Quick-thinking flight chief saves person’s life

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt, Hillary Stonemetz
  • Air Force Recruiting Service
A distraught applicant who had been recently disqualified from joining the Air Force
threatened to resort to desperate measures outside the Air Force recruiting office here May 30.

Although the recruiter was not in the office at the time, the applicant was able to get in touch with Tech. Sgt. Jason Joncas, 311th Recruiting Squadron flight chief, because his phone number was posted on the window of the closed office.

"He said he had been advised that he was disqualified because he was currently on probation," said Joncas. "When I started to explain that he was in fact disqualified, he started asking me why he shouldn't kill himself. He said he was unable to get a job or a girlfriend because of the lack of money. He also said he would return to the office every day until we let him join."

Joncas asked the applicant to stay at the location while he called the applicant's recruiter, Staff Sgt. Brian Snyder. Once informed of the situation, Snyder called the police while Joncas continued speaking with the applicant.

"I didn't want him to hurt himself or others," said Joncas. "I talked to him about random stuff. I asked him why he thought he couldn't find a job and I told him he could get a job somewhere else. While I was talking on the phone with him he asked me why all these cops were surrounding him. I told him they were there so he could get some help."

The police responded in less than 10 minutes and escorted the applicant to a local hospital where he was given a psychiatric evaluation.

According to Gerard Kinane, AFRS antiterrorism officer, some of the warning signs of an individual who is considering suicide are, threatening to hurt or kill themselves, talking about want to hurt of kill themselves, seeking access to firearms, pills or any other means to kill themselves, or talking about death or suicide when these actions are out of the ordinary.

"If someone is showing signs of thoughts of harming themselves, ask them directly if they are thinking of killing themselves, calmly control the situation, actively listen and remove anything that could be used for self injury and get the person help," he said.