Airmen offer suicide prevention support
(CNN) - Airmen at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana are taking action to help out people who maybe in crisis.
It's the Third Annual Signs of Hope Event where airmen gather in September as it's National Suicide Prevention Month.
"I got involved in suicide prevention and suicide awareness because I had family members back home struggling with suicidal ideations and I was out here and I felt absolutely powerless out here, being out here, being in the military and not being able to get home to them to help them through this time and I realized there might be other families who are struggling that don't have a support system here. I like to call it my Montana Family. I was like, I'll protect yours, you protect mine," TSgt Rachel Scearce, Organizer of Signs of Hope Event, spoke.
From January 1st to March 31st, the Department of Defense (DoD) Quarterly Suicide Report shows that 108 service members took their own life.
"It's a visual representation that people do care, that people will take time and sit out in, what was it, 40 degrees today, people will take time out their day to hold a sign for a complete stranger just to say that you do matter," Scearce explains.
Furthermore, Searce hopes to see events like this out in the community more.
While Suicide Prevention Awareness pertains to our military, it's also about the civilian community as well.