By Robin Holland, Training Support Center Hampton Roads Public Affairs
Norfolk (NNS) -- A Training Support Center Hampton Roads (TSCHR) Navy Chaplain taught the importance solidarity plays in suicide prevention to soldiers at the Army School of Music in Norfolk, Va., May 5.
TSCHR Chaplain Lt. Leo O'Boyle began his briefing by telling a story about baseball legends Jackie Robinson and Peewee Reese.
O'Boyle spoke of Robinson who was the first African-American to break the color barrier as a player for the Brooklyn Dodgers. In one particular game in Cincinnati, Robinson played and endured racial slurs while one irate fan threw a beer bottle at Robinson. In this particular incident, Reese, who played shortstop, walked over to Robinson and put his arm around his shoulder.
"Now you might say this wasn't anything extraordinary, but remember the time, climate and the tension; Peewee Reese was making a stand both as an individual and as a teammate," said O'Boyle. "Later in life, Jackie Robinson commented in his biography that if it wasn't for Reese's actions, he would have hung up his spikes forever. This just goes to show you, we never know, at times, the impact a measure of solidarity has in another person's life."
Additionally, O'Boyle showed a clip from the movie "A Scent of a Woman," starring Al Pacino who plays Frank Slade, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. Frank is blind and impossible to get along with. Chris O'Donnell plays the role of Charlie Simms, who agrees to look after Frank during the Thanksgiving holiday. Since Charlie is trying to save up a little money so that he can make it home for Christmas, he agrees to look after Frank only to learn that Frank has plans of committing suicide.
After the video, O'Boyle and the students analyzed the clip, and then listed the target audiences for suicide. Men are four times more likely to kill themselves or to die from suicide than women, and yet women attempt suicide more often than men. The number one target audience is between the 15-25 age range in which suicide is the third leading cause of death. Retirees, just like character played by Pacino, are also very likely to commit suicide. In closing O'Boyle shared with the soldiers a two minute video called "Just Ask," which teaches that by just asking if someone is ok, one could help save a life.
"You might notice alterations in personal behavior or changes in attitude that are just very different from how you know that person," said O'Boyle. "If you sense something is wrong, one of the greatest things you can do is say, 'Hey, how are you doing? Or you don't seem yourself?' Just Ask is our motto. That may open an opportunity for a person to express what's going on in their life, and the last thing you want to do is to think you missed that opportunity."
"Chaplain O'Boyle's suicide prevention brief was very effective," said Staff Sgt. Freddie Valenzuela, Army School of Music platoon sergeant. "He engaged the students by showing them video clips they could relate to. We will definitely invite him back."
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