WASHINGTON — Maj. Gen. Ernest Litynski has received numerous awards and decorations during his nearly three decades in the Army. But he is best known among soldiers and his superiors for his campaign to illuminate mental health issues among troops, scraping away bit by bit at the stigma that often leads to tragedy.

In meetings with new formations of Army Reserve troops, he might first talk about physical fitness and training before moving on to the story of his own unraveling after he returned from Afghanistan, when he would sit in his darkened basement, ignoring his family and staring into nothingness.

“I removed myself from everybody between 2007 and 2010,” he recalled. “I wouldn’t go to family parties, events, wouldn’t go out with my family to eat. I would turn the TV on just for noise. I would not go up to bed with my wife. The burden I put on my wife and 12-year-old daughter had to be the worst.”

His daughter did not speak to him for years, he said.

He tells his story at ceremonies and gatherings, and made a video that the Army has posted to some of its Facebook accounts, generally a repository for war remembrances, vaccine information and images of cold weather drills. “There’s a shame if you show weakness,” he says, voice wavering as he recounts his struggles with post-traumatic stress. “That’s the way I felt.”

General Litynski’s campaign is a striking one within the military, where resilience is not just celebrated but part of the job description.

After two decades of war, the military has yet to make significant progress on what many experts, lawmakers and service members say are among its most persistent problems — unaddressed mental health issues and rising suicide rates among troops.

“The needle has not moved much at all in this,” said Mark C. Russell, a former Navy commander who is now a professor at Antioch University in Seattle with expertise in military trauma. He added, “So it’s rare when someone with a star on his lapel is speaking out.”

The suicide rate among active-duty service members increased by more than 40 percent from 2015 to 2020, according to Defense Department data. The military had historically lagged the general population in suicide rates but in recent years has caught up.

His psychiatrist at the Department of Veterans Affairs had an idea: Discuss his struggles with his unit at the time in Milwaukee in lieu of giving the usual PowerPoint on post-traumatic stress.

General Litynski worried that no one would understand and how it might affect his career. But ultimately, he said, “I went all in.”

Some in the audience revealed experiences they had previously felt too ashamed to share. “I had young soldiers talk to me afterward and hug me and cry,” he said.

The speech became his brand, of sorts. “When he first came to our unit, he told us about how he felt helpless and was ready to give it up,” said Scott Alsup, who served under General Litynski in Iraq. “He helped get me into rehab, which probably saved my life.”

“Being a man, you don’t talk about your feelings,” he added, “and having someone who was not afraid to show that was a huge, huge relief.”

In 2019, after speaking at an event in Florida for redeploying soldiers, General Litynski caught the attention of Army brass, who encouraged him to make a video, which was posted on Army Facebook pages.

While many applaud General Litynski’s efforts, veterans who suffered from mental health issues while serving said the military needed to do much more, like improve health screenings of new recruits. Training must change and leaders must learn to address problems before they spiral, they say.

“There is stigma, it persists and it is real,” said Elizabeth S. Pietralczyk, a family doctor in Alaska who joined the Air Force in 2003 to assist with medical school. She left the military in 2021 before hitting her lifetime pension award, she said, because of her mental health struggles. “People doubt your sincerity when you’ve done an amazing job at handling everything up until it implodes,” she said. “It is a common story.”

In January, Sgt. Zachary Calagui was found dead by a neighbor in his Fairbanks, Alaska, apartment. No foul play was suspected. His death was one data point in a massive jump in suicides among troops in Alaska in recent years.

Last year, at least 11 soldiers died by suicide in Alaska. Another six deaths are still under investigation. That grim number has sounded the alarm across the Army as it looks to recruit volunteers to bolster its arctic forces amid a newly revamped focus on training for frigid climates after the post-9/11 wars.

The number of troops dying by suicide in Alaska has seen a significant spike in recent years. In 2020, seven soldiers took their own lives; eight in 2019; and three in 2018.

It's a problem with no single solution as senior leaders in Alaska lobby the Pentagon for more mental health resources and desperately try even the smallest solutions, including offering free vitamin D supplements to help combat depression. Major upgrades to gyms and barracks, along with early release for soldiers on Fridays -- typically around 3 p.m., are all part of the push to fight the rising numbers.

Military.com interviewed numerous Alaska-based soldiers ranging from privates to senior leaders and found no evidence of systemic poor or abusive leadership. Instead, soldiers pointed to the isolated region, far from home with time zone differences and travel expenses making it hard to keep in contact with loved ones. Nearly all the soldiers who spoke to Military.com requested anonymity to speak freely on the subject and avoid retaliation.

Alaska has for years been the state with the highest suicide rate among the general population.

Army officials hope that mandating that all soldiers see a mental health counselor will help. But Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commander of U.S. Army Alaska, told Military.com he is struggling to recruit mental health providers to move to the state.

Bassett Army Community Hospital at Fort Wainwright has been given more resources, including boosted salaries and other retention incentives, to try to lure counselors up north to help. But that labor shortage on Alaskan bases is seen everywhere, including recreation facilities for soldiers.

"It's remote; it's isolated here," Eifler told Military.com. "Across the whole Army, I don't think we have enough behavioral health personnel. But we have a shortage of labor on everything here, including clinicians. We're asking the Army for help to fill that void to get more up here."

That labor shortage and the mandated appointments have triggered major backlogs for soldiers seeking help, some interviewed said. Others said that there's still a stigma against seeking help, despite the increased suicide rate.