Airforce.com adviser conducts life-saving live chat
Posted 3/3/2011
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by Kelly Parsons
Air Force Recruiting Service Public Affairs
3/3/2011 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Airforce.com's internet advisers, or "chatters", answer a variety of questions from the online public, but on rare occasions, they are asked to help save a life.
Brad Shimp, an Air Force Recruiting Service chatter, acted quickly when he received a request recently from someone concerned about their friend. The "friend", an Airman, had recently received some bad news from home and was threatening to end his life.
Caring for each and every Airman and their family is paramount in Air Force culture, according to the Air Force chief of staff. Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, issued a memo in 2010 stating, "We must redouble our efforts to identify those at risk for suicide and get them the support needed to regain hope and balance in their lives."
These efforts include regular Wingman Days, a unit-wide function where leaders discuss items such as stress management, identifying risky behaviors and suicide prevention.
Mr. Shimp is no stranger to the wingman culture, a prior service member himself, he's well-versed in looking out for fellow Airmen. Armed with a chat screen, Mr. Shimp served as wingman as he gathered information from the concerned individual. He let her know that he was engaging with the right people and that help was on the way for her friend.
Mr. Shimp did the chatting and speaking, while Ray Korleski and Todd Goins assisted him in contacting appropriate base command posts. The three chatters wasted no time so the distraught Airman could get the help he needed immediately.
"I feel that the system worked very well," Mr. Shimp said. "Within one hour of this (concerned friend) contacting me through the live chat, we were speaking with the individual's first sergeant and the individual was tracked down and is in good hands."
"I believe Brad did a commendable job, and went the distance to ensure this individual was safe," said Max Sellers, the lead interactive advisor for airforce.com.
The chatters engage with an average of 18,000 individuals per month, and sometimes as many as 1,000 or more a day. They also respond to approximately 5,000 e-mails each month, providing individual attention to each inquiry.
While the chatters' primary job is to prequalify an individual for entry in to the Air Force, provide pre-approach information to the recruiters in the field and answer questions about joining the Air Force, this isn't the first time they've intervened to prevent a potential suicide. In 2007, Mr. Sellers and an Air Force chaplain helped keep a distressed Airman calm until help arrived.
The chatters receive suicide awareness training as an additional tool, because they need to be prepared if the situation arises.
For information about what to do if someone you know is threatening suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273 TALK (8255).
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