Why Are Army Recruiters Killing Themselves?

[Greylyn58]

By MARK THOMPSON Thursday, Apr. 02, 2009

When Army Staff Sergeant Amanda Henderson ran into Staff Sergeant Larry Flores in their Texas recruiting station last August, she was shocked by the dark circles under his eyes and his ragged appearance. "Are you O.K.?" she asked the normally squared-away soldier. "Sergeant Henderson, I am just really tired," he replied. "I had such a bad, long week, it was ridiculous." The previous Saturday, Flores' commanders had berated him for poor performance. He had worked every day since from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., trying to persuade the youth of Nacogdoches to wear Army green. "But I'm O.K.," he told her.

No, he wasn't. Later that night, Flores hanged himself in his garage with an extension cord. Henderson and her husband Patrick, both Army recruiters, were stunned. "I'll never forget sitting there at Sergeant Flores' memorial service with my husband and seeing his wife crying," Amanda recalls. "I remember looking over at Patrick and going, 'Why did he do this to her? Why did he do this to his children?' " Patrick didn't say anything, and Amanda now says Flores' suicide "triggered" something in her husband. Six weeks later, Patrick hanged himself with a dog chain in their backyard shed.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now the longest waged by an all-volunteer force in U.S. history. Even as soldiers rotate back into the field for multiple and extended tours, the Army requires a constant supply of new recruits. But the patriotic fervor that led so many to sign up after 9/11 is now eight years past. That leaves recruiters with perhaps the toughest, if not the most dangerous, job in the Army. Last year alone, the number of recruiters who killed themselves was triple the overall Army rate. Like post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, recruiter suicides are a hidden cost of the nation's wars.


more at link....


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1889152,00.html?cnn=yes



This story just shows one more reason we need to get the "HELL OUT" of both Iraq and Afghanistan. As the daughter of a former 30 yr Marine Vet, I feel for the soldiers and their families. They are being abused in every way possible-- multiple tours of duty, no help for the families or for the returning soldiers, whether physically or mentally wounded, and the families of soldiers killed in action aren't being told the truth about their deaths...the list just goes on and on. Now here is this story about what is happening to the ones here in the US doing the recruiting.

Stories have been leaking out over the last 6 years about some of the underhanded recruiting tactics being employed, but nothing has been said about the men and women doing the recruiting until now. This is just one more reason we need to end this damnable war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Damn Bush and all those involved for keeping this freakin mess going!! I don't care who they are, what side they were/or are on, in the end we are all paying for this horror. Every one of us.

God help us!!!

[Fumesucker]

1. My guess is their consciences are catching up with them..

Basically honorable people can only be forced to lie just so much before their conscience becomes overwhelmed.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

6. WHAT! YOU WON'T DIE FOR THE REPUBLICAN MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[1percenter]

12. Required for promotion

The awful thing about the recruiting duty is that oftentimes it is the only way to get promoted. You may be an E-6 and to get to an E-7 in your MOS it may almost be an unstated requirement for promotion. So, either do your time in recruiting or forget about retiring from the military.
Pretty much a devil's bargain.

[Fumesucker]

13. Sounds like you have done your turn "in the barrel" so to speak..

Thanks for the perspective, that does put a different light on this.

Edited to add: Welcome to DU, your voice of experience is welcome here.

[BlooInBloo]

2. Lying to kids, sending them to kill, die, rape, maim, be maimed...

Has got to be tough on a recruiter.

[BeFree]

3. Sad

These recruiters do what they do for the love of country.

And what does the country do to them? Treats them and their efforts like cannon fodder. War is hell.

[bunnies]

4. If my job were to convince young people...

to go fight in some damned war at the risk of ptsd, crippling injury or death... I dont think I could live with myself. Maybe some of these guys cant either.

[Rageneau]

5. HOO-AH!

Sorry, I feel for these soldiers as individuals, of course, but not as soldiers. People willing to join the Army under a warmonger like Bush are reaping what thet sowed. I cannot forgive or forget the bloodlust I saw coming from our troops, our leaders and our national media prior to the murderous invasion of Iraq. I was ashamed of my countrymen then, because I knew knew that our unforgivable crime would cause us to wind up where we are today -- with all the "HOO-AH" drained right out of us, and nothing but bloody sawdust in our mouths.

[havocmom]

17. Possibly the best, harshest, most terrifying truth told on DU in years

I salute you. Dark poetry, and dead on.

[Hawkowl]

7. Former deployments?

It is my understanding that almost all recruiters have served at least one tour and most likely several tours in either Iraq and Afghanistan. I'd bet they almost all have some sort of PTSD and if they have any bit of humanity left in themselves, they would rather be dead than trick others into their miserable fate.

It is a tragedy of epic proportions. We the people, are destroying ourselves. That is why we must simply withdraw and end the wars. At best, staying will yield a Pyrrhic victory.

[Greylyn58]

10. Amen!!!

I totally agree with your statement. :(

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. How can we hold their commanders responsible, when we can't even

hold their commander in chief responsible?

[applegrove]

9. Very sad. War is hell all around.

[EFerrari]

11. There was a story about recruiters, maybe a 18 months ago.

I read it here but it never made cable, of course. My heart goes out to the families being abused and destroyed by the Pentagram.

[Greylyn58]

14. As does mine. n/t

[ddeclue]

15. A lot of these guys are war veterans from Iraq or Afghanistan it's PTSD nt

[newspeak]

16. not all--some is because there are some real unfeeling jerks, especially in the Army

my daughter is disabled, she's in a disabled unit--she has been given an article 15 and busted in rank because she couldn't meet her NCO's demands. One sgt. (she was a sgt.) keeps harassing, telling her she's lying to him. She takes very strong meds for chronic pain, but must drive in the morning on base and stay until she's dismissed. The whole unit is medical disabled and I believe this unit has more article 15s than any other on the base. She's due to get out this summer, but she tells me they are not going to let her out. Oh, one sgt. told her just sign your benefits away and we'll let you out.

The other day she said they had a change of command practice, a practice, and they canceled all medical appointments for these soldiers. One soldier has a heart condition and must take meds--she's not to be on her feet for long--when she told the sgt. he said "your a soldier, you can take it!" So, for a practice these soldiers had to stand in place for quite awhile. She also said that a counselor (who counsels for mental, PTSD) had just committed suicide.


They changed my daughter's profile even though the doctor said she can't work, period. She has two toddlers at home and her hubby is in Iraq. She has no support since she's three thousand miles from family. When her article 15 came up, her commander actually threatened to have her children taken away, so she could stay in the barracks. This is her second enlistment and it's up in a few months, I want her out now!!!!!

Some of these assholes actually create the environment for suicide. I truly believe it. From the story above, this man was being harassed because he wasn't making some quota and it seems it drove him over the edge. It was the last straw.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

18. Do all of those involved for keeping this mess going, include Obama?

We find out the administrations idea of leaving 50,000 non-combat troops in Iraq, is actually leaving 50,000 combat troops but renaming them.

David