Kansas National Guard captain resigns over concern about suicides

News

April 10, 2019 - 9:25 AM

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas National Guard captain has submitted her resignation out of frustration over what she perceived as a lack of concern by guard leadership after a series of people associated with the Guard took their own lives in recent months.

Capt. Tara Fields, a behavioral health officer, said in her brigade two soldiers and a civilian employee took their own lives in July but her concerns have been met with complacency by guard officials, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported . Her resignation letter is expected to be final by the end of April.

Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli said the Kansas National Guard has had nine members take their own lives in the past five years, including three in the past 18 months. Fields said the deaths of a civilian employee and a man who had just been discharged were not included in the official numbers.

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