Expert: Rod Powers - 12/1/2007

Question
My fiance has recently returned to Iraq to continue his first tour.  He called me today to inform me that he has been placed under observation because he was severely depressed and played Russian Roulette by himself while he was stationed there over the summer.  He went through a divorce about eleven months ago and we have only been engaged about two weeks.  He had shown signs of being Bi-Polar while he was home (I work with psychiatrists) but was never diagnosed with it.  My question is, what is going to happen to him?  Is there some sort of penalty for attempting to take your own life while on active duty?  What is going to happen if they do diagnose him with Manic Depression?  When he called me today it was from a US area code, after we were disconnected I called the number back to find that it was the Air Force Reserves base.  What does this mean?  Sorry for all of the questions I am extremely worried about him.
Sincerely
Samantha

Answer
Hi Samantha,

It's not possible to say for sure what is going to happen. A military member who experiences signs of mental instability (such as playing ""Russian Roulette," or showing suicidal tendancies) is generally referred by the commanding officer to the mental health clinic.

There, after evaluation, it's generally up to the recommendation of the mental health professional (psychiatrist or psychologist) to make a recommendation as to whether the member can continue on active duty with treatment, or should be medically discharged. If the latter, the member undergoes a medical discharge process (see: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/theorderlyroom/a/medseparation.htm).

At some (many) Military bases overseas in combat zones, Military members are authorized one or two "morale calls" per month, using the Military phone systems. The way this works is that the Military member calls a Military base in the United States, using the Military phone system, and then the operator at that stateside Military base, patches the call to the civilian phone number. That's most likely why the caller-id number you saw was a stateside Air Force Reserve base.

For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my U.S. Military Information Site at: http://usmilitary.about.com Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com