Don’t Think About a Pink Elephant

If you just read the above line, you probably thought of a pink elephant, even though the instruction was to NOT think about one, right?  The same thing happens every year across all military branches during their annual “Suc!de Prevention class.” Yeah, I said it.  Every class, there is the subject of red flags.  Translation: IF I was committed to do this, what red flags would I want to avoid?  Or what ones do I throw up, just to test people and see if anyone really cared?  A guest speaker comes in and tells how he stopped himself because he realized that his kids were home, and they would wake up and see a mess?  Check, make sure to go somewhere isolated so that some stranger finds me and not my family.

Look, I love my family, I love Jesus, and I love life and I’m not a risk to myself or others.  I’m just being frank with what (likely) goes on in every service members’ head during the annual “training.”  Does it work?  That doesn’t matter, “it briefs well.”  When Congress asks the flag officers “why are there so many veteran suicides and what are you doing about it?” commanders need to have an answer, so a multi-slide class, once a year, checks that box.  

While I don’t consider myself a risk, most guys I’ve known who did take that action weren’t on the risk scale either.  They were high performers with a  history of proven mental toughness.  There’s got to be more to it than someone “being weak and taking the easy way out.”  One friend showed a lot of empathy and humility by simply saying “I don’t want to look down on them or pretend that ‘green–haired monster’ won’t come for me someday.”

BTB’s CO, Jimmy May, retired in 2022 and has a powerful story about how, within four months of his retirement, four of his teammates died by their own hand.  Thus, Beyond the Brotherhood reassessed how its program might prevent more teammates from doing the same in future.  For perspective, this was also the same time that senior military officers were hyperfocused on kicking certain religious people out of the military for not submitting to an illegal order and an experimental injection.  A rash of suicide in the ranks?  Not a priority, keep persecuting the religious zealots who are quoting the US Constitution…

Here’s a possibility: take a plethora of pharmaceutical drugs (with all the fine print side effects) and add that to people who have some post traumatic stress and possible moral injury from decades of warfighting.  Toxic cocktail for a “green-haired monster?”  

What’s the right answer?  I don’t know, but BTB isn’t afraid to try something different, even if it’s a little bold.  Not all of our teammates were killed in action; some died of training accidents, disease, or the green-haired monster. Instead of erasing the legacy of latter, we are going to lift hem up by honoring their service and the life they lived.  Nowadays, everyone who graduates SEAL training receives a K-bar knife with the name engraved of another SEAL who was KIA since WW2.  BTB wants to honor our biggest supporters by presenting them a K-bar with the name of a SEAL who was visited by the green-haired monster.  Why?  Because we want to let them know that their support is helping us make sure that we don’t lose more of our guys to this villain.  

Is this too bold?  If you were a big supporter and received a knife like that in appreciation, would it mean a lot to you?  Or too icky?  I’m honestly looking for feedback