Portsmouth-based riverines struggle back after suicides

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http://hamptonroads.com/2014/05/portsmouthbased-riverines-struggle-back-after-suicides



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Chief Petty Officer John Burch III previously was deployed to Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which had left him struggling, according to his father. Burch died on April 22, 2013, after returning from a deployment to Rota, Spain.

Portsmouth-based riverines struggle back after suicides
By Dianna Cahn
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 18, 2014

Three suicides in a single unit couldn’t be ignored – even if investigators said the sailors’ deaths had nothing to do with their jobs or the stresses of a difficult transition in a troubled squadron.

Coastal Riverine Squadron 2 was struggling with problems of discipline, low morale and a spike in incidents involving substance abuse.

It was the end of 2013, and the command that oversees the coastal riverines sent investigators to figure out what was going on in the squadron. Its results, which only recently have been released, helped shed some light.

As mental health experts converged on the Portsmouth-based squadron late last year, months after the merger of two very different Navy commands – riverines and Navy maritime police – investigators found a unit in turmoil.