, line leader engagement, offer those necessary ingredients to a daily menu in which our service members or

units or even families build in sustained toughness and ability to overcome adversity and maintain some degree of optimal performance. as you know, there's no magic one size fits all balance. we're all different. some need more than others, and it's going to take participation from both the science and the art. in our military cradle-to-grave life cycle, one just simply doesn't work without the other. jennifer, could i have that pinwheel, please? i co-champion as some of you may know the total force fitness program. this is somewhat similar to what the services programs are, and as some of you may have seen this, it's what we use in the armed forces as a guide, and hopefully what will become part of our normal culture to maintain that very resiliency and readiness throughout the force. as you've heard earlier, our services manage similar resiliency programs using this as the overarching model or template.

they use all or some of those domains, the eight domains that you see listed around this wheel of fitness. we don't have enough time to deep dive into the inner workings of total force fitness but let me say that i'm confident when our service members and units and families and veterans fully immerse into a culture and a behavior of a total force fitness lifestyle, we will certainly and definitely see reductions in suicide, divorce, crime, quicker recovery from injury, more use of complimentary and alternative methods of wellness and more. i promote total force fitness because i use it and after my times overseas, i didn't know how unfit i was or how fit i could be until i digested this wholistic design of resiliencre. i and the leaders who join me on the stage here are no different than the average garden variety service member, so if it works for someone like us, i know it can work for the force. let me bring up another topic and talk to new reference to a

few things that i've heard during the course of this conference, and things that you know, may just not pass the sniff test, because it's important, ladies and gentlemen, that again, our efforts here are so wide, that with the many involved entities that it takes to bring these solutions together, we've remained as sate as we possibly can. since we are sitting below the national average we as a military aren't doing that bad in our quest to reduce suicide. that's been a quotation that's been, that i heard, and we simply can't afford that kind of thinking. and i beg to differ with that analogy. any leaders that we have involved in this process who use such a metric as a positive measuring stick is really off keel, and i really enjoy the opportunity to talk to anyone who thinks that this way to try and convince you otherwise, because we shouldn't use the national average as any sort of measuring stick that our program

is in any way a success. failed suicide attempt is a success story. yes and no. yes, of course, because the attempt was, in fact, unsuccessful, and we still have that individual with us, alive, and breathing, and another chance to get him or her immediate help, but no, because in reality, we were too late. the decision or the act had already been executed and for me, personally, as a leader, i failed, by the grace of god or some other factor, i've been given, hypothetically speaking, i've been given a second chance but simply put, i was too late. so we should really learn from that, and not only advise we use this as accolade to say that an attempt was, in fact, a success. back to the basics. you've heard that several times this morning and i'm sure you've

heard that around the force. i know i have. and i like it, because it's a very catchy phrase, and i've even used it myself. and i knew what i meant when i said it, but to take it a step further, that's not how it was necessarily received. short answer, coming back to me, sergeant major, back to you, whose basics, yours? because i don't know what those are. i wasn't around during your basics. some of you, you know, my age and beyond can certainly relate to that. so when we use a term like back to the basics, let's be sure that we clearly define what basics we exactly mean, so we don't just complicate the matters. you heard on monday, dr. junior talk about garrison leadership or leadership in a garrison environment. and that's going to be extremely important, you know, as this is the environment where most of the basics that we're all referring to, will be applied and felt but again basics that can mean something different

received than projected. so i just bring to your attention that words mean something, and it will tend to take a path of its own when not clearly defined. what basics are we really stating with regard to suicide reduction? and i think we've touched on those pretty effectively. zero tolerance, i think denise up here had mentioned zero tolerance and certainly not to poke at her, but here's a term that's been used even during the course of this conference through day one, and while i think we may understand the context of how it was meant for the specifics of this particular conference, our belief that when one says or hears zero tolerance, others tend to associate it automatically with suicide or some sort of crime or in a similar matter with other zero tolerance things that we have in our department, such as illegal drugs and sexual assault.

those by far no question about it are zero tolerance, and i like to suggest that for the sake of adding any further complexity to an already difficult problem that we have, maybe we leave that label of zero tolerance so that it brings no confusion to things that are those heinous ucmj violations. lastly, let me touch on the va. you've may have read it, witnessed it or heard it and i'll reconfirm for you firsthand the relationship between our armed forces and the veteran's administration has never been better. in addition, i mean i really see it only growing stronger. the va, its critical linkage or continuity, not just only from a medical benefits standpoint, sure, that's important, but you know, from acute to long-term care, but i think it's larger than that. you see the community of military life that, again, denise has touched on earlier, and the feeling of remaining attached, and a sense of continuing to belong shouldn't stop at separation or

retirement, when a service member leaves its military service. it's a point in one's career where actual ownership of the service now transfers to the veteran's administration but having the va and its centers and outreach clinics in cities and towns play a significant role in this connection. remember the feeling of staying connected, not alienation nor cocooning. what really opened my eyes to this observation was veterans sitting in the va pharmacies, not keen to this mail order pharmacy thing that we've, you know, been promoting, and necessary in order to provide some efficiencies and savings of money, but just happy and content with the traditional brick and mortar system of acquiring one's medicine, and that's the forcing function which brought them to the hospital, where other veterans hang out. for many, the waiting time was irrelevant and moot. mail orders got to continue, but let's not sell short the old waiting room concept, again,

back to the basics. consumpting is branched off from the particulars of a suicide conference have a positive impact in suicide reduction? you bet it does. so let me close out by saying we are definitely beating down stigma. we're going to stay after it. it may not be as fast as we'd like, ladies and gentlemen, but it has momentum, and we're going to continue to chip away at it. you are a very intellectual group of folks out here, who want no more than to make a difference, and within the confines of this conference, and in concert with our international partners, i'm confident and i think i share this with my colleagues up here, that we will develop some additional ideas, answers, and courses of action to the reduction of suicide within our formations. thanks to each of you and everyone for your stamina and longstanding commitment. let me turn it back over to walter.

>> all right so that brings to an end the senior enlisted adviser forum. again to the panel members thank you again for taking the time of being here, sharing your views and insights when it comes to enhancing the total force of fitness and also to continue the efforts to prevent suicides across the military, so again, thank you very much. have a great day. and with that in mind i'm going to bring up the doctor who needs no sbre duction, dr. dan kemp, to introduce the next speaker, thank you. >> thank you all. the rest of the day starts to get a little bit frantic and busy and we have to jam in before we all get to go home this afternoon.

one of the things i want to encourage you all if you possibly can to, please, stay until 1:00. we've kind of saved one of the best 'til last and i don't want you to miss that. so hopefully after the breakout sessions, just come back to this room. don't worry about the whole break, just come back here. we'll get going, so we can get out on time, but we don't want to miss any of that last opportunity. so thank you. the other thing i really want to do right now, before it gets kind of crazy and busy, and we try to finish up, is to acknowledge a couple of people. you know that conferences like this take an incredible amount of work, for months and months and months, and as i walk through the halls here, i'm getting a lot of kudos and people are saying to me, "great conference, jan," and i'm saying, "yes, isn't it," and feeling really proud of myself, but you know what?

i didn't do a thing. janet hawkins didn't do much, jackie garrick didn't do a whole lot. we just said yes to things, but the people who really did the work, i think, i'm going to have stand, and captain select wanda finch, is she in the room? wanda, stand up. she is a star, and has worked diligently for months getting the details of this conference put together. krista stephenson from the va side has been her partner and they deserve a huge round of applause. [ applause ] julie cassell is our employee education service representative, and rachel, are you here? you know, this woman has sent me more personal e-mails in the past six months than anyone else

i know in the entire world, and she has the patience of a wonder woman, when i didn't respond, when i didn't care. [ laughter ] rachel is persistent, and the rest of the planning team, are you here? no. but anyways, let's give them all a huge round of applause. [ applause ] and you all have my very personal thank you. our next speaker is truly exciting. treg drewerson is the second eldest son of mr. dave dorson, an american football player that played at the university of notre dame and in the nfl for 11 seasons. dave plays college football from 1979 to 1982, and started all four years, earning all-american

honors in 1981 and 1982. in 1983, dave was selected by the chicago bears in the third round of the nfl draft. during his nfl career, he played for the chicago bears, new york giants, phoenix cardinals, earning four all-pro honors and winning super bowl titles with the 1985 bears and the 1990 giants. i think more importantly than that is i recognize his name and that's an incredible feat, if you're a football player. in recognition of his charitable work with substance abuse prevention in the special olympics, dave dorson was named the 1989 nfl man of the year, and the 1988 nfl humanitarian of the year. on february 17th, 2011, dave dorson side of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, in his miami, florida, home, in a suicide note he requested his

family donate his brain to an nfl research brain bank. sir dorson's brain was donated to boston university and the va medical center in bedford, massachusetts, which concluded that he suffered from moderately advanced chronic traumatic encephalopathy or cts, a degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive head trauma. dorson is survived by his ex-wife of 25 years, alicia and their four children, chase, treg, brock and taylor. treg joins us from chicago, illinois, to share his family's story. treg is a graduate of the university of notre dame and works in the financial services industry, currently treg serves as a volunteer and spokesman for mental health america of illinois suicide prevention campaign called "it only takes one." [ applause ]

>> hello. it's a great pleasure to stand before you today. i'm not a psychologist, a soldier, military veteran, nor do i come from a military family. so many of you might ask, why am i here? i am here because i believe sharing my father's story is my duty. i am here because speaking with those that help our servicemen and women is an incredible honor. i'm here because suicide is an enormous problem in our country. that is why i am here. for duty, honor, country. [ applause ] my father was not a patriot. he was a bear.

[ laughter ] in 1985, a group that called themselves the monsters of midway handedly defeated the patriots of new england in super bowl xx. this group, my father's teammates, comrades, brothers, were more than just football players to the city of chicago. fans gravitated to that are hollywood charisma, brute courage and team camaraderie. they epitomized manhood. every man wanted to spoke cigars like ditka, dodge tacklers like walter, and rally teammates like sing singletary, the '85 bears, much like our servicemen and women, embodied themes larger than themselves and projected strength even during times of weakness. i would like to share with you some experiences from my childhood.

for those of you who may have ever been in a football locker room, my upbringing was filled with nfl-isms with my father sounding look a football coach at many times. when i was running late to church he would say "urgency son, urgency, body goes where the mind tells it." when i received a poor grade in school, "son, you are only as good as your last play. right now, you're not very good." [ laughter ] and of course, when i disobeyed him, "son, do you want to be a part of this team?" [ laughter ] that was my father. a man that thought winning was the only option. his mentality to win served him well on the field, but off the field i'm not certain. his persona of perfection added a heavy burden, for truth of life is that losing is a part of it. in time we all lose something, our youth, our money, our loved

ones. i wish my father knew that off the field, there is no scoreboard, that wins and losses come and go, but despite the day, there is always hope. hope is a small word with a large meaning, for when hope is lost, all is lost. february 17th, 2011 was the day my father lost hope. in a suicide note that he left for my family he expressed regrets, apologies and love, also he wrote of his suspicion of a brain disease, and listed his symptoms, blurred vision, short term memory loss, mood swings and depression. his final plea was to, please, give his brain to the nfl brain bank. despite my frustration, i followed the general's orders and donated his brain to boston university. prior to this note, my father did not share with my family his

symptoms, nor did he tell us that he was depressed. you see, he hid his feelings, thoughts and worries by projecting a persona of strength. i wish my father knew that in order to be strong, you must first be weak, in order to be fixed, you must first be broken, and in order to be found, you must first be lost. [ applause ] this past year for my family has been difficult. it has been a year of healing and a year of reflection. in my grief, i have found comfort in the words of others, particularly one man whose family is no stranger to loss, robert f. kennedy. moments after the assassination of martin luther king jr., kennedy offered words of wisdom and love to a mourning nation, by sharing his favorite poem which goes, "even in our sleep,

pain which we cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of god." in times of despair, we search for an instant cure, as if there's a magic wand, formula or secret, but the truth is, recovery takes time. each of us has our own trajectory, a path that is not linear but is filled with ups and downs, leading us on a neverending road towards perspective, for in loss, there is no closure, only wisdom. we will never be what we were, and we must now focus on what we can be. over the course of my recovery, a major point of my healing came from the scientific findings of boston university, that concluded my father indeed suffered from chronic and traumatic