U.S. Rep. Rush Holt introduces military suicide prevention bill named for N.J. soldier, 06 May 2010, The Star-Ledger
By Mark Mueller (New Jersey)
WASHINGTON — Citing a critical gap in the military’s suicide prevention efforts, Rep. Rush Holt has introduced a measure named for a New Jersey soldier who took his own life after serving two tours of duty in Iraq.
The proposed legislation — named for Army Sgt. Coleman Bean, an East Brunswick native who lived in South River at the time of his death — targets the tens of thousands of service members who make up the Individual Ready Reserve. Those members have fulfilled their active-duty commitments and have returned to civilian life but remain available for call-up.
Cut off from their units — along with support services and mental health screening and counseling — members of the IRR cope in isolation with the things they have seen and done in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In most cases, the military has little or no contact with those service members unless they are called back into service.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/us_rep_rush_holt_introduces_mi.html
