“Loneliness and egocentric commanders”, here is the book

A “courageous” work on an uncomfortable topic: it was written by the Gdf colonel, Massimiliano Salce, for the Magi publishing house. On June 26th the presentation will be live on Facebook on the DIre press agency page.

ROME – In 2023as reported by several military unions and the Suicide Observatory, there were 39 suicides among the armed forces and law enforcement, while in 2024 the number reached 26. The last one, a graduate, took his own life in the barracks in Turin, leaving his colleagues shocked. On 17 June, General Claudio Graziano, president of Fincantieri, took his own life: an event that left the institutional world and Defense in particular speechless, reminding us that the phenomenon of suicide can concern everyone, whatever their rank and role.

There Magi publishing house comes out with a courageous book dedicated to ‘Suicide in uniform’signed by the colonel Massimiliano Salce who, after a life in the Financial Police as commander,
decided to deal with an ‘uncomfortable’ topic, often hidden, trying to analyze the elements of risk and to give commanders almost a sort of handbook of strategies and above all sensitivity. The book will be presented live on Facebook on the Dire news agency page on June 26th at 5pm.

“Suicide has multiple triggers. It makes us think that men and women accustomed to exposing themselves to danger head-on – the author explained to Dire – experience a strange loneliness in environments that pride themselves on others in favoring union, camaraderie and solidarity. In the book there are the stories of many families of those who committed suicide that I have listened to and that they tell of work environments dominated by superiors with egocentric, poorly empathic ideas of leadership, lacking in emotional intelligence, who expressed great enthusiasm towards the staff in words, but who in practice were disavowed by strong hypocrisy. I have experienced that in these environments, after the suicide, we get busy in a paroxysmal way but only afterwards, when there were already elements to intervene before: alarms from the unions, letters from lawyers, elements that gave the idea of ​​environments deteriorated from the point of view from a relational point of view”.

“The choice to publish a book with such strong content,” he explained Angelica Bianco, editorial director of the Magi publishing house – is a gesture of courage and love at the same time. No one is free from fragility. We must speak and never forget this topic which has too often been submerged. Dialogue is growth, it is confrontation and it could be salvific. We want to promote awareness. Talking about it will help prevent it.”

And this is precisely the meaning of the author’s meticulous work, full of touching testimonies and food for thought: “theThe book is aimed at hierarchies, at competent doctors who can decide to put a person to rest, to psychologists newly entered into the organizations and seen as part of the system to draw attention to suicide prevention activities. But not least to all members of the Armed Forces to understand what is happening in that environment: do not despair, but act with countermeasures”. A constant thought goes “to the families of those who have decided to end their lives”.
The book delves behind the uniforms: what they represent and what they can hide, but “there are ideas for any work environment, even non-military”, he concludes.