USAG Wiesbaden raises suicide prevention awareness with paintball tournament

CLAY KASERNE, Germany - U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden opened Suicide Prevention Month Sept. 3 at the Clay Kaserne Paintball Field, bringing the community together for awareness and its annual paintball challenge.

The event offered a paintball tournament, multi-station mini-competitions, food, and music. Attendees also had access to community resource booths staffed by the American Red Cross, Army Community Service, the Equal Opportunity program, and the Spouses' Club.

"This really parallels the Army Warrior Program, where folks that come back from stressful deployments get together and do these kinds of warrior challenges," said Rita Martin, Wiesbaden Suicide Prevention Program coordinator. "It's one way to work on relieving stress, and it also has that team approach to tackling a problem."

The community event brought together service members across multiple branches, civilian personnel, and family networks, emphasizing that the Wiesbaden community is all-inclusive.

"There's only a couple Marines out here. We're only 20 strong, our entire unit, and it's really awesome that the Army will let us come and hang out with them," said Cpl. Jonah Goldstein, U.S. Marine Corps. "Since our command is located back in the States, we don't have an event [like this], so this is very important to us to be able to come to this one."

"Getting everyone together is the best way to foster a community and remind everyone that we're all one team, one fight, and not a separate service doing our own thing," Goldstein added. "We're all trying to work together towards the same goal."

During the event, garrison leadership spoke about the importance of suicide prevention and shared personal experiences.

"I've led soldiers through three combat tours in my career, and I have lost more Soldiers to suicide than I have to enemy action," said Garrison Commander Col. Ringo Midles. "What I need you each to do is to be brave enough that you would reach out to your brothers, and your sisters, and your teammates, and say, 'Hey, it's not okay. I got some stuff that I'm struggling with.'"

Command Sgt. Maj. Andre Brown also emphasized the necessity of shared responsibility and proactive peer support.

"When you lose someone to suicide, there's no coming back from that. And it hits you a lot of different ways. What could I have done? What if I said this? What if I pull someone to the side and just ask them a question? So if you see something like that, take action," Brown said. "We're doing everything that we can to provide more services. But the easiest and best way is what we have right here: each other. It is about all of us together, sharing the load."

Leadership reiterated that suicide prevention is a total-force effort affecting everyone across the installation.

"We have Soldiers, we have civilians, we have local nationals. In the end, we are one formation. And losing just one individual hurts all of us," said Deputy to the Garrison Commander Mitchell Jones.

"Anyone affiliated with the military goes at deployment as a team. So we fight as a team, and that's families included... and we also heal as a team, and part of that healing is asking for help and reaching out," Martin said.

Garrison Chaplain (Capt.) Donald Fulton also addressed attendees, focusing on peer connection.

"Instead of talking about suicide prevention, I want to talk about relishing life. Being there for one another," Fulton said. "Someone's having a bad day, don't ask them, 'Are you good?' Look them in the eyes and tell them, 'I see you.' Acknowledge the pain. Life stinks at times. And it's okay to not be okay. It's okay to say, 'I'm sitting in my barracks alone... I need support. I need to be cared for. I need to be seen.'"

While living overseas can pose unique challenges, Martin emphasized that local garrison resources remain accessible and adaptable to individual needs.

"I think there's a uniqueness to being overseas, for sure. That doesn't mean the resource isn't available. You just need to know where that resource is located. It may look different, but that doesn't mean the help isn't there," Martin said.

She added that everyone is different and people need to find the resource that fits them best.

"Because what works for me may not work for you or somebody else. It really is individualized," she said.

Confidential support is available if you or someone you know needs help:

Military Crisis Line:

DSN: 988, press 1

Civ: 1-844-702-5495

Behavioral Health Clinic:

DSN: 314-590-1320

Civ: +49-6371-9464-1320

On-Call Duty Chaplain 24/7:

Civ: +49-0162-274-7337

To learn more visit: https://home.army.mil/wiesbaden/about/Garrison/directorate-human-resources/asap-services