H4D- Risk Reduction Development Challenge

The military is constantly striving to maintain its readiness. Apart of being a ready and capable force is ensuring the Soldier’s themselves are ready and capable. I come to you as the Resilience, Risk Reduction, and Suicide Prevention (R3SP) program manager for the Missouri Army National Guard. My responsibility to the Missouri Army National Guard is to ensure that it’s units are: 1. equipped with the required trainers and material, 2. capable of identifying potential risk factors within their formation, 3. and ensuring Soldier’s are capable of recognizing the risk factors and warning signs of suicide in order to properly intervene when with someone in crisis.
So, why is this so difficult? Well, for one reason time is likely or most limiting constraint. Outside of the full-time force, our traditional guardsmen typically only report two days a month and to a two-week annual training. Also consider the fact that we are geographically dispersed across the state. Thus, making resources and certain trainings very limited.
I pose this challenge in an effort to 1. ensure we are accurately identifying the risks of our Soldier’s, and 2. develop practices or techniques for delivering effective training and meaningful resources.