4 recruiter suicides lead to Army probe

4 recruiter suicides lead to Army probe

news.yahoo.com

HENDERSON, Texas – Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Henderson, a strapping Iraq combat veteran, spent the last, miserable months of his life as an Army recruiter, cold-calling dozens of people a day from his strip-mall office and sitting in strangers' living rooms, trying to sign up their sons and daughters for an unpopular war.

He put in 13-hour days, six days a week, often encountering abuse from young people or their parents. When he and other recruiters would gripe about the pressure to meet their quotas, their superiors would snarl that they ought to be grateful they were not in Iraq, according to his widow.

(visit the link for the full news article)

My husband was an Army recruiter after Desert Storm. He hated recruiting and said it was the worst job in the army. It's so much pressure for all the recruiters, not to mention the ones suffering from ptsd and flashbacks. It's the last job these guys coming back from Iraq need.

The army refuses to acknowledge the huge amount of stress put on recruiters and I forsee many more suicides, unfortunately, unless something is done. Recruiting is/was a 3 yr required duty.

My husbands station commander was an older woman, who told me that my husband wasn't married to me, he was married to her ( army). Boy, was she a slave driver.

I feel real bad for these stressed out Iraq veterans. Something should be done.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

grab some guns n ammo follow me

we know the costs of bush's blood for oil policies but can anyone cite one way in which they have benefitted?? Please save your what about decreased "terrorism" replies. bin laden was a cia operative for america, in afghanistan, against russia when russia wanted the natural resources that america is now pursuing. the taleban are leftovers from a military force trained by the us to fight the soviet union and retain those resources. the u.s. military is the strongest in the world by far. how else could it withstand 8 years of being manipulated into self sacrifice for your commander in chief's benefit??

Becoming a recruiter is a choice, a SSG is not forced to do it. They volunteer to go to recruiter school and know what it entails before submitting the paperwork. It is no differant then voluntering to become a Drill Sargeant. It is all volunteer posistions that the individual must request.

While I feel for these fellow soldiers, I do not blame the military for what happened to them. Like I said before, they know what the duty calls for and they still made the decision to go to recruiter school.


I blame the people who verbally or physically (the artical doesn't state which) the recruiters for making their life such a painful hell that they thought suicide was the only way out.

reply to post by jd140


I don't believe it is a choice. You can either volunteer or you are assigned to recruiting duty. My husband did not volunteer for recuiting duty. You are told it is easier to make rank while recruiting, thats why so many don't try to turn it down.



www.military.com...

I read this article last year, I believe, in Vanity Fair. It gives a very in-depth view of the problem.

www.vanityfair.com...

Fissures are showing in recruiting offices all over the country. Many of the military's most successful field recruiters and station commanders, men who have never failed to make mission in their careers, are flailing now, and morale is in the gutter. According to the army, since October 2002 some 30 army recruiters have gone AWOL. Recruiters all over the country describe pressure barreling down the chain of command like never before. But it's never been an easy job.

According to this article, quotas were getting so difficult to make, and the pressure from command so intense, that recruiters were resorting to all manner of unethical behavior to pass recruits that normally would have been disqualified.

Also mentioned in the article, some troops are ordered onto recruiting duty.

Yet despite the rise in allegations, the number of army recruiters who have been "involuntarily reassigned" has declined since the war began. Not only can the military not afford to lose recruiters, but more troops are being ordered onto recruiting duty (as opposed to volunteering) than in previous years, including many veterans of the combat in Iraq.

[edit on 12/22/08 by kattraxx]

Also, here is a snippet from military.com

Enlisted personnel selected for assignment to USAREC either serve as Army recruiters or as administrative support personnel in the skills listed in table 2-l of AR 601-1. Because they represent the Army in civilian communities, all USAREC personnel must have high moral character, emotional and financial stability, outstanding personal appearance and bearing, and a favorable record of service in previous assignments.

Please tell me who determined these Iraq vets were emotionally stable? PTSD and flashbacks doesn't sound emotionally stable to me. It is a high stress job coupled with ptsd is not a good combination.

Originally posted by virraszto
reply to post by jd140

 

I don't believe it is a choice. You can either volunteer or you are assigned to recruiting duty. My husband did not volunteer for recuiting duty. You are told it is easier to make rank while recruiting, thats why so many don't try to turn it down.



www.military.com...

I been in the Army the better part of a decade and have never seen or heard of anyone being told that they have to go to recruiter training. Yes it is easier to make SFC and yes many who are given the option rarely turn it down. But, in the end it is voluntary.

Look at it this way.

If you are in the Army and you are told you have to go to Recruiter training even though you don't want to all you would have to do is go, fail your initial PT test and you are sent back to your unit. All you would get for your trouble is a counseling statement and you would have to retake your PT test in a month.

So yes it is voluntary.

reply to post by jd140


I think the Army and Military Times beg to differ.

For the second time in less than seven months, the Army is ordering more than 1,000 soldiers back to recruiting duty.

The move, called an “involuntary [temporary duty] recruiting surge,” was announced Wednesday with the goal of boosting the Army’s recruiting force.

Human Resources Command has identified the 1,132 soldiers, who will have to report for recruiting duty by May 1. The call-up will last no more than 89 days, and, when possible, most of them will be assigned to their former recruiting battalions, said Lt. Col. Gary Nicoson, of the enlisted personnel management directorate at HRC.

www.armytimes.com...


www.militarytimes.com...

A 2006 government study showed that while hard-sell tactics by recruiters were rare, claims of recruiter misconduct were increasing and, because the military did not track all allegations, the problems likely were underestimated. The study also showed that the majority of recruiters, who are involuntarily assigned the duty, are dissatisfied with the task, which has become increasingly difficult because of the war in Iraq.

archives.starbulletin.com...




[edit on 12/23/08 by kattraxx]

reply to post by jd140


A soldier of integrity would not purposely fail a pt test in order to shirk duty. My husband never once scored anything but a perfect 300 on his pt test for his entire 20 yr military career. He retired in 2001, and there no way in the world he would purposely fail a pt test. It does not look good on your record.

Perhaps failing too many pt tests is the reason you haven't been assigned recruiting duty?



[edit on 23-12-2008 by virraszto]

Something tells me that these recruiters who spent time in the "forced" war in Iraq did not commit suicide because of pressure from their superiors to meet quotas.

The pressure may have contributed, but not the sole reason for the suicides.

Going into those homes trying to recruit more young men and women to go fight a false pretense war and possibly go into another one with Iran, I too would become so depressed and suicidal after going through what those soldiers went through in Iraq.

People are people, even soldiers. They are not machines, atomatons or robots with an on and off switch. Unfortunatley the higher up in the chain of command still carries on the tradition of once a person goes through basic training and then gets thrusted into a combat situation for months and months at a time, that their humanity and emotion and mental stability is considered something non-existant and can be shut off as if those things do not have any more bearing on the solider.

Some are able to cope with it, but most are not. And when they come home and are turned away by the promises of being taken care of after their tour of duty by the VA and other government benefits they were promised, that only adds more to the mental stress and incredible strains along with whats going on in the civilian arena, plus the flashbacks of what they witnessed while on their tour.

If the military wants to have a bunch of mindless, careless and emotionless soldiers, then they need to build their armies with robots and computer controlled atomatons and then there would be no more of this kind of thing happening.




Cheers!!!!

It is a disgrace the way this administration has treated it's veterans and fighting men and women.


They deserve better than this.

A brave warrior who answers the call of his country shouldn't ever feel the need to hang himself in a dirty tool shed as a result of the hell he was made to go through in combat.

They destroy these young men mentally and spiritually and then disgard them like stray dogs when they no longer are of use.

Originally posted by virraszto
reply to post by jd140

 

A soldier of integrity would not purposely fail a pt test in order to shirk duty. My husband never once scored anything but a perfect 300 on his pt test for his entire 20 yr military career. He retired in 2001, and there no way in the world he would purposely fail a pt test. It does not look good on your record.

Perhaps failing too many pt tests is the reason you haven't been assigned recruiting duty?



[edit on 23-12-2008 by virraszto]

Perhaps your husband was just to ignorant to realize he had a choice?

Do not make assumptions about my military career and I will do the same for your husband.

As far as the failing the PT test, it was an example. Let me give you another example. Request for orders to be deleted. You have been out of the loop (if you was ever in it) for about 7 years now, things are differant. New policies have been written, soldiers have more controll of where they go and what they do.

I swear talking to military spouses is sometimes more of a headache then dealing with anti military folk.

reply to post by BlackOps719


The people who verbally abused him sure didn't help things either or do they get a free pass?

reply to post by jd140



I can't even imagine what a tough sell this god awful s****y mess of a war must be for a recruiter. I don't imagine it would be easy to look down the barrel of a pissed off and resentful parent when you are sitting in their home trying to convince them to sign the papers so little Billy can go get his brains blown out in the back waters of Fallujah.

For Dick Cheney and his oil profits no less.

Im sure the stress of his thankless job was a serious factor in him choosing to take his own life. Im sure the harsh words from parent and recruit (mark) alike were hard to deal with. Not to mention a demanding superior who only expects results at the threat of demotion or the threat of being sent back into combat. Not to mention the daily verbal abuse/ass chewing when numbers weren't met.

Try doing all of these things when you have images of blood and death and dismembered children rotating through your head all day every day. Guilt for the people who you have killed, sorrow for the friends you have lost, remorse for the unsuspecting 18 year olds that you have talked into signing on....knowing full well that you just sold some kid up the river to his death in order to meet some stupid military quota.

All while trying to keep a family financially afloat, and in his case living too far away from a VA hospital to even receive decent treatment for his psych problems. Think of the thousands of men and women who are coming home from that nightmare, only to have their benefits cut so that they are then left to cope with the hell of what they have seen on their own.

Do you think maybe it was more than just the verbal abuse?

I give up.

It was the governments fault that he took his life, I have seen the error of my ways and now realize that I am nothing more then cannon fodder for the US Army. When I am called up to fight over seas again I will refuse and go AWOL so I do not end up like he did. I realize that I am lucky that I am healthy and happy after being deployed and I also realize that I cannot afford to try my luck again.

Seeing as how I will have to move so they don't find me, can I live with you?

Congratulations...that is the most sensible thing that you have posted yet

(...even if it was meant to be sarcastic)


I suppose anything is better than getting your legs blown off by an IED while forcibly importing Democracy to a nation filled with people who never asked for it.



And no....you can't live with me.


I do however hear that Mexico is nice this time of year. Good luck with that.

reply to post by BlackOps719


Oh well, guess I will just have to get my legs blown off. Maybe I will survive the second time around, after all the third time is the charm. So I might have one more left in me.

reply to post by jd140


You can seek refuge in Portland, OR. Bush is the antichrist