Suicide remains an alarming and growing problem throughout the Army, with the annual number of suicides now greater than the number of deaths resulting from combat.

A few years ago the Army took the aggressive position that suicide prevention should be taken away from its Medical Department and given to the “line” — the commanders of troops. This was accomplished by placing the deputy chief of staff of the Army at the time, General Peter W. Chiarelli, in charge of suicide prevention.

This was a tremendous move in the right direction. However, it wasn’t enough and hasn’t solved the problem, as recent data show.

The Army needs to take this concept of command responsibility one step further. Every officer and noncommissioned officer is evaluated on at least a yearly basis. Officers receive an Officer Efficiency Report, known as an O.E.R., and noncommissioned officers receive an N.C.O.E.R. Lots of these report cards are full of bullet points that come off of guides to writing reviews. It should be easy to include a report on the number of soldiers who have attempted or committed suicide in a particular unit. (The same data should be included in the reviews for individuals one level up the chain of command to ensure accountability.)

For your basic grunt this would include the soldier’s platoon sergeant and company first sergeant, as well as his company commander, a captain, and the company commander’s battalion leader, a lieutenant colonel.

The accountability and transparency of enumerating suicides and attempted suicides on evaluations would push these leaders to be increasingly active in ascertaining the mental well-being of the troops under their command. The Army runs on the philosophy that the job of commanders is to articulate the mission to their troops and to take care of the troops, and that the troops will then take care of the mission. This mantra can be energized by holding commanders accountable for suicides and attempted suicides that occur on their watch.

Dr. Philip Lisagor, a retired Army colonel who is a cardiothoracic and trauma surgeon, served three tours in Iraq, including one as deputy commander for clinical services of the 2nd Medical Brigade. He was also chief of quality management of the Army’s medical command from 2000 to 2007. He was awarded a Bronze Star.

