Army Recruiter Suicides Prompt Investigations [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: NPR

The Army is investigating a cluster of suicides in the Houston Recruiting Battalion, where five soldiers have taken their own lives since 2001. Nationally, 17 recruiters have committed suicide during the same period....

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At the Houston battalion's headquarters, there is an investigation under way and no one was available for comment, but the U.S. Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox in Kentucky said a general has been appointed to look into the matter. Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn called for the investigation. "I asked for an independent investigation," Cornyn says. "This is not what I call an independent investigation, but it's a step in the right direction. And my hope is after this command investigation, I hope we'll hold hearings."

One of the questions the senator wants answered is whether it is wise to order combat veterans to take recruiting jobs. Most of them don't volunteer.

"I believe that short of being shot at — you know, risking your life — that recruiting is the toughest job in the Army," says James Larsen, a retired senior policy analyst for the Army Recruiting Command....

Whether or not recruiters have the highest stress level, there's little doubt they are under extraordinary pressure to sell the Army to a small number of reluctant consumers. Add to that the marital stress brought on by 12- to 14-hour workdays, the isolation of being stationed in small towns far from a base — and in the Houston battalion's case, alleged abusive treatment of those who didn't produce their quota — and you have a potentially toxic cocktail.

But Cornyn is concerned about another matter. "Part of this that was troubling was the suggestion that there was pressure being put down the chain of command to keep this quiet," he says. Cornyn wants to know if the Houston battalion's problems are an isolated case, or whether recruiter stress patterns are similar in other places....

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98913061