Seeking the Military Suicide Solution

About Today’s Show: 

Duane and Shauna reflect on the themes that emerged from the collective series, which include:

• Coordination and Collaboration, featuring MSG Tom Cruz
• Public Health Approach, featuring Dr. Matt Miller 
• Risk Factors/Warning Signs featuring USMC Veteran David Bachmann
• Reaching out to support, featuring MG(R) Mark Graham
• Reducing stigma, featuring Kim Ruocco 

Other themes that emerged from the conversati...

About Today’s Guest: 

Chris Jachimiec is a recently retired member of the United States Air Force.  Over the course of his 20 year career he served in multiple military leadership roles in Nevada, Germany and Korea and is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.  He was named the Air Combat Command First Sergeant of the year in 2016.

In July 2017, he lost his brother, Lance Corporal Adam Jachimiec, United States Marine C...

About Today’s Guest: 

Dr. Bridget Matarazzo is a Clinical Research Psychologist and the Director of Clinical Services at VA’s Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Suicide Prevention and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She completed her Pre-Doctoral Internship at the Denver VA Medical Center and obtained a PsyD in Clinical Psychology from the University of...

About Today’s Guest: 

Michael Sugrue began his law enforcement career in the United States Air Force as a Security Forces Officer in 1998. As a Security Forces Officer, Michael specialized in Law Enforcement, Global Force Protection, Anti-Terrorism, Nuclear Security, Foreign Air Field Assessments and Air Base Ground Defense.

Michael served in a variety of assignments including: Flight Leader, Flight Commander, Senio...

About Today’s Guest: 

Dr. Kudler received his M.D. from Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, trained in Psychiatry at Yale and is Adjunct Associate Professor at Duke. He has received teaching awards from the Duke Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychoanalytic Association.

From 2002 to 2010, Dr. Kudler coordinated mental health services for a thr...

About Today’s Guest: 

Danica Thomas is the widow of US Army SSG Allen Thomas. In March of 2010, her husband was severely injured in Afghanistan and brought to Walter Reed.  Danica was pregnant with their first daughter. She became a caregiver overnight and quickly learned they had a very long road to recovery. They were stationed back at Fort Bragg in August 2010, where he would rehabilitate and transition to medica...

About Today’s Guest: 

Amy Taft is the wife of retired Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Ward Taft.  Together they have 2 girls and live in Jacksonville, NC.  Amy is the founder of Third Star Foundation, an organization that provides ongoing support to children who live in a house with a veteran or service member that has sustained an injury or wound as a result of their time in service.  Amy founded the organization a...

About Today’s Guests: 

Michael Kanaan was the first chairperson of artificial intelligence for the U.S. Air Force, Headquarters Pentagon. In that role, he authored and guided the research, development, and implementation strategies for AI technology and machine learning activities across its global operations. He is currently the Director of Operations for Air Force / MIT Artificial Intelligence. In recognition of his fast-...

About Today’s Guest: 

Colonel Robert “Rob” Swanson retired from active duty after serving nearly 35 years. Since retirement, he completed an Executive MBA from the Shidler School of Business and has been actively involved as keynote speaker, senior mentor and advisor for the award-winning Fight For Each Other suicide prevention program in Hawaii.

Prior to retirement, Colonel Swanson was Chief, Weather Strategic Plans and In...

About Today’s Guests: 

Kim Donohue has worked for the Nevada Department fo Veteran Services as the Suicide and Homelessness Prevention Program Manager and Organizational Integrator since January 2018. Kim has been actively participating in the SAMHSA Mayor's Challenge Teams, which is a suicide prevention initiative that fights against suicide among service members, veterans, and their families since the inauguration in Janu...

About Today’s Guests: 

David Bachmann is a Marine Corps Infantry combat veteran. He served with E Co, 2nd Battalion 7th Marines  from 2001-2005.  After being discharged from the Marine Corps he began to ride and build motorcycles. He currently resides in Texas where he raises cattle and Quarter horses. David is active in an ongoing healing movement developed by Marines that brings the Tribe of veterans together throughout t...

About Today’s Guests: 

Dr. Jeffrey Allen Smith, PhD: Dr. Smith is an Associate Professor of American History and Chair of the History Department at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.  He has published historical analyses of military mental health, psychology, and suicide in academic journals and commentaries on his research in the New York Times, Time, and Washington Post; and has been quoted in U.S. News & World Report,...

About Today’s Guest: 

Scott Perry was elected as the U.S. Representative of the 4th Congressional District (York, Adams and Cumberland Counties) in 2013. He earned re-election in 2018, and due to congressional redistricting, now serves the 10th Congressional District (Dauphin, Cumberland and York Counties). Congressman Perry presently serves on the House Committees on Transportation & Infrastructure, and For...

About Today’s Guest: 

Peter M. Gutierrez, Ph.D. is a licensed Clinical Psychologist at the VA VISN 19 Mental Illness Research Education Clinical Center (MIRECC). Dr. Gutierrez's clinical training was in child and adolescent psychology, with an emphasis on serious psychopathology and suicide. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He has been studying suicide, focusing on screening, a...

About Today’s Guest: 

Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Bryan Battaglia is the former Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was the senior non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Armed Forces.  In this role, he served as the principal military advisor to the Chairman and the Secretary of Defense on all matters involving joint and combined total force integration, utilization, health of the force and ...

About Today’s Guests: 

Michael Richardson: As the independence services and mental health vice president for the Wounded Warrior Project®(WWP), Michael Richardson is responsible for the Independence Program (IP) and Long-Term Support Trust (LTST), as well as the Combat Stress Recovery Program (CSRP).

Michael began his military service in 1981 as a 17-year-old private and retired 32 years later in 2013 as a medical ...

About Today’s Guest: 

Joseph Bartozzi is the President and CEO of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearm and ammunition industry, as well as the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute, the standard setting organization for the firearm and ammunition industry.

Joe is an attorney licensed to practice in Connecticut and Maine, and also is a licensed member of the ba...

About Today’s Guest:
 

Matt Mishkind, PhD, has focused his career on two focal points: military health care and organizational development. He began his military health career with the Deployment Health Clinical Center (DHCC) at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. He also served as one of the original staff members tasked with developing the National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) located on Joi...

About Today’s Guest: 

Michelle Villarreal Zook is currently an economics impact researcher evaluating programs within the federal government. She previously served as a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force, flying as an air battle manager with the 960th Air Command and Control Squadron out of Tinker Air Force Base, OK.  As squadron executive officer and chief of the orderly room, she oversaw all administrativ...